Epping East (National)
Organisers’ Report
Congratulations to SLOW who finished top in our region’s Compass Sport Cup qualifier, and progress to the Cup Final, and to SAX, NOR, DFOK and SOS who all qualified for the Trophy Final. Commiserations to all other teams and perhaps especially HH who missed out by a mere 5 points finishing on 2415 to SLOW’s 2420. SO finished in 3rd on 2403 – a close run thing! Well done to all competitors and for representing your respective clubs in the competition.
This was our 2nd major event in Epping Forest in as many months; this time, strong winds held off. Harold Wyber’s courses made great use of a varied and contoured forest area and were very positively received by competitors. The long walk to and from the start did not appear to impact the finishing times which seemed (to my untrained eye) rapid, perhaps due to the relative runnability of the forest at this time of year. One competitor reported a minor injured (twisted ankle/ligaments) – very best wishes for your recovery. Our apologies for insufficient toilet provision – which did result in some competitors queuing and some impact to start times - a lesson learned. The somewhat fragmented parking provision did not appear to significantly impact – the main car park area at Roding Valley High School, which we have previously been able to use, was out of use this time due to remedial construction work on school buildings.
Thanks to Harold, for course planning; to Tony Maycraft, for re-mapping the area and taking charge on the day; to Ray Curtis, for organising the event and now hopefully enjoying some r & r in NZ; to Dave Chapman, for controlling, and excellent advice in the run up to and on the day; and to all the CHIG helper team, with particular thanks to Ray Weekes, for masterminding the compilation of competitor lists and the complexities of CSC scoring, getting Live Results working on the day, and managing download; to Tim Pribul and the Start team for getting everyone away from a tight start area professionally and safely; and to James Corney, who provided First Aid cover (unused) and kept an eye on the clothing dump. Finally, our thanks go to Roding Valley High School for the use of their facilities; and to Epping Forest and the City of London Corporation, for our continued use of this beautiful forest.
Lost property - top/high vis jacket/shoes in black bag, water bottle, dibber. Click here to claim.
Dave Chapman, Controller
As I drove home round the M25 I reflected on a very successful event.
Harold’s courses took you, the competitors, into the best of the terrain, and sometimes though the worst; I was able to avoid most of the marshes when checking the controls (which were put out by a very efficient team), but I heard a few stories about those who took the direct route! I also heard some very positive comments on the courses, so well done Harold.
Mapping a generally open forest, containing areas of holly, and used extensively by the public, is a challenge – which holly bush to map, which new path to include etc.; the leaf coverage on the forest floor hiding some paths and fallen trees blocking others. I did ask Tony to look at a couple of areas, which he did very promptly, so I think that the map was a fairly good representation of the land.
The CHIG Organisation was very effective. All my questions were answered immediately with confirmation that the appropriate action was being taken.
A few competitors didn’t run the course for which they were entered which is probably caused by the course structure and naming for CSC. Club Captains may want to note that it is imperative that all run the nominated course as they can’t score club points on a different course.
The final results were very close so congratulations to SLOW in the Cup and SAX in the Trophy, and commiseration to the other clubs.
Harold Wyber, Planner
While I have planned a number of events in Epping Forest, this was my first time planning in Epping East, and also my first go at planning a CompassSport Cup qualifier event, so I was excited but also imbued with some trepidation as to whether I would be able to do this area and this level of competition justice from my courses. Epping East isn't quite the most contour-strewn of CHIG's Epping Forest areas - that title arguable goes to Epping Far East, which we used last month for the rescheduled 2024 Mitre - but it's certain got a plentiful supply of valleys, spurs and re-entrants in the middle and southern parts of the area, as well as the additional contour detail of Loughton Camp and the pits and depressions just to the north east of this Bronze Age feature.
With this to play with, I tried to ensure that all courses got to make good use of the terrain and to try to provide both a technical and physical challenge, with generally good runnability making it possible to avoid path running for a lot of the time, although fairly extensive selection of small plus some major paths provides indirect options for competitors. Looking at the traces of the competitors who have already put their routes up on RouteGadget, it certainly looks like the courses had the desired effect of generating lots of route options. The denser vegetation on the south-east edge of the map provided a further source of navigational challenge, and it was interesting to see how competitors tackled this.
Ultimately it was great to hear positive comments from competitors who I spoke to at the finish, and I really hope that everyone who took part enjoyed the event! If you do have any comments or constructive feedback, please feel free to get in touch as it would be good to receive your views. I would like to thank Dave Chapman for his advice and guidance as controller, Matthew Volkes and Jacob Stevens for their help with putting out controls (I think we had them all out in record time, at least in my experience as a planner), Tony Maycraft for his support as assistant controller, and Tom Elgood, Donatis Tumaitis and Matthew again for their help in collecting controls in.