Sunday 20th July 2008 Bike O and Trailquest at Harwood

Organiser: Richard Field
Planner:   Mike Anderson

Revised as the result of an appeal, which has been allowed. Team 17 have been awarded an additional 50 points for confirmed and corroborated visits to controls 15 and 22.

Organiser's Comments

The strong breeze in a hilly, and sometimes muddy, area made this a very tough day and this was reflected in the by the average number of controls visited being only 4.3. The main disappointment was the vandalism to controls 15, 19 and 22. I have credited the early starters with the lost points but not, I'm afraid, the lost time. Our intention to put out emergency tapes was thwarted by the wet weather on Saturday. One competitor was seen OOB on a farm track, marked on the map as not to be used, and was penalised the notional time saved.

My thanks to Mick Anderson who spent 9 hours in the pouring rain on Saturday putting out and certainly set some challenging routes. Also thanks to Mick's family, Peter Firth (Registration), Neil Sprot (Start/Finish), and John Crosby (First Aid).

Our thanks also The Forestry Commission (Harwood Forest) and The National Trust (Greenleighton Quarry).

Richard Field (Organiser)

Planner's Comments

Thank you for the opportunity to plan a bike orienteering event. It is quite a challenge especially when the weather in the planning stage precludes some of the control sites being visited. It was a challenge putting the controls out on the Saturday and the feeling of outrage on Sunday when controls were reported as missing has still not diminished. I did offer to buy the person who visited all the controls a pint in the sure knowledge that this could not be done in 2 hours. I tried to offer a variety of route choice totally off road, some road and a mixture of the two. Hindsight, after putting the controls out, because of the terrain the area could have been shrunk with no loss of choice. I enjoyed the experience and hope the competitors did likewise.

Mike Anderson