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Triple Tamar 2018

Tamar Triple 2018 - 3 fantastic days of orienteering!

Bank Holiday Weekend 26 - 28 May 2018

Many orienteers navigated their way down to the south-west this Bank Holiday weekend.

Devon & Cornwall Orienteering Clubs would like to thank you all for coming and making the event such a success.

Day 1 (Saturday 26 May) took place on the Exeter University Campus and was an Urban (Regional) event.  This event formed part of the UK Urban League (UKUL).  Located within the historic city of Exeter the event was confined to the university campus. All courses made good use of the varied and satisfyingly complex terrain offered by the university grounds, providing plenty of route choice – and a good deal of climb!

Day 1 Map – Exeter Campus (Map extract from a previous event).
Exeter University. Credit:  Bryan Smith (DEVON)  

Steve Beech, Chairman at Cornwall Orienteering Club (KERNO), said: "KERNO were responsible for the first event of the weekend at Exeter, with Planner Roger Hargreaves making the most of the variety offered by the campus. Unlike many other areas used for Urban events there is no regular grid of roads and paths, so keeping contact with the map is vital. With just under 500 entries we were looking forward to a busy afternoon. Luckily the rain and lightning that was threatened held off and the event enjoyed good conditions and some fast winning times were posted. The co-operation we had from the University of Exeter was outstanding and much appreciated."

 

Results for Day 1 at Exeter University Urban event: can be found here: Event 1

Competitors taking part
Photo credits:  Bryan Smith (DEVON)

Days 2 (Sunday 27 May) and Day 3 (Bank Holiday Monday 28 May) were held on Braunton Burrows which is a complex area of sand dunes presenting challenging orienteering and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. John Pearce recently re-surveyed and revised the map. He was unambiguous in stating “This is a top-class orienteering area!”

Day 2 was a Long Distance race, a national event and part of the UK Orienteering League.

In their combined report the Planners, Ben Chesters and Harry Fox, said:  “We aimed to give all the courses as much variety as possible; in terms of terrain – ensuring that all the TD5 courses experienced the flat, almost featureless, areas, the lower level dunes with thicker vegetation reducing visibility, and the larger ridges of dunes with fine detail on them – but also in terms of leg lengths and direction.”
 

The results of the Braunton Long event:  can be found here: Event 2

Braunton Burrows
Photo credits:  Mark Lockett (KERNO)

Day 3 was a Middle Distance race, a national event, also part of UKOL and provided the south-west Middle Distance Championships.

Damian Wilson was the Planner, assisted by Rob Parkinson. He considered that the northern part of Braunton Burrows has a very different feel to it than the middle section used in Day 2, with larger terrain features. This made for some very attacking orienteering, if you could stay on target, but just as confusing terrain if you lost touch. 

The results for the Braunton Middle Distance event: can be found here: Event 3

Photo credits:  Mark Lockett (KERNO)

Bryan Smith, Chairman of Devon Orienteering Club, said:
“The Tamar Triple 2018 was an outstanding team achievement. It was the result, once again, of the combined efforts of the two clubs and a host of willing officials and helpers from within each club and beyond, working together over some considerable time – with individuals also stepping in at the last minute where jobs needed doing. All of this effort was well rewarded; in terms of the overwhelmingly positive comments about the quality of the orienteering, the substantial numbers of participants who entered, the relaxed and sociable atmosphere at each venue and, of course, the weather.

In the preceding weeks leading up to the Tamar Triple, two members of the Devon organising team sadly and unexpectedly passed away. Sue Hateley, W70, died in March 2018 and was a long-standing editor of Devon’s newsletter. Sue was to assist Phil Beale with the organisation at Braunton Burrows. Graham Dugdale, M65, Devon’s Membership Secretary, died in early May 2018 and was taking the lead on SI for Days 2 and 3. Alan Simpson ably stepped in to take on this latter task alongside his overall coordination role. 

As a result of both Sue and Graham’s sad passing, the two events at Braunton Burrows, 2018, have been dedicated in their names." 

Braunton Burrows.  Photo credit:  Mark Lockett (KERNO)

British Orienteering would like to thank both Devon & Cornwall Orienteering Clubs and all the volunteers involved who helped turn these three days into some great orienteering experiences.

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