Bloom Wood was in tip top form today. Thanks to Stefan for planning the courses through the most runnable areas. The woods were also living up to their name with fabulous displays of bluebells in some areas. The photo shows one of the areas made out of bounds to avoid the flowers. Thanks to the many helpers who made the day run smoothly. Looking forwards to seeing those of you who tried out orienteering for the first time today at future events. John Methven (Organiser).

Read comments from the Controller (Mark Thompson, TVOC) by following this link.

Stefan's courses certainly tested your navigation skills. Stefan did an excellent job adding controls in the North when we got late permission and also mapping the bluebells on a request from the owner. Both required last minute course changes (the latter the day after the maps were due to go to the printers). 

The map is looking rather tired and in need of a major update. Unfortunately a number of competitors dropped a lot of time around control 67 in the NW of the map. The main problem was an unmapped large path/track W of controls 60 and 67. I did add a new large path SW of 60 a few weeks earlier but the other new path had not been created then. Both Stefan and I navigated accurately to 67 when putting out and checking controls so we did not see the new path, otherwise we could have included this as a map correction in the start lanes. Unlucky to those who spent some time here. 

Lastly some competitors reported seeing others running out of bounds on grassy rides in the eastern part of the map (towards 84). These rides were out of bounds, as well as the woods to the southeast corner, as described in the final details and on the map (marked by the purple cross-hatching). So please watch out for this in future because we want to continue using the woods for orienteering activities.

Final note from Organiser. I have a small baseplate compass that was lost and handed to me. So if it is your please email events@bko.org.uk