GLOSS – Trent Country Park – Sunday 29th June 2014
- Results by course
- Routegadget
- GLOSS league table
- Table showing GLOSS times, i.e. times that have been adjusted to take account of experience rating, age and gender.
Organiser’s report
It has not since 2007 that we have held a GLOSS (née Frolics) event at Trent Park. In the intervening period LOK has put on Frolics at Alexandra Palace (2008), Horsenden Hill (2009), Addington Hills (2010), Hampstead Heath (2011) and Cranford Country Park (2012), before taking a break in 2013, the year in which we re-launched Frolics as GLOSS – the Greater London Summer Series. We trust that you enjoyed competing in Trent Park in high summer all the more as a result.
I wish to thank all the members of LOK who came out in force to ensure the event ran smoothly on the day. The main hiccup occurred before the event when, having secured land permission from Enfield Council, we were refused permission to use all but one of the controls in the grounds of the vacated college buildings now owned by the Malaysian School. This necessitated both re-planning the tail end of the GLOSS course and reprinting the maps. Despite increasing our original order of GLOSS maps by 20, we still ran out, for which we apologise. We are grateful to those competitors who gave up their maps so that they could be “recycled” for late starters. There are now links to pdf versions of all the course maps here: GLOSS / Extension / Yellow. However I have the following (recycled) maps left over from the event: 7 GLOSS maps, 4 Extension maps and 1 Yellow. If you would like one of these for your map collection, please email me your address, and I will send one in the post to you (if you recently received an error message please resend the request).
Catherine Galvin
Planner’s report
The GLOSS at Trent Park was my third time as LOK Planner (previously Middlesex Uni Hendon Campus urban sprint in 2013 and Alexandra Palace Park Race in 2010). Neil Brooks reviewed the courses and provided some suggestions. I am gradually learning the ropes and got useful feedback today. It seems most enjoyed it. Several runners were frustrated at losing time at GLOSS control 6 – the small pit at the end of a small re-entrant– and felt the undergrowth was incorrectly mapped, although others said it was about right.
The Yellow course dictated the start location with access to a simple path network. My son William (M12) helped when we ran a first attempt, letting me know where it was too difficult and providing alternatives. The main planning limitation for the GLOSS was the 3-4km set out in the guidelines and with the start where it was. I needed varied challenges and changes in terrain, stretching over to the woodland in north but not having the luxury of being able to explore it further. The distance restriction meant that the finish, normally near registration for GLOSS events, was not nearby. The Extension used the southern grassy meadows; few features meant more of a run than a technical challenge.
J Chandler
