Organiser's comments

Weren't we really lucky to have such a lovely dry, frosty, still morning for orienteering in Wilton Woods.  And it was very helpfull that the undergrowth had substantially died back (except on a couple of my mistaken routes!).  The event ran really smoothly.

We benefitted hugely from Joan Selby's diplomatic skills in persuading Wilton Golf Club to allow us to park in their car park and use their clubhouse facilities.  Having Download in the warmth made things much more bearable for our excellent SI Manager Carolyn Rigby (backed up by Alastair Mackenzie).

Joan also got permission to use the Tees Wildlife Trust land of Wilton Woods and Lazenby Bank, which meant that John Green could plan us some really interesting, technical Middle Distance courses.  We haven't used that end of the area for many years, and it was really good to bring it back into use again.

Thanks to Paul Taylor for the mapping, supported by the Planning / Controlling team, who identified the required map updates and did the necessary surveying.

On the morning of the event, control hanging and checking was done by John Green (the Planner), Martyn Dean (the Controller, who also helped out at the Start) and Dave Riches (who was Co-Organiser and also managed to fit in some coaching for a newcomer to orienteering).

The same three, with assistance from Duncan Archer and Liam Green, collected in all the controls very efficiently after courses closed, getting it done well before sunset ..... which is not easy at this time of year.  We really needed our flexible, multi-skilled team!

Thanks also to the rest of our great team of volunteers, including:

• Cecelia Dean, Anne Tynegate and Becky King on the Start.
• Irene Sutherland and Mark Dawson on car marshalling – making sure that we didn't upset any golfers, so that they'll allow us to the golf club car park and clubhouse again the next time!

All our volunteers get a token of our thanks in accordance with CLOK's Volunteer Recognition policy.

Many thanks to everyone for coming along, and thank you for the many positive comments we received after your runs.  It's great to hear that you enjoyed your courses.

And, from my point of view, it was a real pleasure to organise an event with such a willing team, including help from several people who are new to CLOK this year.

Caroline Mackenzie
Organiser