Well I don’t know about you lot, but I had a very satisfying night. My aim was to force you to think very quickly about the optimum way of gathering 100 points, but to pose you a dilemma in which every possible permutation had clear strengths and shortcomings. The obvious solutions, i.e. broadly ‘left’, ‘right’ or ‘middle’ were actually very close in length, with only around half a mile between them. But all had clear drawbacks.
Going out to the ponds involved a lot of flattish running, but then some foul terrain north of Ringinglow Road and some fiddly route choice through Lady Canning’s, and then a potentially long slog across open heather if you went from the boulder to Burbage Brook. Starting down the valley gave you quick returns if you did the A,C,B,F,G sequence, but then what? The Houndkirk Hill boulder and that long slog across the moor? The south western extreme involved a lot of very fast running, but could you then be certain of finding that ruin? And how would you get up/down over Millstone Edge? It was gratifying to see everyone’s ingenuity rising to the occasion, with the 24 runners inventing at least 11 variations.
Great lateral thinking from Neil to use the green lane and then an out-and-back along the fast Houndkirk path. A reasonable victory margin, but did he take the fastest route? Wil and Tim pushed him very close and I think they may have chosen the better option with that lovely long sweep up the western flank to finish. Great to see club chairman Tom Westgate in fourth overall, and clearly outsmarting a few more fleet-of-foot runners, (no names, eh, Keith?), with his adventurous foray round to the flat boulder. Strong work by the women, particularly ace orienteer Lucy, but what is this about hunting in packs? Far too democratic and inclusive. A particular “well done” to those people who were taking part in a club event for the first time. But if you want a decent handicap in the club champs, I would stop trying so hard.
Thanks to you all for your support and encouragement. Please turn up next time for the grand finale. And do bring a friend! I could do with a few more entrants, as on these numbers I’m likely to chalk up a slight financial loss.
DH 

Map (pdf 2.4MB)