Category: Orienteering

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Race report -Military Challenge

The Military Challenge is an annual event using training areas closed for the Christmas stand down. This years was back in the Aldershot area after a couple of years further south. The event allows mountain biking or running or if you are completely bonkers both in the same day. I was worried the event might be canceled due to the weather but the website assured me this morning that it was on and the morning dawned with clear blue skies over the frosty ground, in fact it was -8 as I defrosted the car to head south. The access road up into the event was very slippery and as I parked I wondered how on earth we would get any traction on the 40km course.

At registration I was given a GPS tracking unit to try and after picking up my hire E Card I had a look at the 10 yes 10 maps that would take us on our journey !  I had a late start which didn’t particularly help much as there were lots of other MTB tracks around. I fluffed #2 losing a couple on minutes, confused by the transition into the OS portion of the map taking a wrong track but talking to others there is something not right with the north lines mapping in this area, perhaps the OS being stretched to fit the O map?
On to the more urban part of the course and the conditions were treacherous with ice covered roads making this a Military skating challenge. Scared off by the slippery roads I took a bad decision on #4 and took the path option which had countless gates, boardwalks and doggy walkers to contend with. To top it I cocked up coming out of #4 getting stuck the wrong side of a one way street and lost a few more minutes. Onto map 3 and I passed a very sore Jon Marsden who called out that he had tumbled 4 times already on the ice. Through maps 4 and on to 5 and I was flying, confidence building in the bike and keeping the nav together. On the way to #12 I took my only tumble, a spectacular over the handle bars dive as I broke to avoid missing a track junction on ice. I had a very near off as I turned an icy corner near #14, but mostly if you were careful you could keep going fairly quickly on the edges of the roads. I lost a bit of time on map 7 taking a safe option round a round about and over a bridge to avoid a level crossing which I was stopped at for 5 mins a few years ago but was still riding well through map 8.
Looking back I think I was tiring at this point probably needing some food, I then made two stupid mistakes, a 180 coming out of #19 and a rubbish route choice along a fence after #21 giving me a huge rollercoaster climb rather than a simple singletrack around the top, which probably lost me the race, they certainly lost me 2nd place. On to map 10 then and the last  few controls. The route to the last control was down a snowy land rover track, the difference between the ‘season mountain bikers’ and those not so used to it the very obvious as I and several others screamed past a few riders picking their way gingerly down the hill. Unfortunately due to my lack of granny ring I had to run up to the finish. Results and GPS tracking are not out yet  but I was 4th when I left, having compared splits, burger in hand on patio chairs in the snow with Alan (2nd place he beat me by 26 secs). The event was not as good as previous years with probably too much road and not enough controls in the technical areas but I enjoyed it all the same. Andy Conn was 6 mins clear of three of us all within 30 seconds showing  my mistakes were costly. Looking at the Splitsbrowser graph I probably could have just won, but its a good result at this point in the season which I am pleased with.
stats – 40km course – 52.8km riding, 600m climb – 2 hours 46 mins
results here

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M.C. Stodge

No racing for me this weekend as I was organising the timing for my Club’s (Walton Chasers) National Event on Sunday.
With over 1000 entries and logistical problems with a remote registration and microphonea timed start for the entries on the day, I was looking forward to a busy day not just running the timing but also doing a functional test of all the kit ready for next years British Orienteering Championships where there will probably be more like 2500 entries.
We wired the last control (300 metres distant) to the Sportident Autodownload commentary software, as well as the finish and borrowed the West Midlands OA public address kit, intending to do a little commentary.

Per Forsberg
Per Forsberg

The day dawned frosty and sunny and with all the kit in place before first start I started a little PA….. In fact I ended up commentating most of the day, stopping from time to time to sort out entry queries, mispunches and the usual confusion caused by very tired runners. I don’t think Per Forsberg has got anything to worry about as I suspect I was probably fairly dull but I did try to vary it a bit and with a prewarning of 300 metres it was fairly easy not to miss anything important.
Thanks to Alan Hartley of Sportident UK and author of Autodownload for his unofficial support all weekend, and to the rest of the WCH download team.
I was pleased to get all the results and rankings on to the web in time for competitors to spend the evening dissecting and analysing when then got home. Cath managed to get the Routegadget upload done really early and this seems to have paid off with129 people posting their routes on Sunday night.
Oh and I also got to ride my new bike, but more of that later in the week !

