Organisers' comments

First of all, we'd like to express our huge appreciation for everyone in our amazing CLOK team who helped us up host such a challenging and unusual event.  The hard work and creativity were inspiring.  Everyone just got on with things and sorted out issues as they arose.  It's a pleasure to be part of such a hugely helpful and cheerful team.

Working out the logistics of using this amazing sand dunes area for such a large event posed a few challenges.  In particular, where could we find parking spaces for so many vehicles?  Where could we put an Assembly Area and/or a Finish Arena?  We found solutions, though, and then the experienced and hardworking CLOK team enabled the event to run very smoothly on the day.  Our thanks to:

• All the CLOK volunteers, some of whom ended up spending more time 'on duty' than the original schedule envisaged.
• The Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team.
• Our Planner, Rob Bailey, and our Controller, Duncan Archer.
• Computer guru Eddie Speak for managing the on-the-day results processing, trouble-shooting, etc.
• Mike Edwards for providing the commentary.
• Redcar Council, who were very helpful with allowing us to use the Majuba Road car park for our 'base camp'.
• The South Tees Development Corporation (STDC), which owns most of the competition area, and Redcar Council and Cleveland Links Golf Club, which own / control the rest.
• Natural England, which gave us permission to hold the event in an area registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
• Cleveland Links Golf Club and Tingdene caravan park, who were very helpful with getting access to the Start and the Finish Arena.  (Have you ever tried carrying all the start kit and over 1,000 maps along a soft, sandy beach?  No?  Well, fortunately, neither have we!)
• Redcar Racecourse, which accommodated the main car park for the event.

The other innovation for this event was a new, customised online entry system.  The aim was to make things easier for both the Club Captains and whoever was going to have to draw togther all the entries data for importing into the SI Timing event management software.  The feedback we've received suggests that the new system was appreciated, and it also gave us much better visibility of how entries were coming in, which helped us to judge how many maps to get printed.  (The shortage of Course 9A/9B maps wasn't caused by the online entry system.  It knew how many maps were needed!)

There is still a question-mark over the future of the new entry system.  Alastair (who developed it) doesn't want to get involved in providing a 'commercial' entry service ...... although he might be persuaded to help out the organisers of next year's CompassSport Cup Final if they decide they'd like to use the system.  So if you know of anyone who might be interested in taking over the entry system as a commercial proposition, please ask them to contact Alastair.

Possibly the most important thing that the Organiser is responsible for is, of course, the weather.  During the final run-up to the event, the weather forecast was looking decidedly iffy – we're talking strong winds and possible heavy rain.  But, wow!, we got lucky.  The bad weather held off for a crucial few hours, and we were fully packed up and leaving the Majuba Road car park just as the first drops of rain starting landing on our windscreens.

Our apologies to those juniors affected by the shortage of Course 9A/9B maps.  The person placing the printing order had looked at the number of entries for Course 9A (Orange Men) but neglected to add on the number of entries for Course 9B (Orange Women).  We've used punching start times rather than allocated start times for the competitors who had to wait for maps to be recycled from the Finish, and we hope that the delay didn't affect your concentration.

If any juniors would like a Course 9A/9B map to replace one that was 'requisitioned', please contact Caroline and we'll get one printed and posted out to you.

By the way, for those who like round numbers, we had 996 pre-entries via the online entry system and 4 entries on the day for the Light Green and Yellow courses, so we achieved that magic 1,000 entries figure.

And, finally, thank you to all the competitors for coming along.  We hope you enjoyed your visit to the north-east coast and your runs / jogs / wanders through the South Gare sand dunes!

Caroline and Alastair Mackenzie
Organisers