Results and Split Times
Routegadget & Splitsbrowser
WinSplits
BOF Ranking Points
If you’ve enjoyed a weekend of O in East Anglia, with Sandringham yesterday and Bawsey today, then be sure to check out another double-header in our region, Springtime in the East – 20/21 April, in South Norfolk & North Suffolk, easily accessible from the A11 & A14 respectively.
Organiser’s Comments
Thank you to over 150 of you who came, including some newcomers attracted to a local venue. We had lots of good feedback, in spite of the weather.
I think it’s true across a lot of clubs that our membership is getting smaller, we’re all getting older, and overall it is getting harder to get enough volunteers to run an event. I am therefore especially grateful to some hardcore NOR volunteers who turned up and stayed for double shifts, in spite of it also being Mother’s Day. Please offer your help at your club and keep the shifts shorter!
It has been a pleasure working with the team for this event, the Planner and Controller are also volunteers and made my work easy. Thank you to Richard Wilkins from Bawsey Country Park who has been consistently helpful and keen to promote the event locally, and agreed to half price parking. We’re hoping to work with him to establish a Permanent Course which may kindle more interest locally.
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend in West Norfolk and we’ll see you all again.
Julia Paul
Planner’s Comments
Billed as a somewhat lower key, warm-down event following the Midland Champs at Sandringham on the Saturday I think the physical nature of the Bawsey terrain may have been a somewhat sharp and hopefully pleasant surprise for competitors. Planning and surveying at Bawsey with an ever evolving map was a thoroughly enjoyable endeavour. The small size of the area certainly limited the amount of technical and compass-based orienteering but hopefully plenty of small route choices were to be found. Owing to the huge amount of rain we’ve experienced over the past couple of weeks some paths were now underwater, one vanished entirely, and many sections now resembled bogs! However I hope that the courses were fair and challenging and showcased a new area that can become a permanent fixture on the East Anglian orienteering calendar.
Hopefully everyone went home tired and satisfied after a challenging weekend in West Norfolk. I’d like to give a big thank you to Richard at Bawsey Country Park for being so accommodating, and to Controller Mike Capper for his very sound and thorough approach. Thank you also to Organiser Julia Paul and all of the volunteers that made the day run very smoothly.
David Sparshott.
Controller’s Comments
I’ve had my eyes on Bawsey for about 30 years, so it was great to be asked to control the first event on this completely new area. The area has a fantastic industrial past, and it was fun to spot relics of this on my visits before the event.
The area is small and has its limitation, but it is a fun area and hopefully provided a few interesting challenges. When we got the first map draft both David and I came up with ideas that involved long runs around the eastern lake. We fairly quickly realised that this added little value other than distance and hence the final drafts focused on the more interesting parts of the map that we ended up using. I was mindful of the potential dangers of the steepest slopes, especially for older competitors – at times on our visits, they were incredibly slippery, and we decided to keep all but the Brown and Blue courses off these slopes. Hopefully, the warnings about the need for well-studded shoes on these courses were heeded!
David worked really hard on the map and then adjusting courses to make them fair and (hopefully) fun. It was great to have such positive feedback on the day, especially from the first-time orienteers. There seemed to be very few problems, although apologies for the flooded path on Blue and Brown. Also, on Brown, for 22-23, we shouldn’t have bent the red line around the lake – my mistake that negated a potential route choice.
Finally, I must acknowledge the great support we received from the owners, Bawsey Estate and Country Park. They are keen to extend the use of the park and were so welcoming. It was super to have such a good car park with good toilets and an excellent café – I hoped you tried their fare! There should also be a special mention to Richard, the Senior Park Ranger, who was superbly helpful throughout the planning process and helped to make the day so successful.
Mike Capper.
