The (provisional) results are out: Results for CS SW Heat 2022,Ramscombe, Quantock Hills - 13 Feb 2022 - Provisional
Thank you everyone who braved the weather, especially the volunteers.
How did you find your course? Are you pleased with your result? Post your analysis below.
I didn’t get out on the courses, but I heard a lot of positive comments on the courses.
I’m not sure if we were lucky or unlucky with the weather. Had it been marginally more windy we’d have had to cancel, but on the hand we were one day away from having a pleasant spring day.
This could have been a complete wash-out, but somehow there was a positive atmosphere, I think the friendly helper team managed to lift the mood.
I really enjoyed it 
(more detailed write up to follow!)
All the helpers were fantastic as ever despite the weather conditions.
Thought I’d share a few comments that have come to me in emails so far:
Just a quick line to say thanks to you and your team for being brave enough to keep the event on. It was a bit wild at times but worth it. I feel sorry for those collecting controls in. Well done.
On behalf of the club (WSX), I’d like to say a big thank you for organising the event, accommodating our entry method request, and keeping us well informed with the weather situation. It wasn’t so bad running in it but thank you to all your volunteers who had to stand around in those conditions. Most people enjoyed their runs, and I haven’t heard any major complaints about the map or controls, which is a rarity! Well done all.
Just wanted to pass on my thanks and that of everyone at WIM to yourself and the whole QO team for an excellent event today. We recognize how much work is involved especially hosting the CSC qualifier and all the extra admin this entails - it is very much appreciated!
Congratulations to all at QO for putting on such a successful weekend of orienteering. I am sure the competitors would like to thank all involved for the sterling efforts both before and on the day. Despite the weather, the Day Two courses were well received and enjoyed by many. Its adverse conditions that test an organisation but all went well. The resilience and good humour of the volunteers was inspiring. I do hope all involved in the promotion and delivery of the event enjoyed their experience and we are back in the truly outstandingly beautiful Quantocks for more competition in the not too distant future.
SBOC would like to say a huge thank you to Quantock Orienteers for putting on a great event in wet and windy circumstances. The assembly site with shelter was ideal and the forests challenging. Many thanks from all of us.
Many thanks to you and all helpers for putting on yesterday’s event in adverse conditions.
Just wanted to thank you and Quantock Orienteers for a great weekend of orienteering. I managed to run all three of the events you put on and really enjoyed them all. Even the weather on Sunday didn’t put me off.
Thanks to you and QO for an excellent event yesterday. Despite the miserable weather everything ran smoothly, the courses were good and the results were promptly available. What more could we competitors ask for? I was concerned for you when the weather forecast deteriorated. During my run, I barely noticed the wind and even the rain was not continuous. It was definitely the right decision to go ahead, but then that is easier to see with hindsight. I hope we did not do too much damage to the campsite’s grass and they allow you back again.
Just a short note to thank you and the team for an excellent event on Sunday. I thought the organisation and layout was first class and I thoroughly enjoyed my run in the rain.
On behalf of Devon OC, I’d also like to add my thanks to the main officials and all the helpers from QO for an enjoyable event (and for Saturday’s urban for those of us who did both). It was a lot of work to put on 2 days, so well done and thanks.
Well deserved praise @RichardS. I would also like to give an honorary mention to whoever put out the road signs, as it was very well signed from the Pines Cafe junction onwards. The assembly was a great area, which I hope we can use in the future.
As for my run on short brown. I very much enjoyed the warm-up control 1 (it is always nice to have a simpler control at the start), but I think the conservative route to 2 along the path was a poor choice, and I then started making little mistakes - miscounting paths to 3, abandoning my compass bearing to 4 and struggled to see the distinctive vegetation boundary (or the control site) at 7. I did make up for it by somehow being the fastest up the hill to control 8, but the success did not last long - 9 was a disaster with a slightly off compass bearing ultimately losing me 6 minutes as I struggled to relocate and I totally missed the fast path around the hill to 10. The rest of the course went ok, although I again missed a vegetation boundary at 15 losing another 4 minutes. The crazy reckless sprint down the hill to the finish made up for it all - my second favourite finish (after the sand dune at Braunton Burrows last year).
Despite my woes, I actually really enjoyed myself on the course - it tested my orienteering skills and the terrain was great - I hope we can come back for a QOFL sometime soon! Thank you Steve, Richard and all the volunteers, and it was great to see a good turnout from other clubs making the journey despite the weather.
Planner’s comments from Steve Robertson:
I was fortunate to have an updated map completed at the same time of year as the event, live close to the competition area and have plenty of time available for planning. Unfortunately, time was plentiful with the cancellation of many of my other activities during Covid lockdowns.
I found the amount of ‘green’ on the map disappointing but hopefully I managed to arrange the courses so that you visited most of the runnable terrain.
The main issue while planning was to set a reasonable length /climb combination for each course to achieve reasonable winning times. The CompassSport course/age categories are such that experienced orienteers are often ‘running down’ compared with the course they normally run. This can result short winning times.
After extended Planner – Controller discussions and comparison with BOF guidelines plus previous CSC event winning times on the Quantocks --we focused on running time. This meant that some of the course length/combinations were higher than BOF guidelines. Despite this the winning times were as I expected with only one exception. The Short Brown (M20-, M40+) course where there were no M20’s and most competitors were M45+ – hence a winning time longer than expected.
Despite the weather, feedback at download was that the courses were challenging but seemed to have been enjoyed by many competitors.
What more could a Planner want for the hours spend pouring over maps and plodding through the forest?
Thank you for coming and braving the elements.
Hopefully see you in a sunlight forest in the future.
Steve Robertson