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Beautiful weather and location (I even managed a quick trip to Holy Island this afternoon), good course planning, shame about my runs. Yesterday respectable-slow, today slow-slow. I enjoyed myself though, hey. Today I started badly by running past my first control and it didn’t get much better, not helped by the pain at the back of my feet where my shoes were rubbing. What I really need is something I can stick on the back of my feet to protect them (and that won’t come off) and I don’t mean a sticking plaster!
One surprise today was a leg which took me over the side of a cliff! Rock-climbing had been mentioned in the event details, but I didn’t think it applied to M40S… Heart in mouth, I made my way gingerly down, only to discover at the bottom that I’d parted company with my map.
Ever the optimist, I’m looking forward to a good run in the relays tomorrow, feet willing.
Tried out Trail O for the first time yesterday. First, before I talk about my own experiences, I need to ask: shouldn’t a Trail O course be wheelchair accessible??
Anyway, I enjoyed it. It was an interesting challenge. I took pictures of the controls and I’ll post them later. It was important not to just compare the controls in relation to each other but also in relation to the features all around. There were a few cases where the answer was definitely that none of the controls were in the right place. Sneaky!
There were a couple of things though that disappointed me. I mispunched a couple of times but at the end I was told that was hard luck – nothing could be done about it. I was shocked by this not only because other forms of orienteering allow you to correct your mispunch, but also because no-one had told me this rule. In fact, considering I was doing the “novice” course, there was a distinct lack of instructions or advice. Some information was provided by other orienteers out on the course, but not everything they told me was correct…
The event info suggests there’ll be free wifi so I’ll take Marti’s netbook and see how I get on. AA Roadwatch has zero alerts between Birmingham and Newcastle – can’t be right! Soon see…
I had quite a good run at Leith Hill last year, on my first ever outing at the JK. 77 minutes, achieving my target of 12 minutes per kilometre.* There was a touch of frustration though when I looked at the results and saw the winner’s time: 47 minutes by Peter Sacares of LOK. Wondering why he doesn’t run the Long!
Of course I was falling into the trap of expecting other people to use the same reasoning as me. I run Short or B courses because I don’t have the stamina to go further – not happily anyway. I’d get better value doing the long course but it could turn into a dispiriting trudge. And I’ve got more chance of getting my bronze badge (if BOF haven’t abolished them).
But, let’s face it, there are some orienteers who could easily run the Long or A course but just don’t want to. They enjoy a shorter race. And that’s their prerogative.
*(There’s a tad more climb this year but I ought to set my sights on 10 minute k’s and a total cross-country time of around 2 hours.)
Well done to those West Midlanders who ran well at BOC today. Foremost among them are new national champions Andy Hemsted (M60), Sheila Carey (W60), Jane Christopher (W65) and Hilary Simpson (W70).
Meanwhile I’m here in Birmingham saving up my brownie points for the JK weekend! It’s been a relatively quiet week – I ran in Stourbridge on Thursday night, another good run, and last Saturday I took Catherine to Coventry for the busy event at the scout camp there. OD are rather generous in their course classification. The “yellow” course we went round was a very pale shade of yellow indeed!
Update: successes in the relays… OD 4th and 5th in the men’s and women’s premier respectively; HOC 7th and 4th in the men’s short and M40 respectively. OD 1st in mixed-12, M14, W14, W40 and mixed-60. Congratulations – the Droobers maintain their winning ways!
Although we Harlequins aren’t as competitive, the club has an excellent participatory spirit and I’m looking forward to being part of one of our eleven teams at the JK.
My first-ever relay event, and what a dismal performance! Just under 75 minutes for just under 5 km… It was interesting seeing how the whole thing worked, and exciting to watch the mass starts and the handovers. But oh dear, I shan’t be looking forward to going back into that little wood again.
It was the closest thing to an orienteering version of The Twilight Zone that I’ve experienced for a while. Somehow I got lost on the way from control 1 to the open area, and later on the same thing happened exiting from control 5. In both cases I lost minutes just making it from the controls to the major track. Other mistakes too: I drifted to the right after #2, disturbing a small herd of deer in the process, I couldn’t find the fence on the way to #5, and I overshot #7, caught by the lake at the top of the hill. But by that stage at least I had the excuse that I was running in a blizzard and the little path had been obliterated.
