Badenoch & Strathspey Orienteering Club

Creag Dhubh JHI and SOL report

Down Strathspey
Down Strathspey
Credit: Alan Halliday
Published: Wed 12 Oct 2022

Controller, organiser and planner reports along with some comments from competitors.

Comments from the controller (Alan Halliday, MOR)

Controlling for BASOC is always a pleasure as despite being a small club the quality of the officials is very good. The planning team (Lynne and Laura) and the Organiser (Jo) were often a step ahead of me and were providing answers to my questions almost before I’d asked them.
Creag Dhubh is a tough area. I suspect that I was asked to control because I hadn’t competed on the area at last year’s 6 day and so was less likely to refuse. Certainly the days checking control sites were long and tough and Lynne in particular spent many hours (days) out in a very rough area. It is particularly hard to relocate if you lose contact with the map - even at walking pace. Should the area have been used at this time of year as the Bracken is very extensive in many parts, even though it had died back far more than at the 6 day last year (August)?
Would I control again for a BASOC event? Yes. Would I control again on Creag Dhubh? Very unlikely. It is a job for someone twenty years or more younger and fitter. So when I look at the average age of most controllers in particular, but also of organisers and planners, it does raise questions.
There were a number of competitors who did not complete due to the roughness and complexity of the area. But the great majority of those I spoke to enjoyed their day out, particularly as the threatened rain held off. Well done to all not least the JHI runners many of whom were obviously meeting challenges which were new to them.

Comments from the organiser (Jo Cumming)

That's the SOL and JHI over and the end of a successful weekend. The highlight was, of course, the Scottish Juniors winning the individuals on Sunday and the Ward Junior Home International trophy for their overall results. They are a credit to their coaches.
It takes time, effort and money to bring our juniors up to that standard so Morag McLuckie was delighted that the ScotJOS cake stall made £478 over the two days.
From negotiating with the landowner for permission to use suitable terrain and finding the assembly field to the event on Sunday took 6 months. Pheasant rearing, deer, bracken, weather, SOL dates on offer, possible cost of trackway to parking, all played a part.
Many thanks to Angus Macpherson for a way round it all and allowing us to use Creag Dhubh. The Newtonmore Camanachd Club went out of their way to make us welcome and be helpful. Peter Ross provided overflow parking and permission for the White and Yellow to cross his land when it turned out Creag Dhubh was unsuitable for this level. Many thanks also to The Grill for stepping in to provide hot food and drinks when the booked vendors cancelled
In the end we had 82 JHI and 213 competitive runs in the SOL, several people having decided not to run; many of these were BASOC helpers who gave up their run to help things go smoothly on the day.
Also, many thanks to Russwood for sponsoring us.
Feedback from participants made it all worthwhile. They found Lynne's top courses truly TD5 and all of them stretching. Hard for many competitors and something to aspire to for others. Thanks to Lynne, Laura and Controller Alan Halliday who spent many hours planning, checking the 65 control sites on Creag Dhubh and the 15 at Newtonmore, putting out controls and making sure they were woken up on time.
At the beginner end, young Kian took his niece Chloe round the kids activities and Mehmet's maze and said it was the best thing they had done all day.
Of course none of this could happen without a fantastic effort by BASOC helpers and volunteers from other clubs. From Saturday afternoon to the very end of Sunday when everyone was getting tired there was always someone to suggest they could do something and help out. Many thanks from me.
Thanks to Ben for being Assistant Day Organiser, a baptism of fire.
Finally, many many thanks to Hilary Q for all her work on SiEntries and other tasks and keeping me right on what needed doing. This was my 5th big event including ADO at a 6 Day and I still had so much to learn. I find it hard work but interesting; I would like to see younger club members with more energy getting up to speed with all that's required to run this level of event.
And how could I finish without thanking Ian, who has been a stalwart helper from the very start to drying and sorting out the equipment.

Comments from the planner (Lynne Walker)

I volunteered to take on the challenge of planning the courses for the combined JHI / SOL on Creag Dhubh back in March 2022. Laura Holland came on as assistant planner – in BASOC we try to partner people up so that there is learning happening and newer members become confident to plan small events. Unfortunately a combination of work (Laura works abroad for extended periods) and personal circumstances Laura was unable to do the planning, but I was so grateful of the younger legs for putting out SI boxes, waking up controls and control collection!
Thanks also to John Tullie who planned the courses for Lochaber 2021 on the area; we had a long conversation and his knowledge was invaluable.
Creag Dhubh gives an almost unique experience – very few line features, low visibility with high hill moorland and bracken! The courses were all planned in April / May and the taping done then as well. All the (pink) tapes were hung as high as possible to try to avoid them being eaten by the goats. In the end, out of 65 controls we only had about three eaten to destruction.
There was also the added complication of the JHI courses being planned to Area Championship guidelines which are different to SOL guidelines!
Planning the TD5 courses was the easy part, trying to ensure that they were fair and that the courses for older competitors used the slightly better ground. Climb was minimised by having a high start, the walk into this was determined by the landowner restrictions. Legs on these courses were checked to ensure that TD5 skills were tested – accurate direction over a distance, contouring, diagonal up and down slopes and reading contours. On the ‘south’ slope, some courses went round clockwise and some anti-clockwise (ensuring they used different controls); this was to create a bit of confusion and discourage following. In discussion with the controller, I decided not to take the Blue course up onto the open hill; this course has M16s on it and some of these competitors are quite young in their age class; we did not want to risk exposing them to bad weather up there.
The TD4 courses were much more of a challenge and they did end up at the top end of TD4; this is almost the end of the orienteering season though.
The Orange course had to be on Creag Dhubh as there was no suitable area down at Newtonmore which we could access. Taping was used on one leg to ensure that the competitors were able to link up the two ends of an indistinct path. Well done to all the Orange competitors.
White & Yellow had to be around the Shinty field area – and made use of the riverside path as well. Hopefully the challenge was appropriate for the competitors (all in Yellow, no one ran White).
It was a very physical task placing all the stakes (thank goodness for the yellow fibreglass ones) and kites; this took place over the Sunday and Monday before the event. SI boxes were placed by both Laura & Lynne on the Friday before and then Alan helped us with waking controls up on the Sunday morning (I did my first six by headtorch). So, in case you are interested - the control placement & waking for me was 42km, 1850m climbing and 12 hours moving time. I am not sure what Laura did, it would be a lot as well.
I was extremely grateful to all who volunteered to collect controls – especially all non-BASOC members and Janette who cleared the hill ones for us.
Please check out RouteGadget and put your route up – it is all learning for me.
The next time BASOC use Creag Dhubh it should be between mid-April and mid-May, it is a dream then!

Feedback from competitors (from various social media)