White Rose 2007 weekend has drawn to a close, the equipment has been returned to EBOR’s store and despite a fair bit of paperwork outstanding, there is now time to reflect on the outcome – after some 9 months planning and preparation.
Of course the weather couldn’t have been much better, and that was a big help in providing a great weekend for everybody, but I think that the organisational team’s approach had an impact as well.
So maybe, now is the time to come clean!
In the 80’s, I was an enthusiastic member of a largish O club “down south.” Some 30 – 40 of us headed north every August for White Rose – it was an essential part of the O calendar. In the late 80’s however, I (and many fellow club members) began to wonder if the event was losing its attraction. For two years running we seemed to encounter, indifferent forests, unattractive campsite fields – usually accompanied by the output of whatever animal grazed there until 2 days before the event – and (regrettably) aggressive and customer unfriendly organisation.
In 1990, I wrote in my (then) Club newsletter that I (and as I rightly suspected most of my club-mates) wouldn’t be back to the White Rose again! With hindsight a sad outcome, as an O holiday weekend with the heritage and potential of White Rose really needed a second chance.
The trend (and opinions) in our club at that time was reflected elsewhere, and attendance at White Rose dropped over 10+ years from 1700 to 600.
For Pauline and me, the second chance came in 2003, when we found ourselves relocating from SE England to the edge of the NY Moors, and EBOR was the Club we had to join. Dare I admit the “baggage” I was bringing with me to my new club? Could I still really get involved with White Rose now?
Having organised two or three multi-day events, as well as numerous badge and the odd national event over the last 20 years, I have formed a few opinions about how these events should work. Fundamentally (and I [sort-of] apologise for sounding so corporate) they should assume that the organising club is providing a leisure product for people that are paying (in the case of WR) quite a lot to take part. And it follows that product and service quality should therefore be as high as possible.
So on agreeing to take on the organisation of White Rose in late 2006, I started from this base line, and planned that we should seek to deliver:
Nine months later, the event has happened and a small army of fantastic EBOR members have worked hard to deliver a result, hopefully that met the above objectives as far as possible.
We were fortunate in having excellent and highly experienced planners in Steve Whitehead, Graham Capper, Richard Clark, Steve Corrigan and Dave Lloyd. The warm spring followed by the very wet June and July brought the vegetation on rather faster than we would have liked, but did not seriously detract from the overall planning strategies that had been applied by the team.
Our search for an excellent campsite took time and perseverance. Keith McDermott, (EBOR’s Land Access Negotiator) and I looked at numerous fields and decided on the meadow alongside Raindale Road at an early stage. It appealed as it is used solely for silage production; it is dry and level and is not used for grazing. We encountered serious opposition from nearby residents, but continued to maintain positive contact with them and others and eventually obtained the agreement we sought - that we could use this excellent field. Its owner suggested at a late stage that we should use the (recently harvested) field to the N for day parking – an inspired suggestion. We finally approached the weekend with two assembly fields that would provide the best holiday possible for our customers.
Our toilets, water and refuse contractors were briefed and knew their roles – so now it was just about making the event happen.
To provide added value to the weekend, we naturally invited Wilf’s Café, CompassPoint and Ultrasport. But we also asked Peter Cull if he would be willing to come along to provide a premium photography service. I was really pleased when Peter said that he would attend, and the hundreds of images now available at his website provide a fantastic memory of a great weekend. Please support Peter by ordering photos from him.
So it’s over now and (from the messages we have received) we believe that our customers enjoyed the event. Attendance was well up on recent years – a great result for the event team – and an indication that our plans were in line with what people wanted.
Of course we had a few problems but I hope that most of them were invisible to most of our customers. I do apologise for the state of the portaloos on Sunday between 1100 and 1300hrs. Our attendance was 100+ above the level planned, and our toilet support team was a few minutes late arriving. I also apologise for disappointed team score runners-up – who didn’t get a WR mug this year. We are checking stocks to see if we can rectify this belatedly.
It is important that I acknowledge the event team:
Finally…….
THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR SUPPORTING WHITE ROSE 2007.
White Rose Orienteering has a great future
– good orienteering, good terrain, good assembly field, good management, great atmosphere.
Perhaps I was too judgemental too quick in 1990! See you again at the next White Rose!
Bill Griffiths (EBOR)
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I really enjoyed planning the courses on the relative wilderness of Stony Moor and the landslips of the eastern slope. It was wonderful in the snow of February and stayed dry all winter. Indeed, in April I was worried that we'd have to call the event off due to the fire risk! In July and August I was wading around up to my knees in water. Thank goodness for the dry week before the event.
Remember, whatever route choice you use, for a leg longer than 150m, you really need an attack point....
Steve Whitehead (EBOR)
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I chose the Start/Finish area for the views across to Levisham Moor. It was a fine night so that paid off. I was concerned that 30 minutes wasn’t long enough but people were tired from the daytime activity and I think 30mins was just about right, so that paid off.
