Venue for the morning was Queen’s Park, near the centre of Bolton. Ed Mellor planned some fast courses using the gently rounded contours of the park before inducing a subtle change of gear from senior competitors in the more complex grounds of neighbouring Bolton School. Early starters had chance to relax with a coffee in the park café before heading about 5 miles up the road to Horwich for the Final.

Results from the Prologue showed a very tight race in Men’s Open, where Matt Driver of South East Lancs. Orienteering Club (SELOC) had a slim lead of just 8 seconds over Rowan Capper of Edinburgh University Orienteering Club (EUOC). Heather Roome of South Ribble Orienteering Club (SROC) had a bigger margin to play with in the Women’s Open, being 49 seconds ahead of Manchester and District Orienteering Club's (MDOC’s) Anna Mackenzie. It was a similar story in many other classes; the way runners handled the pressure of the mass start to the afternoon Final promised to prove decisive in such tight situations.

Horwich Town Centre offered a totally different environment to the morning, with some complex areas in the northern and southern sections. Stephen Richards’ courses plunged most competitors straight into the trickiest part of these before gaffles kicked in to break up the packs. Matt Driver and Rowan Capper turned out to have the same variants and were joined in a fierce head-to-head race by Sam Stead of West Cumberland orienteering Club (WCOC). At the penultimate control, Rowan was about 5 seconds down but kicked strongly for the finish to win by 3 seconds. That wasn’t enough to wipe out Matt’s margin from the morning though, so it was he who took the NWOA Sprint title. A shame the watching crowds couldn’t know how close this contest was.

The Women’s Open race at the Final was less dramatic. Heather and Anna had different gaffles and Heather increased her overall lead as Anna slipped to 3rd place with Australian runner Michele Dawson climbing into 2nd spot. Overall, Heather had a winning margin of more than 2 minutes and took the trophy home.

Organisation ran smoothly thanks to the SELOC helpers led by Kev Latham at the Prologue and Tony Varley at the Final. Tony even had time to compete in the 5km road race and wrap up a series win after good runs in the fell and trail races preceding the Festival weekend itself. There were also the usual high-class cycle races, the British National Unicycle Road Race and British Masters (running and race walking) Championships fitted into a crowded schedule around fun runs and fancy dress. Another fun weekend completed.