WIM Winter Warmer Ibsley Common 3rd Feb 2013
Photographs - a few pictures from the Start
Organiser's comments
It's rare nowadays to have comments by the organiser but the event at Ibsley was rather special. You made the event a success! With car parking at a premium I had asked all competitors to try to share transport. You did and it worked! 250 entrants should mean 125 cars and that is what happened. Thank you for being so helpful.
I am even more in debt to some special souls who parked away from the event and cycled the last bit! 100 cars were parked round the village hall with the balance not too far away so there were no excessive walks to the event centre.
I was pleased to hear many favourable comments on the courses and I hope that you were able to enjoy the rare social treat of an indoor event centre with all facilities. When was the last time that you were at an event where there were not only refreshments but you could sit indoors at tables with table cloths and enjoy the apres 'O' .Thanks go to the ladies of the Hyde Pre-School group for food and drink.
All the club helpers worked willingly as usual with the normal duties – putting out controls, handling parking, manning registration and download, running the start, collecting signs, controls etc, but I'm especially grateful to the group who cleared the hall, the side rooms, the toilets and the kitchen not only with brooms and brushes but also mopping off all traces of mud. When the caretaker appeared during the late afternoon she was absolutely amazed and grateful. So am I! Thank you all.
John Warren
Planner's Comments
On our visits to Ibsley with 4 weeks to go before the event it was really cold with very strong winds making headway difficult. Three weeks and the rain was being driven sideways with the wind, with very large puddles all over the common. Two weeks to go it was covered in snow. We were thinking the courses were going to be very tough with many competitors cold wet and tired and therefore not feeling happy.
One week to go, plus the day before the event the weather was beautiful and we wanted to make the courses longer as we were sure everyone would enjoy it although we worried that with such a open area on a nice day it might be a bit of a procession following other competitors on the same course. Hence Jo and I had some controls close together and tried to crisscross the courses as much as we could, also a few easy controls to take you to a part of the common, to make the next legs more demanding. It is quite difficult in a open area to lose you all and hope we made the courses a good fast test, times look quite good to the regulations although the blue was a little short in my estimation. We had many good discussions on the rules and went back to some control sites 3 or 4 times to study them, so hopefully it has also helped us when we are next orienteering again. Thank you for all the advice and help we were given, it was gratefully received. Thanks to John for superb organising and Peter for controlling.
Kevin Pickering