It was great to see 100+ competitors turn up for the mass start. They all arrived at the collecting area, headlamps blazing, and there was a real buzz of anticipation. With 30 seconds to go everyone was able to look at their map and the whole place fell silent. The hooter went at 9pm and there was absolute chaos for about 20secs as three large groups charged off in 3 different directions. Then suddenly it all fell silent again. There was a glow above the forest from the lines of headlights charging around.
We just had time to finish our BBQ and have a beer before the first people started arriving back at the finish. Some 26 minutes passed then Alana Wright (W16 CLOK) was the first back in. Then around the 30 minute mark it was all chaos again as everyone was rushing in to save getting time penalties. We sounded the hooter again so those still in the forest would know time was up.
At the finish it was a great atmosphere again as everyone was discussing what had happened. It was very sociable and just great fun. You wouldn’t believe so much could happen in a short space of time.
One story I heard was, at the start of the race, the group that headed north followed the leader off the map! All done under the pressure of the situation.
It was the ideal area to achieve what I wanted, with a criss-crossing ride network and a forest road around the outside, giving controls for all abilities, and plenty of loops to make people think and having to study the optimum routes.
Thanks to Bill Griffiths for trusting me and letting me run with the idea and to Dennis Hooton, Peter Bean, David Sowden, Danny Adams and Luke Pentith for their help.
Steve Corrigan (EBOR)
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Thanks for the comments on day 2 courses; I’m pleased most of you enjoyed your runs. Doing 10min kms in Pickering Forest is good going - those who ran faster I’m impressed. Don't forget to check for ticks I was covered in them on Sunday evening!
Graham Capper (EBOR)
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Thanks to Dave Lloyd who planned this event as well as the usual band of helpers who make the event run so smoothly that I can get out for a ride. It was rewarding to see the numbers back up to nearly 140 – especially as it was a bank holiday weekend and there had been another event at Malham only 2 days earlier. I hope the orienteers who took part enjoyed riding after 3 tiring days of running in the same forests.
I decided to issue race numbers so that the vast majority of you who are honest riders would be re-assured that something was being done to deter the small minority from using out of bounds tracks. I think I should have ordered more substantial numbers but as there are still 850 left I think they will have to do for the next few events!!
I am sorry that the queue was so large for entries on the day but there were over 60 of you when we normally only get about 30. We don’t charge extra for EOD but it makes it easier for us and quicker for you if you can pre-enter.
I thought the course was excellent with a big choice as to whether to go for the valley and moors or the forest – unless you are called Andrew Windrum who can do both. I made the pleasant mistake of setting off over Stoney Moor which is one of the prettiest but most awkward bridleways in the county. However I was rewarded later on with superb views over the purple heather in the Hole of Horcum on the way to #28 plus a brass band while I waited for 2 steam engines to leave Levisham Station. The event was called Newtondale Forest and I didn’t score a single point inside the forest boundary.
Andrew Windrum won by over 50 points but may not have enough events left to catch Nick Harmer who had a steady ride. Veteran Dickie Jones was second overall but Mike Naylor retains the lead in this class. Emily Brooks came over from Cumbria and repeated her excellent performance at Malham by finishing ahead of all the other women including a pregnant Heather Monro!! and the reliable Karen Blackburn. Mike Barnard didn’t let his fall on Saturday slow him down too much and John Tiffany dominated the over-60s. Stephen & Tim Martin rode well but Dean & Zac Field scored well enough to retain the lead in the league. Dave Day & Roz Bardon won the battle of the mixed teams but John and Amanda Meeks retain the lead in their class. Jess Appleton was up against a couple of lads this month and wasn’t too far behind so continues to lead the Youth class while her Dad gets over his knee operation.
Steve Willis
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We first visited the area in May and found Stoney Moor to be runnable but tricky. Nearer to the event after much rain and sun, the vegetation growth certainly slowed the running speeds down.
On the slopes to the east and north the rains meant that many areas became unmapped marshes but luckily these mostly dried out by the time of the event.
Steve and Graham planned challenging courses and managed to achieve a compromise where the winning times were about right and the slowest competitors were not out too long. I felt that Richard had set controls too far away for the relay but I was wrong and a lot of teams managed to get to and from the furthest controls within the time limit. I congratulate you!
There were some comments about the difficulty of the JM/W 1 – White course on day 1. They were all planned to BOF guidelines. Some of the paths were indistinct and we taped those sections but not those where the path was clear. Tapes are only used as a last resort on Junior courses – youngsters should be capable of getting round on their own. However we could not have anticipated the 40ft Rowan tree that fell down across one of the paths between Steve putting the stakes out at 7pm and Juliet checking and placing the boxes at 8am the next day. Thankfully it did not fall on a competitor!
We had two minor problems – on day 2 one SI box was not placed in time and on the relays one box was not replaced after day 2. I believe that all affected runners had their times / scores altered but if anyone is still affected please let the club know.
As always, EBOR ran the event with great efficiency and made our job much easier.
Finally, as I announced at the prize-giving, after 6 White Roses and about 25 plus Badge / Regional events I have decided to downgrade to a Grade 3 controller – you might find me at a local event or even competing next year.
David (with a very able assistant in Juliet) Morgan