As part of my orienteering club, Walton Chasers, development program, club coaches Cath and Iain had devised an assessment ‘course’ on a little used part of Cannock Chase, Brereton Hayes. This was a deliberate choice of map area so that the Chasers old guard didn’t simply navigate by ‘I know which pit that is’ memory.
Everyone was given a GPS tracker to wear and also thoroughly debriefed afterwards to see what their current standard is and to find out if there are any particular problems that need addressing. Individual coaching plans are now to be devised based on the results.
The course was designed to test different areas of navigational, physical and psychological skills: Long legs with route choice, short legs, difficult legs, uphill and low visibility.
I started well and ran the first 5 cleanly losing no time and picking good lines through the terrain. However I completely fluffed 6, confused by the contours hidden under the no.12 lettering and thought (though unconvinced at the time) I had overshot. I backtracked and took the wrong earth wall only to find Iain’s decoy control in a parallel position on the earth wall. I knew I was wrong and immediately started relocation by running straight through to see where I would come out. Noticing the marshy scattered trees 20 secs later I knew where I was and re attacked the control successfully on the correct earthbank. I then, other than a 10 sec wobble on 12, ran the rest cleanly, finishing in 27 mins for the 3.6km.
As a navigational test it does not get much harder than this in the West Midlands and many Chasers struggled, losing time both physically in the tough terrain and to mistakes, especially in the intricate contour and low vis areas.
Downloading my GPS it looks like it lost signal under the tree canopy so I don’t have a trace for my mistake, but I know where I went wrong so it’s not really a problem.
Cath and Iain are now looking forward to reviewing lots of GPS tracks and split times in ‘Quick Route’ after they have warmed up from 2 days of shivering coaching and getting some feedback to the club members.
Hi Mark, Thanks for the email & positive feedback about my Woza Wanderer blog. My outbox is stuffed at the mo, hence my blog contact. Like your blog, will dip in avery now & again.
Regarding your Manchester St, Christchurch quake query, Chch CBD is still mostly closed after the Feb 22 quake, but when the national state of emergency cordon eases by Manchester St & I’m allowed in, I’ll reply fully & post pics on my blog.
Go well, Mark JS Esslemont