Wim Winter Warmer

The glitch with the finish times for the first few competitors was not caused by a faulty Start box, as we first feared, but by the failure of the SI software to use the start time. A check box deep in the programme had become unticked for some obscure reason. Once this was realised and amended, the correct results were generated.

The Ranking List points have also now been posted in their correct form on the Ranking List page of the BOF website - there was a glitch in the calculation software which Mike Cumpstey has now fixed.Initially it put a lot of people on the M21 list!

When as a family we looked initially at Gore Heath the problem was how to provide an event that did not involve competitors doing three circuits round the area and having back to back maps. Simon came up with the idea of putting on a middle distance race and that was certainly a brilliant idea. We were also very lucky that Ben Chesters and John Warren had done a lot of work on the area for the British Schools Selection Race 12 months earlier and this also gave us a good start – something for which I am very thankful.

The hardest thing was working out exactly how long the courses should be and we must thank Helen Bridle for being our ‘victim’ and test running some of the courses at Christmas. This resulted in some ‘tweaking’ of the courses to comply with the guidelines. We have now done the first South West Middle Distance Championships and it is our hope that it will become a regular South West event in future years.

I must thank Ian Sayer for his help as a controller in keeping us on task and making sure everything was correct He did an excellent job.

Finally thanks to the WIM helpers on the day for collecting in all the equipment.

I prefer to plan rather than organise, but the organiser’s job is made quite easy when there are experienced club members who are so willing to help. So thank you to my team leaders and their helpers for all your hard work in making the event a success. A big thank you too to Sandford School for the use of the hard standing for car parking, and the use of the school buildings. In particular thank you to Andy Kent for facilitating the School permissions and standing in as caretaker on the day. Although the weather had calmed down for our event the permission to use Sandford School meant we were confident that we could proceed with the event in all but the most extreme February conditions.

The inaugural South West Middle Distance Championships set the standard for others to follow. Chris's courses made excellent use of a compact yet surprisingly technical area to offer exactly what middle distance orienteering should be about. Short legs with many changes of direction through varied terrain using a variety of different features as control sites. This ensures that the competitor has to stay focussed all the time. Chris managed to keep most of you off tracks which meant there was no luxury of track runs to plan ahead. The winning times fit the guidelines apart from Course 2 which is slightly long, but I suspect that this is more due to low numbers of W20 and W21 competitors rather than the course itself. Whilst the distance from the school to the competition area was not ideal for some of the younger or older competitors the good weather on the day meant that this pleasant walk was at least a good warm up. Well done Wimborne.

Ian Sayer (Wessex)