Pl Name ageclass Club Time
1 Patrick Walder M21 CLYDE 1:05:03
2 M Dean FVO 1:11:49
3 Fraser Purves M21 ESOC 1:14:33
4 Andrew Dalgleish M20 STAUOC 1:14:37
5 Donald Petrie M45 CLYDE 1:17:42
6 Steve Wilson M35 CLYDE 1:18:58
7 Jon Cross M35 FVO 1:21:41
8 P Bartlett M35 INT 1:31:44
9 Mark Kassyk M45 ESOC 1:53:02
10 Sheila Strain W50 ELO 1:56:30
Comments from Planner, Organiser and Controller
Controller's Comments
I hope you enjoyed your visit to Benarty Hill. We felt very lucky with the weather,
which allowed for a pleasant event, including nice views if you cared to stop and take them in!
The tapes were placed in somewhat different conditions a week before, with very low visibility,
of less than 50m, suggesting to me that this area could present an extremely demanding
navigational challenge. The same conditions prevailed early on the morning of the event,
so hence the 'lucky' feeling. I thought Grant did an excellent job, given the constraints
imposed by the size of the area and also needing to observe some instructions from the landowner
at the western end. The area is certainly physical, which was taken into account (!),
but even so I recognise that the green and blue courses were a little on the long side.
The head-high bracken was avoided as far as possible but the deep heather on the eastern
part had to be tackled by the longer courses. Watercourses provided the most runnable routes
in this area. The nature of the area prevented planning an orange course using all the
guidelines, such as introducing the possibility of simple corner cutting. This course
in particular is often the most difficult to devise, the problem being to avoid presenting
just a longer yellow course. On Benarty Hill, we felt the open moorland was unsafe,with a
dearth of handrail features to collect competitors. Grant did have a small detour planned
to the summit of a very obvious hill, but as 1030 approached it was nowhere to be seen and so
I decided to implement the bad weather option, of omitting it. Sure enough, the hill and
lighthouse of a control appeared shortly
afterwards, as the mist lifted.Thank you for coming to the event.
John Emeleus CLYDE & KFO
Planner's Comments
Thank you for coming to Benarty and congratulations on getting lucky with the weather! It was a different story the previous Saturday and early on race day when thick mist enveloped the area, making navigation very tricky. In fact, I wish you could have been there - it would certainly have tested you!
Thank you for your various - mostly favourable - comments on the courses that were on offer. Benarty isn't an easy place to plan on. Thick heather in the east and dense bracken above Benarty House reduce the availability of good runnable areas. I hope those of you who ventured on to the top felt that the views compensated somewhat.
My biggest concern was the junior/shorter courses where the absence of handrails away from the forest tracks and boundary seriously impaired planning options.
As John says in his comments, blue and green times were a bit longer than expected - you'll all have to run faster!! I hope the fine conditions meant that your enjoyment wasn't diminished as a result.
Thank you to Pete Adams and his team of KFO faithful for their usual dependable help on the day, especially Ian Doig who was assistant organiser on the day.
Special thanks to John Emeleus whose sound and helpful guidance as Controller were much appreciated.
See you all in the spring at Tentsmuir, I hope, where there's no heather, much less bracken, no steep gradients, but lots and lots of contours!
Grant Carstairs
Organiser's Comments
As this was our first attempt at using the SI system and it was a long way to lug
them to the top of the hill we decided to use the modified system trialled last season by
one of the other ESOL clubs (who shall remain nameless). My original flow plan at the
registration needed to be rehashed on site so thanks for everyones patience at the start
of the day. On my original e-mail to the club members I asked them to pray for dry weather
and it worked, althought I wasn't to sure at 7.30 that morning.
Pete Adams
Last revised: 21 November 2002, D.Ellison.
