Gairloch 2010 – Controller’s report by Alec
This year’s area was a wonderful one to work with, and we hope you all had as much fun doing the courses as we had in setting them. The area round Loch na h-Oidhche (the loch of the night) and the bothy at Poca Buidhe (the yellow pocket, but locally, deer’s stomach) boasts possibly the grandest mountain backdrop in the UK, and An Groban must be high up on the list of the country’s Top Ten Small Hills, with a view and a character completely disproportionate to its modest height. Add to that the most perfect spring weekend imaginable…I could go on. Hopefully you’ll all want to come back and explore some of these fantastic hills, although perhaps at a more leisurely pace.
Winter was a time of extreme conditions across much of Scotland, but the Flowerdale hills didn’t get too buried in the snow, so our course preparation wasn’t unduly delayed by the weather. However we could have done with starting the planning earlier than we did. We hope that the courses challenged you in the right ways by providing a good contrast of the rugged but runnable Day 1 mountain terrain followed by the rougher going and remarkably technical navigation on the lower hills of Day 2. We know that there were one or two teams who found things much harder than they expected. Generally we felt that the event did what it says on the tin, though we would certainly have preferred to have been able to offer the D class an easier route on Day 2. Unfortunately we were stymied on that due to losing the only bombproof “handrail” glen in that area due to a last minute issue with roosting raptors. Well done then in particular to the D class competitors on completing what must be one of the most testing D courses ever set in a mountain marathon!
All was not completely roses. The raptor revelations delayed our map production, so the maps only reached us on the Friday morning, leading to a premature shortening of the controller’s fingernails. Fortunately when they did arrive they were for the right area. Our team organisational skills stuttered a little at times, as much as anything due to some inadequate communications, at times internally, at times with you, and it seems to me that there were a few details where we could have done better.
An accumulation of small glitches resulted in a misplaced control at AR. Fortunately very few people were held up by this. Most realised we’d had a cock-up, signed the orange bunting pre-marker, and kept going. Good initiative, guys. We also whipped in a few of the controls a little on the early side for some teams. We have no regrets about that – there is a lot of organising to be done by a small squad, we have a pretty good idea of what you are/should be capable of, and the courses cannot stay open without limit. However we should have imposed clear advance cut-off times, and will do so next event. But we will also remain heavily reliant on people correctly assessing their own abilities and fitness levels and deciding if they are competent to safely complete their chosen course within a reasonable length of time.
The control at CM caused some problems. It confused me in January when looking for Ray’s marker; it confused Alasdair when he put out the control box on the Thursday; and it confused me again on Sunday when taking it back in (fortunately there was a D class team on hand to point me in the right direction – thanks Eleanor!) Maybe there’s a wormhole in the OS map continuum here, but more probably the feature (a lochan) was in the right place, whilst the surrounding map features were inadequately shown. Or maybe I’m just rubbish.
On the plus side, one of our marshals on top of An Groban got a special award for his stone man construction – a testament to his professional abilities as a dry stane dyker.
So we’ll iron out the gremlins for next year, and hope you’ll all want to come back for more, somewhere in the Highlands in 2011. And remember – there can be only one.
Planner’s Report Day 1
Yes, the highland weather gods were smiling yet again, allowing us to actually enjoy the challenging mixed terrain.
The area, smallish by MM standards was self contained by big rivers and lochs, so there were no big wet crossings which could have been nasty if it was exceptionally wet.
It was quite tricky to get an “A” course that was hard enough and still stayed under the 700m ceiling but judging by your favourable comments, it was a success.
Overall, on all the courses, I think I managed to give you some scenic and exciting sites with as much route choice as the area would allow.
The one major “glitch” was the misplaced AR. --- Apologies to all the affected competitors and well done for coping with the confusion. (The culprit has been forgiven but now has a new identity and is living in a “safe house” in Bognor)
Thanks to the intuitive use of clockwork technology, the first teams there signed my orange marker which in turn started a trend with following teams.
Commendations to our controller Alec, who, flipped on his turbo, and rocketed out to replant AR correctly.
The major point producing area on the “Score” was in the SE area around Poca Buidhe. I gave you some huge juicy carrots there, mainly because I wanted as many as possible to experience the stark desolate beauty of that isolated spot.
All told, from all your comments, the event was a big success.
How do you follow that ? ......With an even better one next year, of course.
See you then
Ian
Planners routes
A B C D Score
Planner’s Report Day 2
The dramatic scenery and more open running of day 1 and the more technical and intricate navigation required on day 2 combined to make the courses the most memorable of the Highlanders so far. Torridon was probably more memorable for completely different reasons.
From a planning point of view the preferred option of starting from mid camp was ruled out due to a combination of the narrow corridor available, a deer fence with no gates and a gorge with only two crossing points. Though this was considered again when the Eagle problem reared up at the last minutes.
Fortunately after negotiations with the RSPB we were still able to use An Groban which meant it was just the score and D courses which had to be revamped. This gave the score less options at the start but the field was able to spread out well after the first 3 controls were bagged, though how one team managed to do the first three 10 pointers and then the final control on the enclosure without picking up any other controls beats me. It would be interesting to know the route they took.
Getting the D simple enough was quite a problem given the terrain and I hope it wasn’t too difficult.
Hope to see you all back again next year
Ray
A B C D Score
