Results have been corrected to allow for the finish clock running 10 seconds fast which has reduced some penalties and slightly altered some of the positions.
Click HERE for a PDF of the results.
Link to index for course results with detail of controls punched: here
Planner's comments:
Planning the Tony Haw score was always going to be a challenge at Pooley because it is quite a small area. The usual approach to small areas is to have two or three loops around but that does not work for a score. Having lots of controls instead was not really a sensible option either so that really only left something like a two-part score which I plumped for in the end. I also decided that I didn’t want people having to flog up and down the hill several times just to make it harder and to take-up time - one of my pet hates on courses are what I term ‘gratuitous hills’ or ‘gratuitous legs’, i.e. legs that serve no other purpose than to make the course tougher or to add running. So, as a consequence, I settled on an odds and evens score with plenty of alternative crossover options. In fact, while I might not of measured every possible alternative, one of the best options was to swap over at 185 which was placed right in the middle of the map and did not look a likely option on a quick scan.
The first planning visit was quite a shock. Several paths had totally vanished, the park had a less-used feel to it and brambles had proliferated. Thankfully, Bruce spent a lot of time updating the map which was a fantastic help in planning the courses. Without it, competitors would have struggled in several areas. The next decision was that competitors would not be routed into the brambles and that controls should be visible and approachable from when in their vicinity. This took out a big chunk of wood in the north-west which is usually used for several controls. I was reasonably pleased with the final courses and the brambles had been avoided. Hopefully, the quicker runners would just about get all the controls which proved to be the case. One disappointing aspect was that the farmer cut the meadows after the start just before the event. The four controls in that area changed from needing some care in picking the best route into being just a straight line run. Not the last time we will be impacted by last-minute work!
One major success for me was that, after the event, nobody muttered about the brambles or about flogging up the hill too much – to me at least!
One last point is that the Tony Haw Score format is a little limiting for older competitors who cannot all cover much ground in that time. A one-hour score might be an idea although that would probably need a larger area than Pooley.
Thanks to Bob and Maureen and Kevin from LEI for helping me to collect the controls. I didn’t fancy many more trips around the area than absolutely necessary.
Finally, we now have an up-to-date map and a good little area so we should use Pooley again quite soon.
Keith