The unsung hero of the weekend was Paul's mapping of a very difficult area. Working from a map that had some dubious photogrammertry with areas of no previous fieldwork, in low visibility that would have tested the very best of mappers especialy the native in the upper levels, I thought he did a great job even if it was possibly not perfect.

Thanks for your kind words ole codger. Only a fellow mapper would fully understand the enormity and problems of mapping such a block!

However there are as always many, many unsung heros for every event we go to. It's only when we get involved that we can really appreciate how much work goes into our sport and so it is hugely rewarding to do your bit what ever your preference. By spreading the workload we can avoid burnout from individuals who often do too much. You get out what you put in, and make great friends along the way.

I felt each day of TONIC was quite unique and loved it all. Thanks especially to the large nos. of volunteers who helped collect controls each day, by this stage the course setter/controller is normally well spent so the help is really noticed.

I was very interested to see that the Beautiful Hills native bush has been remapped and I waited impatiently to see the new map on routegadget. Great work, Paul!

I think it's a wonderful opportunity to compare mappers and comment on mapping. The map versions were made by 3 experienced mappers - myself, Michael Wood and Paul Ireland. The time difference is 15 years but the native bush has not changed (apart from a walking track after I did the fieldwork).

My original base maps had very vague contours - a sample of which can be seen in the version 1 image - the fight pines area coloured purple - it's amazing how Paul has remapped it now that it is open run - I'm sure even with the use of Lidar contours and the latest orthophotos that Paul still had to do an incredible amount of contour adjusting.

I spent many weekends in the bush and judging by my comments in 1994 after the World Cup, and by Paul's comments in the TONIC programme, we both have similar views and at times we both wax lyrical almost as if it was a mystical experience.

I must say I seriously felt for you - for me it was a huge relief to get finished, and I did less than 1/2 of the native area you covered. The thought of carrying on sent shivers down my spine! In saying that after a while, like with a good o run, some days you just get in the zone and actually enjoy yourself. I think we should stress to any budding mappers out there - this is 'extreme mapping' not for the faint hearted. The majority of fieldwork and terrain is a bit less daunting and usually quite enjoyable to map!!! Looking at your base material (photogrammetry in the purple area) I would have to say that the lidar and orthophoto combination was most likely more helpful. The photos showed big tracks, some clearings and vegetation boundaries, and the odd big tree. Unfortunately the contours themselves were just as vague as yours but did show the overall land shapes, big gully and spur systems etc quite well, and often a bump in the contour would indicate there was something there, so that was good for getting some positions of larger things correct. Unfortunately though the Lidar was no magic bullet - the same amount of blood, sweat and tears was needed to turn it into an o map. Lidar doesn't indicate up or down either just to give you something else to think about. My main goal was to map more detail in order to enhance the usability of the area, for the course setter and the runner.

Looking back at your original drawings I do see more similarities to my work. I would conclude that the world cup version had to fit with the specifications for a 1:10000 map with regard to clarity and simplification and so probably had many areas where your detail was too small for the final map and so was modified. I discovered quite quickly that even with simplification things wouldn't fit well so made up my mind to map the detail regardless, and because of that it gradually became necessary to enlarge the final map scale to 1:7500. The map printed at 1:10000 can be read at home but really it would be a nightmare in the forest on the run!!!

It will be interesting to hear others views on whether this was the most appropriate way to go with both the map scale and/or detail of mapping, after all, there are still more beautiful hills out there that could be remapped!