Ashridge Compass Sport Heat, March 12th 2017
Congratulations to SO who qualify for the Cup final and SUFFOC and SAX who qualify for the trophy final.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the time taken in finalising the results. The delay was brought on by one small error in the rather complex Sportident Compass Sport Cup configuration and one non-competitive runner. Hopefully the wait hasn’t spoilt what was an enjoyable day of fast exciting running.
Lost Property
Thumb Compass
Blue track bottoms
Red top
Contact – Neil & Jenny – jngostick@ntlworld.com
Organisers’ Comments
We hope you all enjoyed today’s event.
It was necessarily a shame that it rained and drizzled most of the morning and it would have been much nicer if it had been a glorious spring day like Saturday. However, it didn’t seem to be too off-putting, and we are sure if it had been London marathon day the commentators would have said ‘ideal running weather’ (never quite convinced , but hey).
Anyway we hope you appreciated the colourful spring border to the car park and loos, the splendid architectural walk to the assembly area past what can only be described really as a castle and last but obviously not least the fast glorious running through the NT Ashridge woodland.
We had lots of ‘thank you’s’ which is good. It was also pleasing to see clubs pitched up together and enthusiastically taking part in and tracking the competition. Our apologies that the WiFi club-level results were missing some classes for part of the day, due to a typo on HH’s part.
We did have a few challenges organising, as it was only late in the day that the management college could confirm there were no other events on and thus that we could use the car park. This meant contingency planning over Christmas for alternative car parking with the National Trust, and contingency course planning for Mike. Thankfully these weren’t needed, but we guess having worked out a reasonable fall back we can use those ideas as the basis for a future event.
Publicly we would like to thank Ashridge Executive Education – HULT for the excellent support beforehand and on the day and for allowing us to use their almost ideal car park. Then as important the National Trust Estate at Ashridge for being equally supportive, helpful, relaxed and accommodating for our fall back plans. Both organisations helped us deliver a really good event.
Finally, Thank You to all those who helped, many had a very long and sometimes cold day.
Neil & Jenny Gostick
Organisers
Planner’s Comments
It was a bit concerning to see so many anguished faces at the finish, but thankfully most turned to smiles once you’d got your breath back. “I’ve not run so fast in ages” was a frequent comment and “a bit like a sprint in a forest”. Well done to all of you for putting in the physical effort on behalf of your club. Thank you also for your kind comments on the courses, which greatly outnumbered the concerns.
Most of you quickly gathered that straight lines were usually – but not always – the best bet, provided you could maintain accuracy by a good bearing and/or triangulating off features, while keeping an eye on the undergrowth.
Many people on the longer courses said they welcomed the change of emphasis on Northchurch Common, helped by Susan Marsden’s excellent mapping.
Please put your routes up on Routegadget. Those already up – particularly GPS ones – show how some straight lines are straighter than others.
Finally, my thanks to Bruce Marshall our controller for his always constructive approach.
Mike Bennett
Planner
Controller’s Comments
It was a pleasure being a controller for this event.
I set Mike close deadlines for the planning and he met them all with good quality courses. I even got a spreadsheet with a photo for each control site.
There were a few challenges along the way for the club officials, but all were handled with persistence and the result was the wonderful event you all experienced on Sunday. No hitches on the day.
Congratulations to the Cup and Trophy winners for a well-contested club challenge.
Bruce Marshall
Controller
and finally…
Some photos, courtesy of Mark Cheesman
