BOK Local Event and ASO League, Rocks East, Bath

Controller's Report

There is no doubt that the steep terrain and horseshoe shape of Rocks East present considerable challenges to a planner. However Shona, who is in her last year at school and has little experience of orienteering planning, worked very hard to overcome these difficulties. She produced very good courses and many people on the day agreed and were kind enough to congratulate her. Like all planners she spent considerable time on the White and Yellow courses and reinforced her wise choice of paths with smiley faces and one or two helpful little direction signs. For those of you who have not planned before, you should  know that the correct positioning of controls, appropriately designed courses and accurate control descriptions require several visits to the area plus some long sessions on the computer. (And these are all checked by the controller). Thank you, Shona for all your hard work.

Perhaps Shona needed most guidance on the Orange course, which is always tricky to design. For many runners, Yellow to Orange is a big step and although the runner needs to be reading the map properly, the  controls need to be helpfully sited according to the Planning Guidelines.   
There was a valid query of the climb involved in the last few controls on the Blue and a suggestion that it is good to have a Start as high as possible to avoid this climb at the end. All things are possible and maybe the next planner can begin by looking at this. The out of bounds warning for the road in Final Details was missed by several people. It would be good to have a clearer way of showing roads out of bounds as the crosses on the map were not good. Any ideas welcome.

It was a great pleasure to work with Peter Stagg the organiser, who remained calm and imposing. It is very helpful to be tall. I am really grateful to the immensely hard work that all the volunteers put in to make this very popular event work so well.  I would like to make a plea here that we see other members of the club stepping up to volunteer too.

Katy Dyer