Although many of you might think otherwise, we were actually very lucky with the weather on the day. It was unfortunate that it started raining in the evening, but luckily this was after a dry spell, albeit a short one. Our big worry had been the small river down the middle of the valley, which had been a torrent on my previous visit, and certainly too dangerous to cross in the dark. We thought we might have to alter the courses at the last minute, but fortunately this wasn't necessary.

I suspect that I'm in the same position as many of the competitors at Tockholes - I'm familiar with the area, but not at night. I knew that George's courses would be challenging in the dark, but I was surprised by the high retiral rate on the Green course. In daylight, this would have been a fair course, and I would have expected finishers to be within guideline times. Perhaps the Green should have been shorter, but I wonder whether a night event offering only 3 courses should have the middle course as Light Green?

I've saved my most important comment to last, and that is a huge "Thank You" to Steve McLean. Having conquered the Blue course, returning very wet & muddy, Steve had the unwelcome news that he couldn't download due to a problem with the SI computer system. He volunteered to stay until the end of the event, downloading the results to his own laptop, without which there may have been no results at all. Thanks, Steve, we all owe you one.

Bill Cook, SROC.

Planner's Comments:

Well, it's over. Many hours in the forest, and many hours in the arm chair! It is a good runnable forest for the most part, so I tried to maximise route choice options and, judging by comments, I succeeded on many of the Blue and Green legs. Most of the retirements on these courses were in the more densely forested areas at the southern end of the map.

Blue was planned as a daytime Blue, run at night - it worked. However, Green should have been de-tuned to take account of the darkness - it wasn't, and I apologise to the many retirees for that. With hindsight I should have made more concessions to the difficulty if not to the
distance.

Orange worked well apart from one control (No 4, Spur top) which stumped a few. The area was accurately mapped and the kite accurately positioned. The spur was much higher, above the level of the middle path on the dam, than many competitors realised. I hope this didn't spoil your enjoyment.

I must proffer thanks to the usual band of PFO stalwarts who helped (wetly) on the night, to Bill Griffiths for collecting kites on Sunday and to Bill Cook for guidance and, above all, hazard taping The Ravine to save unwise Blue competitors from certain death. There were only two route choices, either above or below The Ravine. I don't know which route was quickest but Quentin Harding's was it - almost a minute faster than all his rivals.

The colour awards are as follows:

Blue Colour Award: All finishers faster than 1:23:36. (50% off all starters rule applies.)

Green Colour Award: All finishers faster than 1:53:27. (50% off all starters rule applies.)

Orange Colour Award: All finishers faster than 1:10:10. (Winner's time +50% rule applies.)

One good thing came out of our results difficulties. Those who waited around for the alternative download in the pub (instead of the wet and windy car park) managed a drink and, for some, a meal. The social contact plus the oportunity to dry out and curse the planner was much appreciated.

Next time, I recommend we pre-plan the pub download.

George Crawford-Smith, PFO.

Organiser's comments:

This was a small event with not much to do other than shepherd competitors from registration to start, and finish to pub download.

My thanks go to all the helpers on the night and especially those who saved the day by jumping once more into the breech.

At the end I was cold and wet and glad to get home at the end of an eventful night. And doubly glad, that no search party was required.

Wendy Crawford-Smith, PFO.