30th January, 2005
These might be the final results now. Please contact me if there are any remaining problems
Organiser's Comments
If you're ever tempted to organise a SoSOL, or similar event, may
I give you the following advice: take a calendar and count back how many days it
is until the race, and place this information in a prominent location. This
advice is doubly applicable if the race in question is in January, when it is
all too easy to find yourself in the position I was in, of not worrying about
it, as it's 'Next Year'! So when I arrived back at uni three weeks ago and
realised that not only did I have four new modules to negotiate, but that I also
had to organise this event in double quick time I was a little taken aback.
I guess this is a poor excuse for all the cracks which appeared yesterday, but
the main hiccup was running out of maps within an hour of registration opening.
Four years ago EUOC held a ESOL (or was it LOL?) on Arthurs Seat, on the same
day of the year, in similar weather conditions. And 97 people turned up.
Yesterday there were double this! I am hugely indebted to Janet Clark of
ESOC for stepping in by supplying us with the maps intended for use at the
washed-out New Years Day CATI, and I can only apologise to those who were forced
to stand around waiting - I hope you didn't get too cold!
However it does seem that everyone enjoyed the courses. It's too easy to forget
what a navigational challenge the Seat can be: despite its city centre location
it provides as technical a challenge as anywhere else in the South of Scotland,
and the comments at the finish seemed to acknowledge this!
So, thank you all for coming, to John and his assistant for putting up
with our just-in-time plans, to SIman for his worldly advice and hard work, and
to all my helpers for braving the cold and doing it with a smile! Next season is
EUOC's turn to host the East of Scotland Championships. The provisional
date is the 23rd of October. Which is 265 days away....
Murray Strain
East of
Scotland Orienteering Association
last edited 31/01/2005 19:41
Results processing by Robin Strain