I live a bit too far away from Ambersham commons to really enjoy them regularly. Which is a pity because each time I go there I come away quite enthusiastic that we have places like this to enjoy. The main parts of the common areas are still owned privately but they are open to the public and are not fenced off in any way. Almost all the times I have been there I may have seen more green woodpeckers than members of the public. I even saw several runners training on the roads but never in on the footpaths across the common. It does make me wonder why the open spaces are not used more to go for a walk or run, but maybe that is a blessing in disguise! My best memories of Ambersham have been on a couple of occasions when I was there on bright sunny frosty days. In places with the heather and pine trees you could be in the highlands and it would be little different.
Back in 2002 when I planned at Ambersham previously I made a foray into the new extension we made to the map this time, Hoyle Plantation. At the time I concluded that it would make an interesting and varied addition to the map but in the time I had available to come up with courses back then it was not viable. It required identifying landowners, getting permission and working out how to get access from a suitable parking area. I had a few years to mull this over a bit before Ambersham came around again on our area rotation plan and I seized an opportunity to plan there again, including the new area.
Whilst neither the main commons nor the new extension are technically the most challenging terrain in the South East I believe they are nevertheless really nice areas to orienteer in. I tried to keep you in the nice parts of the terrain, maintaining interest on the course with encouragement to stay direct if you could and frequent changes in direction. Bracken for the most part was killed off by the cold spells and should not have been too much of an impediment. Course climbs were not significant and so running times were quite quick, but not too far out from my expectation. I hung around at the finish for a while and was pleased by the responses I got from competitors. But I couldn’t talk to everyone so I would like to thank you for turning up and I do hope you enjoyed your course and your run.
Our sport is quite complex to organise – everything from permission, risk assessment, planning and organising does make it a challenging and at times onerous responsibility to take on. Despite orienteering for more years than I care to remember and planning many events I continue to make little mistakes. So I value the role of controller – I am one myself – and I would like to thank Sue Crickmore for her advice, patience and thoroughness despite some of my last minute efforts to confuse matters! One error did creep through and was wholly my responsibility. For some reason a while ago I changed the control symbol size in Ocad on my old computer from 6mm to 5.15mm. I don’t remember when or why for sure, but we only spotted this after the maps had been printed, by which time it was too late. I didn’t hear any comments on this from anyone but I sure wasn’t going to own up to it on the day! Hopefully this was not a problem for anyone but if it was I do apologise and will be making sure I check this in future.
Keith Tonkin
This was the first time I had formally controlled a Regional event.and although I was aware when asked to do it that the timescales would be tight, I also knew that I had a highly experienced planner and organiser in Keith and Tim.
Ambersham is a lovely area to run round with a variety of vegetation and Keith’s courses were well planned to keep you off paths and changing directions. The map was still being updated during the planning time, luckily this meant that Roger could change the area not far from the finish; this was completely cleared in the last few weeks, revealing features that had probably not been seen for a long time. The map of the area around 166 caused some problems and with hindsight I can see that this is an area where the contours got rather tweaked and I needed, to have gone back and rechecked it.
Many thanks to GO for their hospitality the night before which gave me a 5 min drive to the event on Sunday morning and allowed me to take part in their club quiz the evening before!
Sue Crickmore (SO)
It is Monday morning, there is snow everywhere in Surrey and Sussex and there is major traffic disruption. So, after several months of planning, we were very lucky. Today, I am sure that very few of us would have ventured forth to an orienteering event and I believe that we would have had to postpone the event. However, if we could have travelled, competing today might just have been a different and novel challenge for many of us.
One of our first strategic decisions of the morning was to position the tents in a most non-customer friendly manner but, as a result, the tents did provide some shelter. So, my thanks to all the GO people who endured the wind that swept across the field all day. Global Warming – just mention it to the GO teams and all those standing in the loo queue yesterday morning. In contrast, in my opinion, it was much more pleasant out of the wind in the forest.
Every event seems to turn up a new problem and today was no exception. At 8.45am, I was told that the loos were a safety hazard due to icy floors - bet that does not appear in any BOF risk assessment. However, the GO team swung into action and used a car windscreen de-icer to reduce the hazard.
We were lucky to be able to return to the car park field used some years ago. It is ideal and Alastair Doyle and his hardworking car parking team managed to get everyone in and out with a minimum of fuss.
Entries continued to arrive right up to Friday evening. This is good for competitors but it does mean some work on the for the organising team day before the event. My thanks to Angela Darley who, in conjunction with Fabian4, kept on top of entries throughout and to Jeremy Wilde and Jon and Angela Darley who kept the computers running all day.
What can I do on your behalf to thank Keith Tonkin? He planned some super courses for you on a great new map by Roger Maher. Thank you both, like many others at this event, we could not have done it without you. Our Controller, Sue Crickmore, from SO, spent a huge amount of time checking everything and it was a far better event for all of her hard work, on behalf of all competitors and GO, thank you.
To the landowners, the forest team, the start teams, and all involved around the computer and registration area, thank you all. Hopefully many of you took time to look at the wonderful string course run by the Cocks and Couldery families.
GO has been fully stretched at this event, every available member and their families have contributed. In my opinion, it would have been good to have had a few more helpers. I hope that not too many cracks were apparent to competitors. It has been a busy weekend with several GO members also involved in the SN/GO Schools League event on the Saturday.
I trust that you enjoyed your day, once again, it was a memorable experience for many of us. Thank you all for coming and for treating the area so well, at the end of the day, the farmer invited us all back to his field for another event in a couple of year’s time – perhaps it will be warmer then.
Tim Pugh
Lost Property A gold RST key, a maroon hat and one blue glove were handed in. Also David Watkins did not collect a scarf that he left at Eridge. Please email eventorganiser at guildfordorienteers.co.uk if you wish to claim any of these items
Guildford Orienteers would like to thank the landowners and their representatives for allowing us access to their land and for considerable help from them, the Parish Council and local residents: Lord Cowdray for access to Heyshott & Ambersham Commons and his agent Robert Windle, his Environmental Consultant John Blamire and Alex MacDonald of Natural England; Mr Colin Baillieu of Hoyle Farm for the car park field; Mr G Robertson for access to land in the western part of the mapped area; Mr J Haverhals for access in the eastern part of the mapped area; Mr Colin Baillieu and Mr W Godman-Dorrington for access to Hoyle Plantation.