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Manchester and District Orienteering Club

invite you to

Twin Peak 2013

Two Level B events in South Manchester

Saturday/Sunday October 26th/27th 2013

Event Details

Saturday event. Level B. Macclesfield Forest.
A classic distance event with start times from 12:00 to 14:00

Sunday event. Level B. An urban event in Stockport.
An extended map allows the Junior courses to use parks, not streets. Starts from 10:30 to 12:30.

Run in the same age class each day to take part in the Twin Peak 2-day competition.

Day 1, Macclesfield Forest

NWOA has an Assessor scheme for Level B events. The assessor for Macclesfield Forest is Andy Quickfall.
If you would like to make any comments about the event, please email Andy within 2 days.

Controller's Comments

I hope you enjoyed Steve Dempsey's good challenging courses at Macc Forest. From comments at the finish, most of you did. Courses were possibly a little longer than normal, but we worked on the basis it was only 1 day of the Twin Peak in the Forest.

You can't avoid some climb in such an area but the low ground vegetation in much of the area helped runnability. I think the map, updated by Vicky Thornton, was a very good representation of the area. Courses offered plenty of route choice. Winning times look OK, although Short Green was a little long, and the spread of times reflected the area.

Controls 153 (many people were looking near the wall south of the control), 129 (coming from 125), 147 (approach from the re entrant/wall junction to the east) and 130 (discovered that a useful map correction had disappeared during printing) seemed to cause some problems. The 2 km leg from 148 to 141 on the long courses was appreciated by many - fastest time 11.42.

Trevor Roberts' organisation ran efficiently with no problems that I saw.

Monika and I spent 26 hours checking control sites in the Forest and we loved every minute - it really is a lovely quiet wood. Now I move on to the flatter Clumber Park for March.

Thank you for coming,
Ian (and Monika) Cooper

Organiser's Comments

Thankfully, the weather held out and with the help of a ton of hardcore and a few bales of straw, we managed to get you all on to and off the parking field. Other than that, the event went smoothly. My thanks to the MDOC members who handled all the work with their usual expertise, to the controller Ian Cooper who was thorough and constructive, to the landowners (United Utilities) and Mr Norman Eardley (Tenant Farmer) for permission to use the area and to Mr Peter White for the car parking field. Lastly to all of you for coming and I hope you enjoyed your day. Trevor Roberts

Found property

Ron Hill running jacket - Photo
Green Wilf's Mug - Photo

If you think these are yours, send an email to twinpeak2013

NWOA Assessor's Report - Andy Quickfall (SROC)

Despite the large entry only 13 written comments and 6 verbal comments were received. On the whole these were complimentary to the organisation and especially to the planning. Many recognised the efforts made to provide good route choice and use the "best" parts of an area that previously had a reputation (now diminished!) for being rather physical and unpleasant.

The major complaint made was about the lack of any sort of results display. Comments included "lazy organisation", "very disappointing", and "unheard of in my usual sport (cycling)".

There were a few minor criticisms that were made by several respondents :

Two other points that I felt were significant were made only once :-

MDOC response to the major complaint about lack of result display:

The Organiser made the decision not to display results (either printed or on screen) because of the logistics of the event. There were 2 parking areas over 1km apart. Download was located near the Finish, which was also a 1km walk from Assembly. The club supported the organiser's decision but have noted that it was not popular with competitors.

Day 2, Stockport Urban

NWOA has an Assessor scheme for Level B events. The assessor for Stockport is Steve Burge.
If you would like to make any comments about the event, please email Steve within 2 days.

Planner's Comments

Having rubbed shoulders with a few of Stockport ne'er-do-wells (and their dogs), whilst planning the event over the past few months, my impression has been that they are a cheery bunch and so it proved. None of the Woodbank Park controls was moved and only one of the urban controls was tampered with and then only in a rather half-hearted, limp-wristed manner. I was pleased that some of the town's nooks and crannies caused runners to, quite literally, stop and think and the nice downhill finish seemed to make people forget the horrible uphill start. My thanks go to Jane and Nick who were very supportive controllers and Pete Lomas who doggedly pursued the access to the pavilion and made the assembly area a pleasant place to be, despite the occasional drizzle. Stockport is not the most glamorous of venues for an urban event but it has an interesting street layout which offers quite a lot of potential route choice and I enjoyed the opportunity to plan on it.

Jillyan Dobby

Controller's Comments

We hope that you all enjoyed the event - your feedback at the finish suggested that you had. It was a pleasure to work with Jillyan (who dealt with the challenges and inevitable changes that come with urban event planning with great aplomb), unflappable organiser Pete and the experienced MDOC team.

Nick and Jane Campbell

Organiser's Comments

Excellent support and cooperation from Stockport MBC and British Gas and the team of helpers from MDOC, ensured that on the day the event clicked into gear and ran smoothly.
Thank you to all competitors who turned out despite the none too favourable weather forecast. From the comments received it seems that the area presented both physical and technical challenges which Jillyan (planner) utilised with her excellent courses.
My thanks to the controllers Jane Mockford and Nick Campbell whose positive and friendly approach made the job that much easier.
The prize winners who were unable to collect their prize on the day will receive them asap.

Pete Lomas

NWOA Assessor's Report - Steve Burge (LOC)

I received two written comments and a number competitors provided their views orally on the day.

One of the written reports summarises all the oral comments - an efficiently organised event, with challenging courses. No problems encountered. One particular positive was the fact that competitors were allowed to start without having to wait for their allocated start times.

The other written report was also complimentary about the organisation, the area and the planning, but did raise three points which may deserve consideration:
Control 247 (in the tunnel) did cause problems for a number of competitors (possibly making it a "bingo control", where competitors went hunting in packs). Although difficult to find, the control was perfectly fair, but the person who wrote to me asks the question "should an urban event simply test route choice in a complex area without the need to locate obscure controls?" (For what it's worth, my view is that there is no reason why some "obscure" controls shouldn't be included in urban courses, so long as they are fair).
The location of the Start kite was queried a) because it was at the bottom of a long flight of steep steps and b) because it could have been reached more quickly by crossing the grass rather than following the tapes around the path. I understand that the position in relation to the steps was governed by the requirements of the junior courses and the taped route presumably avoided damage to the grassed area.

So, well done to all concerned. An efficiently organised event using an area well suited to urban orienteering with excellent courses.

Twin Peak Overall Results

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