Officials
Controller: Julian Warren (NN)Organiser
Every so often we allow John Crosby a day off from organising or planning. His recent decision to move house was deemed a valid excuse and Adrian Barnes kindly stepped in to plan three weeks before the event.
Organisation in NATO is an easy task with chores delegated to team leaders. Many thanks to car parking, registration, start and finish teams including a few helpers who turned up just to help and not run. On the day everything went very smoothly apart from the overnight appearance of a horse in one of the fields some courses ran through. Fortunately the owner was swiftly located and the horse stabled elsewhere. Thanks to Mr. R Bateson, the landowner at Callaly and the residents of Owlet Hall who allowed orienteers free passage around the property. Julian Warren of Northern Navigators gave up on a Trophy run to act as Controller.
On the day the sun shone brightly and views over to a snow capped Cheviot were wonderful. Less than 24 hours earlier things looked quite different. Ro and I drove up from Morpeth in bright sunshine only to be greeted by a wall of black cloud just as we reached the turn off point from the Bridge of Aln . The planner and assistant (Fred) had just come off the moor in time but Julian had just ventured onto the area. Nobody would have doubted the "cagoule rule" if they had seen the conditions and for a while on Sunday we thought we might be in for a repeat performance.
I didn't actually have to do anything on the day so like the rest of you enjoyed a challenging run over a superb technical but physical area. Well done to SYO and CLARO who I believe were Cup and Trophy winners on the day.
Colin Matheson
Planner:
Lost Property: One Sock
Lost souls: Thanks to the CLARO runner who completed his course carrying his sole back rather than leaving it in the woods.