Firstly many thanks to everybody for the nice comments about the courses. The aim of this planner is very simple, to give everybody a nice day in the forest.

The unseasonable weather over the winter played havoc with the planning. The lack of frost meant that the brambles did not die back as normal and the heavy rain brought the water table up to a very high level. Hence the very marshy area in front of the start. My apologies for that. Over the last month it had started to dry out but the rain in the last few days had restored the bog to its winter levels.

The mountain and motor bikers are making much use of the area and whilst the map had been updated by Don Moir in the last three weeks, some new tracks had appeared over the last few days. As far as I am aware none of these new tracks were close to controls sites.

Cademan is an ideal area for a middle distance race and gives the competitor the chance to enjoy some high intensity orienteering and the planners the opportunity to indulge in some tight twists and turns. Whilst in theory there are few if any controls of a TD5 level, the terrain is good enough for mistakes to be costly and judging by the splits some were! One other good feature of the area is the changes in terrain types in a relatively short distance.

My thanks to Andy for his easy but meticulous controlling (something this sometimes slapdash planner needs!) Many thanks to my assistant Ursula, if only for pulling me out of the mud on several occasions. Finally, thanks to Alastair, Glynn, Peter, Ian’s, Liz and Simon for control collecting.

Chris Phillips