Resultsfor the British Sprint Championships: https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/BOC/2024/BritishSprint/
Please put your routes onto Routegadget: https://www.boc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/
Winsplits links
Qualifier: http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/show_event.asp?id=98623
Finals: http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/show_event.asp?id=98624
Photo links
//www.flickr.com/photos/148096286@N05/albums/72177720318177046" style="background-color: transparent; color: #449d44; text-decoration: none;">Photos - Edward Lines
//www.flickr.com/photos/148096286@N05/albums/72177720318089197" style="background-color: transparent; color: #449d44; text-decoration: none;">Photos - Robert Lines
Planner’s comments:
Apologies to those competitors from the Near Start who had 215 as their first control. Until about 11:06 it was located on the wrong “recycling building” further to the SW. If you were affected, I hope it didn’t spoil your day. Corrective action was taken with the results of those classes affected. I will leave it to the controller for any further comments.
With only a week to the event, we lost 10 controls in the additional OOB area. We established that a reprint was possible, so the alternative options of event cancellation, postponement or only having Qualification races were quickly ruled out.
The Finals courses for most classes were cut down by between 0.5 and 1 km. Many courses were tweaked to make sense of the new cut-off and - if possible – re-gain some distance. Open courses F1 and F2 had enough overall distance with a re-plan to run around the new OOB area.
I must thank BML who - with no notice - reprinted over 1000 maps and then met me halfway to deliver them securely to us. Thanks also to British Orienteering for covering the cost of the Finals map reprint.
On the day, I got many appreciative comments about the map, the courses and the efforts over the final weeks to ensure the event went ahead. With the relatively warm temperatures in the afternoon, many seemed to appreciate that the Finals courses had been shortened! With most courses now between 1.4 and 2.3km, you had to think quickly and flow through the controls to avoid time loss. I was also pleased to see the hastily replanned full-length Open courses (F1 and F2) had winning times extremely close to the target winning time of 13.5 minutes. Most other courses were in the 10–12-minute range, slightly slower than anticipated and perhaps the result of the weather and high control density.
We had 120 controls over the 2 races, so I must thank Richard and Alistair Gardner for hanging and collecting all 23 controls on Gibbet Hill. On Saturday afternoon, they also spotted the map corrections you had in the start lanes at the Far Start. On the main area, I must thank Juliette Soulard for her enthusiastic 5 hours of hard work assisting me to hang most of the other 97 controls (I must add, not the one I put in the wrong place!). I would not have coped with control collecting, so thank you to Richard, Mykyta, Kirsten, David, Pete and Shiela, Adam and Alistair. Everything was cleared away by 6 pm with no sign that there had been an event in the Arena a few hours earlier.
Finally, I must thank Liz for all her support, particularly during the turmoil of the final 3 weeks. On the day, she started early, putting out the controls in the model area and then worked on Bib collection before her Qualification run. She then did a significant amount of work on the Help Desk before her Finals run and afterwards helped with a lot of the clear-up in Oculus before we left the building at 6 pm.
Planner (and Mapper) - Bruce Bryant
If anyone is interested, I have created a 2-page document about the mapping & planning detailing all the changes to Arena and Start locations.
British Sprint Championships 2024 – a big thank you to all from Phil Kirk, the Organiser
I have received some very kind and thoughtful messages from a lot of competitors about how enjoyable their day was and how professional we all were in our numerous roles. We reached my personal target of sticking to the timetable, the Finals start was on time from 2 pm and the prizegiving was at 4.15 pm. I understand this is the first time in the history of this event that it has been achieved!
So, thanks to
All the team leaders:
Keith on Arena & Finish - Graham on Download - Andy E on Far & Final Start – Alistair P on Near Start – Sue B our Safety Officer – Trevor on Car Park all day – Mel on Medals & Trophies – Sian & Karin on Welcome Desk & Bib Issue
Our Officials who I looked to for advice throughout the day:
Jeff Baker LOG our Controller - Jane Kayley-Burgess DVO our Assistant Controller – Alan Rosen HH, Ranald Macdonald DVO, Neville Baker TVOC our Jury
Our Mapper & Planner:
Bruce Bryant – I cannot put into words the effort Bruce put into this event. Read his full report to get the details! Anyway, my personal thanks to you Bruce for all the help you gave me with the tech & artwork for bibs, signs, barrier tape, banners, Final Details etc etc.
Our Entries, Event Set Up & Results Service by SportIdent UK Ltd:
Martin Stone, Andrew Leaney and on the day, Eddie Speak assisted by Kath. They took away a lot of the stress associated with the rules, event set up, start times & results preparation.
And also everyone else:
Stan & Rachel, John & Sue Bowman, Bob B, Sheila & Pete, Mykyta, Mark Cummings, Alyson D, Barry, Helen, Alistair G, Richard, Will G, Greta, Paul G, Sue H, Andy H, Rodney Hugo, Tom J, Sophie K, Alistair L, Juliette, Adam L, David Lawson, Harriet L, Viv L, David Leadley, Phil & Hilary May, Liz P, Rupert P, Janet R, Hilary S, John S, Gerry & Thelma, Jane Stew, Anne S, Liz U, Margaret, Erin, Nadine, Clive Wrench TVOC, Chris Phillips LEI, Ursula Williamson LEI, Jane Lea, my neighbours John & Judy Bowie – that’s 61 OD club members, other club members & friends.
Thanks to All!
Controllers Comments
National competitions are always hard work without the added complications we have had this year. I want to thank both Bruce and Phil for the massive amount of hard work that they put in before the day and on the day, it was their hard work that enabled the competition to go ahead. Except for the one missing/wrongly placed control, I felt it was a really successful day.
Warwick University is an excellent venue to hold this sort of event. Although because of the demonstration, we did lose some areas I felt that the quality of the courses was excellent and looking at the results it did catch people out.
Concerning the wrongly placed control, I must accept some blame for not picking it up when I checked the controls. I do feel however that for those classes affected, in the end, a fair solution was reached where hopefully no one lost out.
Finally, a huge thank you to all the volunteers because without them the event would certainly not have gone ahead.
Jeff Baker (LOG)