Above photo on left:  The Arena on Saturday. Piece Farm (on the left), Lantern Pike (on the right). 

Above photo on right:  The first brave spectators set up tents in the mists of Sunday morning!

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And they did. Some 877 competed on the day, 859 of those on Championship courses. 

We had about 80 helpers from DVO, most of whom undertook an array of different jobs as the day progressed – thank you all!  Thank you to Viv Macdonald who liaised with the DVO Teams and dealt with road signs, making my job so much easier. Mike Godfree handled entries.  

Thanks also to the Prize-giving Team of Val Johnson and the Duckworth and O’Donnell families who enabled the Hallam family from Piece Farm to be involved. 

Unclaimed medals and maps will be available at DVO’s Regional event at Longshaw on Saturday 26 October. Longshaw is a beautiful National Trust area just 10 miles SW of Sheffield, and the event is part of the East Midlands League.

It’s been great to be part of an event of this scale, and it certainly makes you appreciate the efforts put on behind the scenes by other clubs and by staff at British Orienteering. We are privileged to be part of a sport in which there’s always room to learn, and where age is no barrier in participation, shown by our competitors, who ranged from 8 to 88!

Planner Ranald Macdonald, Derwent Valley Orienteers, comments:

Scheduling the British Middles in the first half of September is always going to limit the areas a club like DVO can use because the undergrowth is at its worst. However, we do have a couple of upland areas that are more suitable. The first we looked at was deemed unsuitable for the level of event and we have subsequently had significant access issues with that area. We had only used Chinley Churn a few times since its initial mapping in 2015 and, whilst it also has limitations, it seemed worthy of consideration.

The area comprises tiered quarry workings and steep scree/boulder fields on the eastern side, marshy moorland on the top and then fields sloping down to the west and the assembly area on Piece Farm. The area is divided up by uncrossable walls and fences meaning that we had to construct eight stiles to provide reasonable straight line routes or to avoid stiles on public rights of way that could be busy on an early autumn Sunday as it’s a very popular walking area.

I had never planned a championship/level A event before and was really only third or fourth choice as other potential planners were too busy in their work or were injured. The whole exercise was therefore a very steep learning curve for me, though greatly assisted by the ever-patient Chris Burden (AIRE), my Controller.

The Finish was largely determined by the area chosen for Assembly and car parking. It provided a good arena with visible final controls across the skyline and downhill to the Finish.

Finally, some thank yous:

• To Sal and her assistant, Viv, for a very well organised event
• To the DVO teams who once again rallied round in large numbers to ensure the event ran smoothly
• To Chris Burden for his help, advice and support when needed – I learned a lot about planning and controlling from Chris
• To Paul Addison and Dave Chaffey for their help in various ways, not least control hanging and waking up, and supporting Stuart Swalwell when dealing with the injured competitor
• To the small army of stile installers on the Friday before the event, helped by the farmer who transported six of them to the top of the area
• To Mike Godfree for administering entries and map printing and constructed the stiles as well as managing the Download team.
• To Richard Parkin, for his excellent map and forbearance when we asked for even more map changes
• To Andy Yeates (WCH), BOF Major Events Consultant, for his support and advice on all aspects of the event.
• And of course, to the landowners, Henry and Jason Hallam for allowing us to park at Piece Farm and run on their land, Judge George Needham and George and Steven Wainright for letting us use their land as our temporary stadium. Without their help we could not compete. Jason Hallam, in particular, couldn’t do enough to help and he and his wife, Beth, seemed to be delighted to be asked to do the Prize Giving, along with Amanda Roberts, EMOA Chair.
• And finally to you, the competitors, all 877 of you, who made the effort over the last two years all worthwhile, not least with your positive and constructive comments.

Photo credits:  Steve Rush (BOK)

Final results can be found here.

Results, as well as WinSplits and Routegadget, are here.

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Event officials
Organiser: Sal Chaffey assisted by Viv Macdonald, both DVO
Planner: Ranald Macdonald assisted by Dave Chaffey, both DVO
Controller: Chris Burden, Aire
Mapper: Richard Parkin, DVO
 

British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Organiser Sal Chaffey and all event officials, to Derwent Valley Orienteers and surrounding clubs for all their hard work and behind the scenes activities in making this a great British Middle Championships.