Results from Clapham Street-O

The results from the Clapham Street-O which took place on 13 December 2011 can be viewed here. You can mark the route you took on the Routegadget page for the event. Finally, you can also view the series standings so far.

Comments from the Organiser

Many thanks to those who came along to the Clapham Street-O last night. It was great to get so many positive comments and (as far as I heard) no complaints about controls. I’d put in a bit of thought about what would make a good Street-O when planning the course.

  • Postboxes, pioneered by Paul Nixon in Surbiton, were an obvious choice for low value controls – easy to find and with the same layout on every control site.
  • Blue plaques added some historical interest and were a bit harder to locate. One was slightly harder to read in the dark, but I gave credit for a reasonable attempt.
  • I included a few of the more traditional style of questions to draw you into more technical areas or further afield.
  • The bandstand provided an excellent 50 point control, isolated at the centre of the map disrupting anyone trying to embark on a round-the-edge route. I’m looking forward to seeing your route choices on Routegadget!

I wanted the controls to be unambiguous, so introduced brief control descriptions. I’ve been frustrated trying to find detail on signs or noticeboards. Every answer was specific and short (Wilberforce and Bolingbroke being the longest at 11 letters).

I was keen to show people some of the historical side of Clapham. For those that are interested, here is a little more information on each of the blue plaques.

  • William Wilberforce, politician and campaigner against slavery
  • Edvard Grieg, composer
  • Gus Elen, comedian and music hall singer
  • Edward Thomas, war poet who died in the battle of Arras
  • John Walter, founder of The Times
  • HM Bateman, cartoonist
  • Marie Kendall, music hall performer
  • Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, boxer who became world welterweight champion in 1915
  • GA Henty, Victorian writer of adventure stories
  • Arthur Henderson, Nobel peace prize laureate in 1934 and Labour party leader
  • Fred Knee, trade unionist and socialist politician

I’ll bring along the many unclaimed maps to next month’s event in Marylebone. I also have about 30 blank maps left over. Let me know if you want one, and I’ll give the rest to the person who asked for maps for their local scout group.

Many thanks to Jon Moore (MV), Ben Smith and Dmitry Adamskiy for helping unasked with the finishers, marking the sheets and for the liquid refreshment.

Angus Lund, SLOW