The results from the Munster League event held at Goirtin Wood are posted on the results section of the IOA website.
Below, I will explain some issues that arose on the day from our collective experiences. I am sure that others have been through similar problems. We thank everyone who took part for their patience, understanding and their advice. The vast majority appeared to enjoy the day.
We had two technical issues on the day.
- the Download station worked intermittently and then gave up the ghost, despite being surrounded by several technophobes. For no apparent reason it worked fine today and I was able to upload the remaining SI cards.
- Synchronisation: we had problems with the batteries on 4 of our stations so I sent them off on holiday to Sportident. However, I forgot to synchronise them with the rest of the set when they returned. They were one hour different. It means that the completion time is correct but there are some strange splits.
- Mapping issues: this was a team mapping exercise between 4 club members. Only one was an experienced mapper. This caused problems when it came to putting the updates on the new OCAD map. One of the critical updates would not open. This meant that one mapper used an older version of the basemap to add their updates. This particularly was a problem around the pit (203). The vegetation changes I added on the opposite side of the road failed to make the final version of the map. One strip of white forest or possibly open ground with scattered trees became open ground. Another similar strip of white forest didnt quite make it on the final version.
- Control choice:: there was one poor choice of controls used. Control 231, the crag, was put out by myself without checking any features around the tagged site. I readily admit this was an error as the tagged site was surrounded by larger crags both to the east and the west.This caused a lot of wasted time in the area. I was unable to remove it from the results. I had originally intended to use an excellent depression on the other side of the road. I should have stuck to it!
- Control Misplacement: I noted when collecting controls that control 223 had migrated from the easternmost to the westernmost gully. The OCAD symbol for a gully is rather too thick to be used on 1:15,000 scale maps. They tend to merge into each other. It is also possible they were shown a little too far to the east of the map relative to the open ground to the north. Thanks to Paul for pointing this one out.
- Control location: Is it valid to put a control in a pit when it is in runnable forest and close to a road? I know that there are rules that state otherwise but it would have been seen from the road and not pose any sort of challenge. It was only used on the more technical courses.
- Map scale: The person producing the maps had major difficulties with OCAD on his computer and was unable to change the scale on the map. This meant that all courses except the yellow had to contend with the original 1:15,000 scale. This proved difficult with poorer eyesight. As someone who has such a difficulty myself, I empathise with those who were put out by the unfamiliar scale. It is only the elites who complain about not being enough 1:15,000 maps!
(Planner)
