Devon & Cornwall Night League
Cookworthy South Event  -  17th January 2009
Green		1.0km	15m	8 controls
1	Nigel Bateman	Devon	M50	14:54
2	Paul Glanville	Devon	M50	15:17
3	Rob Sneyd	Kerno	M50	17:55
4	Ian Bowles	Devon	M50	18:13
5	Rosie Sneyd & Robbie	Kerno	Mixed	23:29
6	Arthur Boyt	Kerno	M70	24:14
7	Sarah Middleton & Bernard Pullen	Kerno	Mixed	26:31
8	Alan Simpson	Devon	M65	34:12
Jade		1.0km	15m	8 controls
1	Roger Hargreaves	Kerno	M60	16:11
2	Barry Olds	Kerno	M55	17:13
3	Brian Parker	Devon	M70	22:42
4	Sue Boyt	Kerno	W55	25:02
Orange		1.1km	10m	4 controls
1	Rosie Sneyd & Robbie	Kerno	Mixed	17:41
2	Susan Hateley	Devon	W60	38:47
Comments
Friday evening's weather forecast of "severe gales and heavy rain during the evening" gave me an unwelcome dilemma; should I cancel the event or hope they were exaggerating to cover their backs?  On Saturday however, as darkness fell, the wind had got very strong and the rain had started, so I assumed they were right and that it would get worse.  Knowing how the soft ground at Cookworthy makes trees' grasp in the ground weak, (hence the large number of rootstocks), I knew that I could not take the risk of letting you venture out in the mature forest, but had thought of a compromise.  I knew that no trees had ever been blown down in the area of the 1:2500 map and that I could modify your courses to keep you in this relatively safe area.  If you were disappointed, I assure you that I was too.  I had found some nice new runnable forest to visit and my efforts to design courses, clear undergrowth and put out controls had been in vain.
It turned out that the worst of the weather was just as you arrived and that it didn't get worse but improved so that I collected controls in nothing worse than a breeze and didn't even need a cagoule!  Nevertheless, given the forecast and the circumstances, I think that I made the right call.  A squashed competitor would have been a heavy burden.  Such are the stresses of being the Planner/Organiser/Controller of a night event!