Birch Hagg

 

Despite the damp weather, most people seemed to have enjoyed thier courses. If the weather had been fine, the moorland legs would have been much easier, as it was possible on the west moors to avoid some of the worst of the knee high heather, as long as you could spot the (slightly) shorter areas.

Thinning of Birch scrub two days before the event did affect the white and yellow courses a little, so a taped route was added as a precaution at one obstructed corner. Most people didn't seem worried by this.

The longer courses had interesting route choices to make to get from the west side to the east. You had a choice of using the bridges or paddling across the river. Most took the river. If chosen carefully, one could cross without getting wet above the knees.The river was scrutinized carefully on the Saturday and Sunday and had maintained a constant level. The choice was therefore the responsibility of the individual.

Apart from the blue course, winning times were close to expected. On reflection, the blue ended up taking longer due to the amount of climb.

I was impressed by the quality of the courses devised by Helen . It is not easy planning your first event when access is restricted due to shooting and one is aware that the map needs a major update, but one can't get in to do it!

On the day, I thought every thing went pretty smoothly under Nev's very experienced organisation. Congratulations to all the helpers.

The only real concern was at the end, when we thought we would have to organise a search for a competitor who, we worked out eventually, must have gone home without downloading! As it was, it meant getting home at about 5pm. A long day, but worth it.

Mike Ridealgh