To be honest, I was too sloppy… It was a shame. Despite the weather and the mud I actually felt pretty good and I’m sorry that I let Alison and Russ down. My mistakes cost us 15 minutes, leaving us back in 53rd.
Snow had been forecast, but when I drew back the curtains the world looked quite benign. Was it possible they were wrong? No. As we ate our hearty breakfast the first flakes began to fall. And it was a white world I began my race in at 11 o’clock.
I felt tired, and a lot of the course was through muddy or boggy terrain, so my mood was a bit down. But the run went well enough, apart from co’ing up leg 12, which added 3 and a half minutes onto my time.
After crossing the stream, I drifted to the right as I climbed the hill, ending up eventually back at the start. At least I knew where I was now! So then I had to cut around the start area to the NE corner of the out-of-bounds, where I discovered I had to negotiate the Pippingford Gulch before reaching the well. It was weird to emerge from the wood to find that not a trace of the snow was left. In the end I was 27th in 84:30, thereby pipping Peter Langmaid by 57 seconds for the JK HOC M40S title! 
A note on clothing: at Leith Hill I finally bought myself a pair of gloves, so I had no trouble with cold hands. Apart from that, my usual attire, even in March, is a pair of jogging bottoms and a long-sleeved t-shirt. With the weather as it was though, I did have two layers on each day at the JK, adding either a light sweatshirt or jacket. Clothing came to mind after I was shocked to read how badly Paul Nixon suffered at Ashdown Forest.
Notable Harlequins performances: M16A Alex Roberts 17th; M20S Matthew Evans, Peter Ford & Robert Farrington 1st, 2nd & 3rd; M21L Tom Horton 2nd; M35L Jason Howell 8th; M45S David Williams 3rd; M50L John Embrey 16th; M50S Andrew White, Mike Farrington & John Leeson 20th, 21st & 22nd; M55L Andy Hemsted 3rd, Mike Baggott 11th; M60L Brian Hughes 3rd; John Pearson 11th; M60S Russ Fauset 12th, Dennis Mews 15th; M70L Colin Spears 4th; W14B Mhairi Leeson 9th; W18S Susan Ford 1st; W20L Elizabeth White 3rd; W21L Lindsay McMillan 20th; W40S Kerstin Mitchell 7th; W50S Carol Farrington & Lynden Hartmann 15th & 16th; W65S Suzette Spears 7th; W70L Alison Sloman 4th.
Photos (on MySportStream): 1, 2, 3, etc.
The organisers move in after HOC fail to follow the official tent-positioning guidelines.
The last control.
I’m not last!
Harlequin ahoy!
The worst bit about the day was the parking. Having set off before dawn, Ian (Hopkins) and I arrived at the event before 8.30 and were directed to park on a downslope in a sweetcorn field. And somehow, after arriving so early, I still contrived to be late at the start! I wasn’t the only one caught out by the clock, but I was luckier than some: I cleared at 10:35:15 and was allowed to go in my slot at 10:36. I didn’t much like the cold, wind and hail showers, but the course seemed to suit me. I only made one significant mistake, losing 2 minutes at control 13. I finished in 77:28, 24th of 36 on M40S. (The winning time was 47:46 by Peter Sacares of LOC.)
Several people had suggested that attempting to utilise the intricate path network might be a mistake, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to them! I think that if I’d left the paths, the weird lunar landscape of Leith Hill would’ve swallowed me up…
Leg 3 was 800m, most of which I did on the wide path that ends on another wide path 100m ENE of the control. From such a great attack point the control was easy. Then, instead of approaching #4 west of/below the red line, I doglegged back east of/above the line, and followed the paths until I found a good spot to drop down into the contour detail. Then take the handy path (N of the red line) to #5, turning right at the rhododendrons.
After an easy section it was time for more fine detail. After a refreshing sip of ice water (!) I dived into the little wood where I joined three dozen other orienteers hunting for various kites. I didn’t enjoy #10. I set my compass to NW and ran, and then jogged, and then walked, and then inched, but just as I was about to give up, there it was. I liked #11 even less, since its only purpose seemed to be to inject some climb into the course. #12 was straightforward, a handy reentrant leading into it off the path, and #13 I almost nailed. I spotted the little reentant halfway to the control, and knew the open would catch me on the other side of the trees. I’m sure I must have come within a few metres of the gully, but I ended up running north to the depression and back.
By the way, I wonder if anyone had a control in that square openish area that’s surrounded by OOB? 
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