I have thought for a while that sprint / street orienteering gives some of the best technical training for MTBO. The skills needed to navigate at speed in the complex path network of a campus university or old town are exactly the same as those needed on the bike.
The district foot orienteering event run by UWOC on their huge Warwick campus over the weekend therefore was an must. The forecasted weather did not materialise and though a little cold and mud
dy underfoot it was almost perfect for orienteering.
The map, drawn to sprint specifications at 1:5000 was extended out into some scrub parkland and a housing estate in order to give enough ‘room’ for the brown course (longest distance course available) that the West Midlands League requires.
I had an appalling start, running away from the startline I got about 30 metres before realising I should have run back through the start line to the first control. Flustered I then totally overshot the first track junction, not being used to the 1:5000 map, and was forced to run right around an out of bounds area. Luckily I only lost about 2 mins, but it is a lesson in preparation. If possible you should always watch the start area for a few mins to pick up what you can. I also should have focused before hand on being hyper aware of the map scale on the way to #1
The orienteering in the campus was amazing, with total concentration needed. We then had a bit of a slog through some grotty parkland and a long leg back through a housing estate, that to be honest I think the course could have done without. Another loop in the campus and a reduction in length would have made the course so much better. I made one mistake in the parkland, trying to cross a stream, well small river really, basically chickening out twice and then running round using the bridge.
Back in the campus I started enjoying myself again, but I had one frustrating moment losing about 20 secs waiting for a gap in the traffic.
Initially I was quite disappointed with my result, but if you remove my muppet moment on the way to #1 it was not too bad for someone who said they would be happy to jog round a green course if the operation on my foot worked !