NORTHERN NAVIGATORS

GNF Relays – St Pauls and the River Don
6th July 2005

Warm up event – Mass score, 5 minutes, 30 controls.
		1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  time pts
The Divots		-  B  C  C  C  C  C  C  A  C   B   C   C   B   C   B   C   B   A   B   A   C   -   C   C   C   A   -   B   B   5.10  23
Funky Monkeys	C  B  C  C  C  C  C  C  A  C   C   C   C   B   C   B   C   B   A   B   A   C   C   -   C   C   B   A   C   C   5.34  21
Ratcliffe Girls	-  C  -  C  -  -  -  -  -  -   -   -   -   -   -   B   C   B   A   B   A   C   C   C   C   C   -   -   -   -   5.25  9
The misfits		C  A  B  C  C  C  C  C  A  B   B   C   C   -   C   B   -   -   -   -   B   A   C   C   -   -   -   C   -   C   5.00  15

I was surprised checking the cards that no team managed to get all the controls – 
I thought that this would have been a relatively easy task for one person, but maybe the logistics of managing a team got in the way of good strategy.
This would certainly have been a more difficult task using the original rules – map and control card staying at the start.
As this was a simple area I thought that map memory and fast running would be a good change from 'normal' orienteering.
The event was meant to be fast, furious and a bit of fun, hope you enjoyed the different format - it may have been more confusing with more teams.
It was interesting observing the tactics employed by each team – the Divots ran round as a team of three, spinning off at various points then re-assembling;
a similar tactic seemed to be employed by the Funky Monkeys; I didn’t see much of the Ratcliffe girls (surprising given their bright, matching NEJS tops, very impressive)
so not sure what their tactic was; the Misfits split their card three ways, each team member allocated a number of controls, which may have worked if the controls had been grouped that way.
Sorry, I didn’t make a master control list so can’t confirm the variance in controls.
So, for the clashes, I have assumed that the majority were right then discounted the ones where there is no majority and allowing for a 1 point penalty for each 10 seconds over time
then the overall points would be as indicated.

Main event
					course	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
					dist	2.48k	2.49k	2.09k	1.09k	1.36k	1.15k	0.72k	1.0k	0.73k
1. Funky Monkeys	30.07
	Patrick Smyth	(1,3,4)	M45	NATO	10.57		12.29	6.41
	David Smyth	(9,8,6,7)	M14	NATO						6.12	9.07	7.23	4.43
	Kath Ivens		(2,5)	W21	NN		18.05			12.45

2. The Divots	43.22
	Geoff Sutcliffe	(2,1,3)	M45	NN	11.58	16.25	14.16
	Mick Seed		(4,5,6)	M45	ind				12.39	12.44	13.11
	David Oliver	(7,8,9)	M45	ind							13.49	19.14	10.19

3. The Misfits	46.30
	Gary Russell	(1,4,7)	M21	NN	15.30			13.25			7.08
	Fred Miller		(2,5,8)	M50	NATO		22.25			11.20			7.52
	Bob Pinkney	(9,3,6)	M65	NATO			27.40			11.00			7.50

4. Ratcliffe girls	53.10
	Natasha Ratcliffe	(6,1,3)	W18	NATO	18.50		18.12			10.12
	Kathryn Ratcliffe	(9,5,7)	W16	NATO					25.16		11.40		6.14
	Emma Ratcliffe	(2,8,4)	W14	NATO		25.50		10.37				10.49

Again different tactics were used by each team in an attempt to play to their own strengths / weaknesses, but I think that Patricks strong running, ably supported by David and Kath,
proved a bit too much for the other teams on the night - well done the Funky Monkeys.
I must apologise for the mis-placing of one of the controls (control 2 on course 3, wrong side of thicket) - I had thought about this as I was putting it out and meant to double check it
before the start, as I didn’t have a control description list with me at the time.
Unfortunately I think that the rain had watered down my power of reasoning by the time the event started and I completely forgot about it - sorry.
I also appear to have got Natasha's split times mixed up and they may not be correct, but the times recorded give some unusual splits for the courses ran.
Many thanks for all turning up on what turned out to be a pleasant evening – given the earlier weather.
I hope you all enjoyed this small but interesting new area.
Thanks to Dave Caudwell not only for creating and printing the map, but for his invaluable help on the night.
Hope to see you all again next year.

Rob McKenna – organiser / planner

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