COATHAM WOODS 28-Mar-2007 ORGANISER'S COMMENTS

We hope you all enjoyed the new venue, made available as a result of Phill Batts' Battsman Mapping with permission from The Tees Forest and Forest Enterprise.  As time passes and trees grow this will become a challenging area.

Once again there were many disqualifications, especially on the Light Green course.  Both Phill and I believe – and this is borne out by comments from our patrollers – that many entrants on the more technical Light Green course are inadequately prepared for the navigational challenge.  Such preparation can hardly be achieved on school maps, and we recommend that coaching sessions take place on some of our competition areas – either with CLOK assistance or using your own P.E. staff.  We appreciate the pressure to gain Light Green standard for GCSE, but points can also be gained on the Orange course, and certainly the less able competitors will benefit from doing better on the easier course than being totally ou6 of their depth on the Light Green.

We are currently in consultation with the National Governing Body on this point and hope to issue some guidance notes on GCSE assessment in due course.

There were some very impressive results on the White course, with a super-fast winning time, and 20 people within 3 minutes of the winner.  No doubt he or she who can place their EMIT cards quickly and without fuss will gain several positions in the results by so doing!  Congratulations also to Grangefield School – relative newcomers – for winning the Light Green course ahead of the usual suspects.

Thanks once again to CLOK's volunteer team – Alison Elder, Judith Robb, Joan Selby and Gill Hardy on the start, Ann and Joe Dobbs and Eileen and John Bedwell on the finish, Gerald Helm and Malcolm Conway patrolling, Pete Partington parking and Phill for the course planning.

Next term sees the final three events of the league, all on Wednesdays –
>> 2nd May at Summerhill, Hartlepool;
>> 6th June at Flatts Lane, Normanby; and
>> 20th June at Errington Woods.

Flyers will be posted on the CLOK web site at www.clok.org.uk in good time, and we hope to see you there.

Mike Hardy
Orienteering Development Officer
Cleveland Orienteering Klub
Telephone:   01287-624521
Fax:  01287-625301