Click here for a PDF of the results.
Link to Routegadget (including SplitsBrowser): https://www.od.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#114
Link to index for YBT, course results and splits here
BOF results and ranking points are here
Winsplits are here
Organiser’s Comments:
Coombe Abbey is a challenging area to locate an orienteering event, being fairly small. This was particularly so after weeks of heavy rain and several areas being under standing water. The hotel was hosting a wedding fayre, unbeknown to us some scouts were having archery lessons and it was also the first Sunday of school Easter holidays! Whilst it is wonderful to see so many families enjoying healthy outdoor activities, it makes the area incredibly busy, parking tight and inevitably some potential for orienteers becoming “tangled up” with members of the public.
Fortunately the 186 orienteers who took part on Sunday proved themselves, as always, to be adaptable to any circumstances they encountered and all paid careful heed to other users in the park. Concern was raised by GoApe staff about a route taken by some runners which was close to a zip wire, but a conversation with the manager reassured them that there was no danger to runners or their customers. Feedback from runners was overwhelmingly positive about the courses (thanks to our planner, David). Runners also enjoyed a fabulous selection of home baked cakes made by members of the WMJS. Thanks Kirsten and the Juniors!
There is one negative incident that I feel I must mention in these comments. One of our Junior runners in the Yvette Baker Shield was shouted at by an orienteer as he ran across a narrow bridge. This lack of tolerance towards a child is completely unacceptable and had we been able to identify the runner, he (it was a man) would have been disqualified and reported to BOF. Our sport desperately needs more young runners as the demographic is heavily weighted to older age categories. Who knows whether next time there is a sporting option for that young orienteer on a Sunday morning perhaps football or swimming will be chosen.
Many thanks to Barry Houghton from HOC who Controlled this event. Finally a huge thank you to the amazing Droober team who supported by helping with running it on the day. You are all brilliant and make the role of Organiser easy and enjoyable! See you at the JK!
Vivianne Lawson OD
Controllers Comments:
Coombe Park is quite a small area and was always going to be a difficult area to plan courses suitable for a West Midland League Event. This was exacerbated by a very large OOB area in the South, hence most courses were contained in the more technical Northern area. Only Green and Blue used what accessible open fields remained to the South. Without doing even more circuits it was deemed not practical to plan for a Brown course.
Initially the Start was a big issue, but David and Viv managed to persuade the Park people to allow the Start to be in an area previously Out of Bounds to us. That made such a difference, it was well worth the effort. The waterlogged state of much of the ground (as witnessed by the flooded overflow car park) also negated some control sites making David’s job even more difficult. All praise to David who put in a lot of time and effort to accommodate my comments and the courses were well planned and complied with the guidelines as far as was practical with what is generally a low technical difficulty area.
Barry Houghton HOC