When Planning an SROC event...

 I assume you and your controller each have a computer running a version of Windows with network access and a
 colour inkjet printer.

 Obtain from Mapping Officer ( Alex Finch ) a copy of the OCAD file of the area you are planning on. He can also tell
you how to obtain a copy of OCAD. 

 Contact controller telling him your timescale, check when he/she is available. Similary Paul Ferguson if he is
going to be printing your maps.

 Remember we are all volunteers with busy lives outside Orienteering, do not assume other members of the club are available
to do things when you need them doing!


 Follow the instructions in OCAD help under "Help>Contents>Course Setting for Orienteering". The OCAD file of the area will be a "template". 
Choose control numbers from 100 upwards. Start by following the sequence in the Overview section and you won't go far wrong.
Note you have one OCAD planning file for the whole event, not one per course!

 
 If you know the area well then you start arm chair planning immediately, otherwise go for a run in the area.
 Go any way in case someone cut down the forest down without telling us.

 Check any restrictions on the area with David Hargreaves. 
 Agree position of car park with organiser, plan courses starting with white and working upwards. See instruction in
BOF rules and appendices, available from the BOF web site. Especially Appendices A and B.

<SECTION from the web...>
Course Planning for Moderate and Hard Courses

The orienteering course comprises the start, the legs, control sites and the finish. Often the temptation is to look at the more complex or detailed areas of the map and think that they contain good control sites, and then just join these areas with the legs, or to look for the tricky control sites when doing the field check. 

However the legs are the most important part of the course and the quality of the course is largely determined by the quality of the legs. Hence plan the legs before considering the control site at the end of it, just circle a general area in which you want each leg to end. The following points are relevant to planning good legs 

Emphasis is to have several legs with route choice, eg by presenting some obstacles on the leg such as climb, rocky areas, greener areas, complex areas, or simply by length which opens up larger areas of the map to the competitor thus creating more potential route choices 

Good legs offer competitors interesting map reading problems, allow for alternative individual routes, and hence tend to separate competitors 

Try to plan the main legs where the map is rich in detail, changeable in character and demanding in map reading ability 

Different types of legs should be offered on a course so that different skills are tested, eg range from intense map reading to sections in which rough orienteering is possible 

Variations with respect to length and difficulty to force competitors to use a range of techniques eg a couple of short intense legs before a longer leg with major route choice decisions 

The course should give changes in directions for consecutive legs as this forces competitors to reorient themselves frequently 

Preferable for a course to have a few very good legs joined by short links to enhance the better legs rather than a larger number of even but lesser quality legs 

Good legs with several route choice possibilities tend to split up the field thus reducing "following" 

# Use short linking legs to eliminate dog legs 

# Don’t ruin a good leg by having a ‘bingo’ control at the end of it. 

# Thoughtful planning of legs with route choice can make good courses on some of our more average maps 

However as with looking for that tricky control site, don’t fall into a similar trap by setting a leg which crosses the steepest, thickest and most complex parts of the map in order to place obstacles on your course.  
 When you have a rough idea of what your courses will look like let your controller know.


Avoidance of Doglegs

Leaving a control, there should not be a logical route that doubles back through the same area from which the
 control was approached. Why? Because competitor A may have competitor B just behind him, so that A reveals
 the location of the control as he is leaving it, thereby helping B.           Since some competitors may 
be luckier than others it is at least potentially unfair, Doglegs may be obvious or not so obvious. For 
example, the best route to a control may be along the base of a hill to a reentrant and then continue 
along the base of the hill. You have a dogleg, even though the straight lines you use to connect the 
points on the map do not show this. To avoid doglegs, you can put in a short leg -- 100 to 300 meters
 long -- to move the competitor away from the previous control to the start of another long leg.   
 A similar problem can occur if you use the same control on more than one course, if runners on one 
course leave the control in the direction from which the people on the other course are arriving. 
Avoid this as well. Under some conditions, it may be necessary to have a dogleg on a White course
 in order to have clarity. While not desirable, a dogleg on White is preferable to a course that 
is confusing or too difficult. 

Avoidance of Dangerous Areas

Avoid including dangerous areas such as crags, or marshes, a 
White or Yellow runner may go into these areas accidentally, while a Green or Blue runner may be tempted to try 
a dangerous short cut.

see also
http://www.barebones.ca/Course%20Planning%20Seminar%202003.pdf


</SECTION >

 Back to my own work....

 Mark the position of controls by some means. Best is plastic, e.g. tent peg or tube. Despite their popularity
garden canes are a devil to find when lying in bracken, and are also popular with sheep. The position of these will
be checked by the controller. If he agrees with the position then everyting is fine. NOTE - do not remove the cane/peg
or whatever untill you are collecting in controls. If the controller can not find your tag either you disagree
about the location or it is missing, which means one or both of you will have to go back out to the area. If he can not find
your tag when checking controls he needs to recheck the site.
 When tagging controls remember to note all information required, e.g. height of crags/boulders, position of marker,
 etc. Remember to also tag any planned crossing points.

 Once more than 50% of sites tagged, pass them onto your controller, so he can go and check them if he wants.

 You will find things wrong with the map. If you are confident to do so feel free to update the file, remembering to
pass it on to Alex Finch after the event. If not confident, then print do a sketch on paper and ask an OCAD expert
to do it for you. Note, it is easiest to print out the map at twice its usual scale for surveying changes.

  Your courses and controls will go through a series of iterations as you and the controller discuss them.
 It is worth getting a draft copy of the courses printed out by Paul Ferguson so you can check what the map looks like. It will
NOT look the same as on your monitor or your printer!


 
 Once courses are agreed:

 Prepare final version including all tweaks such as cutting circles to avold obliterating underlying features.  Be particularly
aware of beginners controls along line features. The connecting line can obliterate the feature the beginner is meant
to follow. With laser printed courses underlying features do not show through like they do with overprinted maps.


 Check with Chris ROberts which numbers are available for SI boxes and assign them to controls. 

 Obtain controls/canes/numbers from John Denmark.

 Send course files to Paul Ferguson for printing on the club laser printer, unless the area is at 1:15,000 
in which case it will need to be printed professionally, contact Alex Finch to ask about this. <should have mentioned this earlier>


 Decide on the order you will put out controls, and let the controller know, so he knows when he can go and check them.
 He needs enough time to check all controls are in the right place ( i.e. adjacent to the tag ) with the correct 
number on them. However SI boxes are normally put out as late as possible, which makes it impossible for him to
check the SI boxes. For this reason controls must have a label on them with the number. This will match the number
on the SI box/card unit, which means putting the SI boxes out is less prone to error as well. Exchange mobile phone numbers
with controller/organiser/helpers.

< need discussion of programming/waking up SI boxes etc.>
< discuss vandal proofing measures,padlocks etc.>

 Try to get some people to help you putting out and collecting in controls. 
  
 Ensure you and the controller each have at least one spare control/si box on the day.

 Collecting controls - return them to JD in as neat and tidy a manner as you received them. Do not disassemble things if
they were assembled when you received them. Make sure all control collectors know the score. Collect in all pegs/tapes,
including from unused control sites.