Ripon City Results

Results now available here

Route Gadget now available here

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Planner’s Comments – Andrew Kelly

Feedback on the day and since suggests that people enjoyed their run round the beautiful city of Ripon, challenged by it’s intricacies. Phew! Ruth Ker, the planner when last here in 2019, was a tough act to follow, so I felt the need to try something a little bit different, yet still take advantage of what Ripon has to offer (a lot!). The change of location and the availability of the schools helped a lot. Last minute issues abounded, not least the sudden demise of the Queen on Thursday, briefly leaving the whole event in question but finally resulting (at least from the planning perspective) in just a hand-drawn map correction, whilst developers moving into a site during the week and sealing off the optimum route on a key leg on courses 1-3 also saw some late night hand drawing of uncrossable boundaries (hopefully not too distinguishable to the competitor’s eye).

One apology to those early starters at the Far Start, who were set off before gate openings had been checked by me, found a small mismatch between map and the real world, and had to find one open gate 20m from where it was marked without the benefit of a map correction or tapes. This was due to a brief lapse in communication between controller and planner, and was not the Far Start team’s fault who were following instructions perfectly! Urban races are distinctly more complicated to plan than terrain!!

Major thanks are due to Ripon Grammar School and St Wilfrid’s Primary School for the use of their grounds – vital in providing junior courses and significantly enhancing the senior courses. Graham Livesey (RGS Director of Strategic Operations) and Jill Allen (St Wilfrid’s headteacher) were fully supportive throughout, and I am grateful for the trust they placed in us, particularly in the light of 11+ entrance exams taking place at RGS on the same day in the immediate vicinity of the courses. Your silence was much appreciated. Thank you also to the whole Claro team, not least controller David, whose local knowledge proved invaluable, organiser Arthur, and other half (and control hanger!) Linda – your patience and calmness has to be experienced to be believed!

Finally, given that the emphasis of my planning was on trying to challenge you to find the best routes round Ripon, a few comments on some of the legs which seemed to create a diversity of thinking on the day! A general note is that I worked on the basis that individual differences in routes had to be relatively small, otherwise they would be too obvious; this was about consistency and ‘marginal gains’ – but with a lot of questions/choices meaning gains/losses could accumulate rapidly. Of course there were the legs where you had to spot the route full stop!

C1/2/3, leg 7-8: almost all options started through the marshalled gate/allotments. Shortest was L at the road, then immediately R; after 300m L into college grounds, and R across the grass south of the OOB area, before turning S at end of path through wall gap, then following roads/path S to control. Originally the optimum route was planned to be through the rough open area just W of #8, but that was blocked off by developers earlier in the week – thus the late map corrections. There was a viable route down through the school grounds and past the last controls, but that was around 50m longer than the longest of the 5 northern options.
C1/2 9-10, C4 10-11: quickest was W out of control, then N along path turning E out to road; next fastest was E out of control then N to road; longest was through college grounds along path through OOB.
C1/2/4 14-15: key to this was the footpath along the N side of the wood/field E of the main road, then the path down its E side, and through the ginnel just W of #15. This was about 30secs faster than the next fastest route to the N when I ran it, and even more so than the S route.
C1 19-20: W route, starting along riverside to second bridge, was the quickest here
C1 25-26, C2 24-25, C3 21-22, C4/6 1-2: best route for all these was through eastern exit from park.
C1 31-32, C2 30-31, C3 27-28: southern route and then up through Spa Park was distinctly shorter
C1 15-16, C2 16-17, C3 10-11, C4 16-17, C5 10-11: 2 different legs, but in both cases N route was shortest/quickest (but on C2/4/5 only if you cut corner through park)
C2 17-18, C3 12-13, through small housing estate to the N of the school, then via road on N side of cathedral; for C3 you had to cut through small car park between ‘scattered trees’ to fully benefit from this route.
C2 18-19, C4 13-14: W route quicker than E (most seemed to go east)
C4 4-5, C5 5-6: N then W out of control through ginnels, cross W bridge, and cut E through park
C4 5-6, C5 6-7, C6 4-5: E out of control and round E/N sides of cathedral: late loss of W front of cathedral (our decision to avoid any issues with special services) reduced route choice here, but Routegadget still shows variety!
C4 19-20, C5 13-14, C6 10-11: southern route optimum: straight road to N was a deliberately misleading temptation

Thank you all for coming and making it so worthwhile. Please do put YOUR routes up on Routegadget – it so helps with the learning process as planner!

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Organiser’s Comments – Arthur Clarke
Why be an organiser, I ask myself?
As with most events, there can be problems, and I think it is fair to say that Andrew did a remarkable job in planning what turned out to be some fantastic courses; despite the difficulties encountered right up to the very last minute.
Following the very sad news on Thursday of the death of our Reigning Monarch, it was decided that our event could, and should take place. Can I thank you all, for joining CLARO members, prior to the event starting, in remembering Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and also showing your respect around the Cathedral and many churches, during your runs.
As I walked around the city later in the day to gather in the kit, I received many comments on, not only the very well received courses, but also comments on the wonderful City of Ripon. For many competitors, this was their first visit to Ripon, some who had travelled from far afield. They were impressed.
I would like to thank those within the schools who allowed us to use their grounds, and to thank also Harrogate Borough Council for the use of the refurbished tennis pavilion.
I would also like to thank David, (on his bike) for controlling the event. I must remember mine next time!
Finally, thank you to all the helpers, seen and unseen, for your hard work. It is not possible to run an event without such dedicated volunteers. Therefore, whatever club you are a member of; remember that new volunteers are always appreciated and needed. Thank you for a job well done!
So, why be an organiser, or a volunteer? Because we all enjoy the challenge of orienteering.