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Event Report – Swynnerton District (foot O)

I have kept the running to a minimum since the niggly injuries I got in October, but I needed to keep my orienteering hand in and the chance to run on the little used Swynnerton brought the dob spikes and thumb compass out of the cupboard.
The torrential rain of the previous week had left everywhere saturated and Swynnerton was no exception but many of the paths and roads were tarmaced.
At 9.3 km and the area being a flat ex munitions factory and military training area I knew the race would be fast and furious with a few long legs of pure running but most of the course was quite technical, and certainly was testing. The undergrowth was fairly man eating so path routes were favourable to trying to cut through in most cases. I had a good run with only a small error at #6 caused by a misplaced control, but this only lost me 10-15 secs or so, and a larger error on the way to #11 where I seemed to exit the wrong corner of a car park losing about 30 secs before I picked up what I had done.The route to #19 was quite eventful with huge berms, banks and walls to negotiate, I suppose all part of the old munitions installation. My hips and knees were sore as I punched the finish but was very satisfied at download to see I was in the lead, which I kept until fellow Chaser Rhys Finlay Robinson pipped me by couple of minutes.
The other reason for running was a bit of a recce to see what it would be like for MTBO if we could negotiate permissions. The bottom line is that it would be a fantastic venue for a sprint or middle race so 2011 perhaps, watch this space ?

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Event Report – D&W 2 – Birchover

Saturday night saw me driving to Yougreave Youth Hostel for the Annual General Meeting of the Trail Cyclist Association (Governing body of MTBO and Trailquests in the UK – see separate post to come later in the week). Several faces were missing, being stuck in Cumbria by the flooding. I believe evryone is OK, thank goodness. The Peak District had not escaped the heavy rains and the rivers were swollen and the tracks very muddy as 200 riders set out on Sunday morning on Dark and White’s Winter series round 2, this time from Birchover Campsite, near Matlock. I have competed from Birchover twice before and I have either been too early or very very late, such is the terrain in the area you are always faced with a huge uphill finish as the campsite enjoys fine views over the surrounding countryside in all directions.
Unfortunately I’d managed to leave the waterproof cover to my mapboard at home (Id taken it off to wash it!) so I phaffed the start losing about a minute to elastic bands and cold fingers and struggled for the next three hours with a ballooning plastic bag whenever I went over about 5 mph. Id decided after being horrendously late at Birchover in the past that I would cross the Derwent Valley early on and then approach the finish from the SW so I did not face a hideous climb when tired. After grabbing #1 and #4 I rode very strongly up onto Darley Moor and was really pleased with the way my climbing has improved in the past 6 months. The weather deteriorated as I splashed though some axle deep puddles on the way to #19 but it never got too bad, just enough to you generally wet and cold when not climbing. I was still riding strongly for #22 and #21 covering familiar ground so navigation was easy, but due to my ballooning map I had no real plan for what to do next. Riding up the B5056 I still did not have a plan and after #9 I got sucked into a route with no getouts via #13 and #12. The climb upto 12 lost me too much time and I knew I would be late…..very, very late.
I crawled up the final climb back to the finish and punched 20.07 mins late. Penalties for lateness are ramped on Trailquests and, unfortunately, after 15 minutes you hemorrhage points. I score 235 points today but lost 110 of them in penalties. Perhaps I should have gone out for an hour and spent the rest of the time in the pub: I would have got a better result (but the extra riding has done me far more good that a few pints of real ale & a packet of pork scratchings)!

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Event Report – D&W #1 – Hayfield

Up until Friday afternoon I was still unsure as whether to ride or not in this the first of the Dark and White Winter series. Following the discovery of my large bruise I have been struggling with knee pain, particularly where I had Osgood-Schlatter disease as a teenager. I think all the problems I have had, including the ripped muscle have been caused by the impact injury I sustained a month ago whilst running which perhaps I should have rested more before recommencing riding.
Anyway back to the event. Hayfield is one of those villages in The Peaks where the mountains rise on all sides, steeply to open moorland. Starts were early because of Remembrance Parades and we arrived in plenty of time. After chatting to a few people I realised that a good league score was not on the cards as local and national legend Nick Craig had decided to ride. I have only ridden the area around New Mills and Hayfeild once several years ago, but the riding is stunning and several tracks brought a smile to my face (well the ones that used gravity to my advantage did). I started off scrappily picking up the two controls to the east, but this was a mistake as it involved a lot of climb for so few points. I then didn’t spot a high pass near #5 which would have saved me another climb. My route to the 25 pointer #8 was a lucky pick though as the decent to #10 was a foul muddy track where I passed lots of people struggling upwards. The rest of the ride was fairly straight forward but towards the end I decided not to push my luck, particularly as I was tiring and didn’t want to get another niggly injury. Rather that coming in via #4 and perhaps being a couple of mins late I opted for the fast route down the main road. The decent was amazing, with the GPS showing I hit 41 mph at one point. I think the sporty Volvo hatchback that exiting the junction at the top of the pass in front of me had a shock through the bends with chasing him down in his rear mirror !

Another great event from Dark and White ( I only needed to get the descriptions out once) which I thoroughly enjoyed. Although  I only got 11th which would normally be disappointing, the quality of the field was very high and with the injury niggles I have had over the last month I feel quite pleased.

