Well, that was an interesting one to do corrections on! I wasn’t able to run as my daughter had a performance, so the flurry of emails was amusing. I have now granted control #25 to all those whose tracks showed they’d tried to find a way through the barrier that had been erected just before the event.
Sadly, one person fell foul of the long score rules and ended up with a poor score as a result. Two controls in the same colour punched in a row declares the first block and then when two of the other colour are punched in a row that declares the other block.
Route choice taking this into account is part of the game. We will only remove punches that affect this if it was clear they were erroneous - eg. runner was on one street and the control was on another. Or, of course, if it was actually impossible to get out of the start without triggering the second block (but that should be caught at the controlling stage) - in this case whilst there was a blue in either direction out from the start, there was free choice of what to do next.
Thanks for the correction Alasdair. I would also observe that the control circle on the map for 60 does not correspond with the circle on MapRun6 which cost me 60 points!
I always thought it was 3 in a row (and it is not written down anywhere in any event details). I also was never aware that it was fair game to purposely get trapped by the colours, and again this is not clear on any information on the website about these events. MapRuns, to me, are about finding the most efficient route to do each course within the time limit and it is the planner’s job to minimise the opportunity to accidentally cross colours.
It would be good to hear from the planner to know if it was deliberate or an accident that there were opportunities to switch blocks without realising it. I think Richard also lost points this way. In a way I quite like it and with a few more complex rules it would be like playing chess blindfolded.
Good point Rosie about #60. It looks like the map is derived directly from Openstreetmap but I am convinced it is incorrect here. This is backed up by the different position of the control circle on the paper map. Also none of the tracks that hit the control transit the diagonal small connecting path.
I was with Pete at the time and after hitting the dead end, I double back and carried on past the last house (mapped as white) and there was an unmapped footpath along its edge heading north to the control.
I would like to say I enjoyed my run, plenty to think about and the map printing was excellent - a challenge working out what the black lines were in places but glad I had a magnifier.
Sorry that happened at #60.
This is a common issue to do with fitting a 2D map into a 3D representation of the world. It might also be due to a mapping error (planners do update OpenStreetMap before these events but it is possible to miss things or have someone else make a change to the dataset after you).
We always advise using the paper map not the screen for navigating in an event just in case this comes up.
It is usual that the course shouldn’t be trying to trick you. @ChrisP - I agree that it brings an extra level of challenge which can be fun, but in this series we don’t normally do that (I’m now wondering about doing it deliberately for a Fox or a special event).
I will put the two controls thing back into the guidance - I’m sure it used to be there once upon a time. The interesting thing is it used to be considered that you didn’t deliberately run through a wrong colour (with the two punches acting as a safety net that wasn’t widely disseminated to avoid encouraging the practice).
As I have received more information from @daylightgambler it seems there was a control description that suggested a control was off to the side and could be safely bypassed. Stewards enquiry tonight…
Well I had a lousy run in hindsight. Having been fed a diet of Summer mapruns hosted by Devon where the format was equal points for all controls I took off with no real strategy at all apart from the aim obviously to go for quantity over quality! It was fairly obvious I wasn’t going to get everything so I discounted the far North and concentrated on the S of the map but ignored the hike out along the Whisky Trail to the (now very obvious!) 60 point reward! citing the likelihood of significant mud and water after all the rain of the week. That said my route from 45 to 33 obviously had to take a direct crossing of what I had hoped would be the usual mildly babbling brook- in fact it was more akin to the Amazon in the wet season coming up to the knees- so much for keeping the feet dry earlier.
Like the event here last year, I once again got it wrong in the area near 60 and never got to it wasting too much time and had instead to admit defeat and moved over to the cluster of controls around the church instead. I had 6 mins remaining at 42 so had to accept the painful decision that I didn’t have enough time to get to 61 so made the dash for home arriving with just under a minute spare.
Well done to Brian and Ray- a couple of minutes planning a strategy at the start certainly pays dividends.
Thanks QO. I enjoyed having a run out with my headtorch for a change. I was well over time, having taken a wrong turn and failing to take the time to check whre I was. More haste less speed next time!
I struggled to see the control circles, numbers and their colour at all on the map in the dark even with a decent headtorch. I don’t think all down to middle aged vision. Magnifier helped för fine detail but not for getting an overview. Is there a way to make the circles and colours more prominent? Otherwise I thought the map print was very crisp.
I just got back from work in the nick of time and enjoyed my run - a surprisingly good area and plenty of options to fill the 50 minutes. I have been marked down by the colour switch rule, but I know I did better than my official score - hey its only a bit of fun.
My main problem was trying to read the map. In my old age my eyesight is failing rapidly and I really struggled. I will have to take glasses next time. I found I could only just see the control circles! I took a guess that 60 was not easily accessible and I was right, but there were other locations where I guessed wrong and I ran into several unexpected dead ends. North-north-east of 23 for example.
Also, no-one else has mentioned it - but it looks as if the map is reduced from A3 to A4. That explains the small circles and fine lines. The scale gives it away!
Good spot about the scale Richard, I couldn’t find it while running and yes it has shrunk! I wondered if the circles were related to the 8m GPS radius.
We usually make the circles and numbers larger than IOF standard to make them easier to see at night. So if they were small then you are probably right about an A3 map being printed at A4. I’m pretty sure last time we used Bishop’s Lydeard it was A3.
Thanks Andy, I guessed that as similar to last time we could take in Whisky Trail and get to cross the stream so I used trail shoes and maybe could have done with a lifebelt A bit of planning helped me here but like many of us old school, I’m in the habit of starting before looking at the map so pretty well dashed off once I saw the Whisky loop. It was after that when heading towards the church that I made myself stop for a minute (felt like an eternity) and suss out where the big pointers were. I ran out of time to visit the new estate and still had to leg it back - was glad to only lose 30 points.
I was really nice to be able to plan a course on home turf and it was even nicer to receive so much positive feedback. I tried to have an even spread of odd and even controls to make competitors really think about which controls they were going to prioritise. In case your wondering, I was just able to get all controls within 50mins on the short course with the assistance of a mountain bike! I deliberately put in some controls designed to mislead individuals as well, although using an A4 map meant these were maybe a bit too misleading.
Apologies that the control on the corner of the games area was inaccessible. Unless of course you pulled the fence down. Not naming names!
There were also a few mapping errors which I completely missed, so sorry for these as well. Hopefully they didn’t cost you too much time.
I would also like to thank Alasdair for assistance with the IT side of the courses, and Roger and Judy for setting up the event on the night.
Hi all. The planner here, a bit late to the party as usual!
Phil raised a good point about the involuntary switch over. Whilst this is allowed and can be used to encourage alternative route planning, this was never the intention. I just completely missed that there were 2 two unavoidable controls on that route. On the contrary, I did do this on the whiskey trail with the thought being that it’s a long trail that wouldn’t want to do twice.
I also acknowledge that I missed the mapping error at 60. The original footpath is shown on the map, but was diverted a little while back to go around the final property. I should have updated the basemap with this.
I think Richard is right. Now that I look back at the files, I did plan the courses at A3. Sorry!
I wondered if the circles were related to the 8m GPS radius.
A bit of planning helped me here but like many of us old school, I’m in the habit of starting before looking at the map so pretty well dashed off once I saw the Whisky loop. It was after that when heading towards the church that I made myself stop for a minute (felt like an eternity) and suss out where the big pointers were. I ran out of time to visit the new estate and still had to leg it back - was glad to only lose 30 points.