Results available here http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results/D&W%20Winter%20League%200910%20-%20Round%201%20-%20short.html

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Staple Common District Event – Somerset

A weekend at my parents in Somerset gave an opportunity to go back to an orienteering area of my youth, Staple Hill. Only about 7 miles from home it takes the form of a very steep escarpment forming the side of the little known Blackdown hills, which always lose out to the the popularity of their larger cousins of Exmoor and the Quantocks. Castle Neroche and Staple Common have undergone alots of changes since I was last there including the obvious felling and growing but less obvious grazing by long horned cattle and a new accessible bridleway which snakes its way along the ridgeline.
I got an early start and was prepared for it to be tough . The route to #1 certainly gave that. As soon as I left the path I was threading my way through fallen trees, dense bits of woodland and the inevitable marsh and bogs caused by the cattle. I had a fairly clean run only making a couple of errors but the course was challenging with few path options and plenty of rough tough forest. The roughness was OK though as it was not all bramble and brashing, more fallen trees, tussock and bog.
As I moved towards the end of the map before the turn I noticed blobs of flour. Crossing the openland I then heard the familiar cries of On On coming the the ridge. I crested the ridge after #10 to face Taunton Hash House Harriers all coming towards me and it was good to recognise a few faces Ive not seen for 15 or so years.
The planner (Will Kromhout who I was in the SW junior squad with many moons ago) had one last trick up his sleeve with a nasty contouring cross country leg back through the cattle trodden thick forest. I was driven too low by the vegetation and had to climb back up but I am assured that the light green was ‘quite nice’ when you got into it. 
Results at http://www.quantockorienteers.co.uk/

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A busy weekend !

On Saturday Cath planned and organised  a first in Orienteering, a Maize Maze sprint event at the National Forest Maize Maze near Burton on Trent.  The format consisted of two qualifiers (added to give a overall time to decide start order for the final) and a final which was run in the dark.
Our club was also organising a traditional low key event on the Sunday at Birches Valley at which I was running the timing. Unfortunately Cath’s car broke its cam belt last week so we have been struggling with hire cars and lifts from friends which complicated matters further.

We had had a trial Maize Maze race in September for club members which seemed to go well and looking at the pre-entry list, it consisted of approx 100 orienteering connoisseurs, many travelling a great distance to take part. To make life even more complicated on the day I got a puncture in my car as well !

I managed to run both qualification races, where although I had obviously an advantage having seen the map and run there before I was pleased with my times only a minute off the pace. Working out the start times for the night leg in Excel got a bit frantic and I had to escape to a quiet hidey-hole to concentrate, though still with Cath’s choice of ‘Maze’ songs playing over the tanoy…. ‘Wurzels, I’ve got a brand new combine harvester’ and’ The Great Escape’ to name a few.

The event was very well received with many blog articles and forum postings praising this new event format. Well done Cath ! www.walton-chasers.co.uk – full results and maps etc available here :http://www.walton-chasers.co.uk/results/2009/Maize2009/Maize2009.htm

 

 

Sundays event was a less stressful and I managed a run on the brown course. My legs and particularly my knees were aching from the day before so after a fast start I settled back into a steady run. Other than a mistake near some unmarked paths I ran clean until I stumbled on a track near the finish twisting my ankle and fell heavily on the gravel, ending up with the classic schoolboy playground combo of deep knee and palm grazes. I fluffed the next control by about 20 secs wincing from my knee as I ran but finished OK in a respectable 7th with mostly ex British Squad members in front of me.
Stafford St Johns Ambulance were great, not faffing and just giving me some sterile wipes and the water I needed to clean myself up.
So a busy weekend but I hope we have started something and other clubs jump on the Maize Maze wagon.

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Maize Maze Orienteering – Club Sprint

Maize Maze Orienteering Gallery

It was whilst wandering round between the showers in a Maize Maze near Cambridge with some friends a couple of months ago that Cath came up with the idea of Maize Maze Orienteering. There are Maize Mazes up & down the country set up by entrepreneurial farmers looking for an alternative income to crops. Some mazes are quite straightforward, others are more tricky and there are a number of professionals who design the maizes for the farmers, too. The mazes also provide rudimentary maps which can act as a base map for foot orienteering.
Tuesday was the ‘warm up’ and ‘shakedown’ event before a full blown event in a few weeks time. Walton Chasers runs a Domination series throughout the summer for its club members. It takes the form of a league that covers all the main disciplines of Orienteering : Sprint, Score, Classic, Cross Country Running. This years sprint was the Maize Maze.
I started really well and was very pleased with the way I was running, however then came a lesson in concentration. I discovered a SI box that was programed incorrectly and after running back to the finish with it I then blew the next 4 controls finally accidentally missed two out – Muppet.

Many were sceptical about this novel new form of orienteering but everyone can back saying it was one of the most intense orienteering experiences they had ever done.
see http://www.maize-maze.com/ for your nearest Maize maze, which are normally also a great family day out !

The ‘real’ event is on the 3rd OCT – see advert right