Chris Curtis Web Site

I had made up my mind ages ago to compete in at least some of the Surrey Five-O events. I thought it was time that I moved beyond local and the occasional district events to try “the real thing”. I was encouraged that the M45S course was only 3.1km – well within my stamina range – and I already knew many of the likely officials, who would know I was new to this sort of thing. I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect, and the “big day” atmosphere in the world cup arena, plus the 30-minute delay built the tension. I was glad to get into the start queue and start the process of clearing the electronics, checking, getting the control descriptions and then starting, picking up the map and heading into the forest. Heading off at the same time as six other people threw me a little, especially when several of them ran off quickly after a 2-second glance at the map.

I made a bit of a mess of the first control. I should have paused for ten or twenty seconds longer to orientate myself, but took a crude bearing aiming at an area of open with small buildings below the control. In fact I found other small buildings, before the open, but was not quite sure how things were mapped. This meant I approached the control far from the optimum direction and had to cast about a bit to nail it. This sowed the dreaded uncertainty, which it took a while to lose.

The terrain was far more complex than anything I have been used to. It was very hilly, but in a complicated way. This meant that contours were critical – with plenty of detail for navigation but huge potential for confusion. Alongside this, the army have spent decades changing the landscape, with strange buildings and shelters (many unmapped), bizarre tracks and paths, extremely deep pits and trenches and so on. I found it very hard to simplify at first. There was so much going on.

It was also rather physical, with very steep slopes and deep gulleys and re-entrants, as well as army-type barriers of fallen trees, corrugated iron and such. With the high temperature, I was sweating and my heart was pounding within seconds.

I did the sensible thing after control 1 and slowed down to avoid mistakes (not that I was fast to start with!). This did not stop me having to change plans half-way through going from 1 to 2 and again doing 2 to 3 and 3 to 4. I was seeking safety – obvious handrails and checking features to try to avoid getting lost. I knew that if I lost map contact I would be in real trouble. Control 5 was one of those nightmares. I was in the circle quickly and confidently and knew the control was in one of the many deep pits. Why I did not spot the obvious form line that told me it was the pit on top of the small hill I had gone round several times without realising there was a pit on top, I will never know. I covered that ground several times, looked at the map for the eighth time and knew instantly I was a complete idiot.

This seemed to shock me into paying MUCH more attention to the map and I felt, at last, that I had a feel for the terrain and how it was mapped. I was very pleased with the way I executed the next four controls. If I had run like that all the way round I would have been in contention.

I made a bad route choice from 9 to 10. I opted for safety and went around to follow obvious features, but this took ages and the features turned out to be more complex than they first seemed so finding the path that seemed obvious on the map and checking it was the right one took ages. I did something similar for the next two controls. I played safe but this meant I was very slow.

The penultimate control was another experience of very quickly being in the circle, but taking ages to find the control. This was another area riddled with deep pits, one of which contained the control.

I did manage the run-in at a tolerable trot and looked reasonably convincing, though no-one would mistake me for an athlete!

Not surprisingly, I was last except for the chap who had missed a control completely, and at least fifteen minutes behind the next competitor. I was delighted to have finished, and pleased with the middle of my run. I learnt a huge amount that I will need to think through very carefully. The skills required for this course were a whole level above what I have needed so far. I know all the theory – the need for rough then detailed orienteering, the need to simplify, the need to identify clear attack points and pay attention to checking and catching features when making route choices and such basics as pace-counting, as well as the overwhelming importance of the map – but I have a long way to go to apply it and get things to hang together. The fact I did find all the controls (even if I took ages), and had a decent bit in the middle, shows some hope, and I am looking forward to having another go on Tuesday at Leith Hill. The most encouraging thing was chatting to Les Hooper on the way out who said, “You will improve quickly now”. I felt like I saw, for the first time, what orienteering is really all about and the challenge is to raise my game to respond – bring it on!

Great event, great terrain and map and excellent course – it was just me who needed to improve.

The world cup relays were on Windmill Hill and Mytchett – military training areas next to the unhappy Deepcut barracks. I went along to take part in the Surrey 5-0 regional, middle distance event but was there early enough to enjoy the atmosphere and see the prize-giving ceremonies. I had to park well over 1km away and walk along residential roads then along a track to a huge open field surrounded by forest. The field had an army assault course around the edge – like a running track with bizarre and terrifying obstacles – and the run-in used a section of the track.

Things seemed in full-swing, with many more people around than for the Friday evening and warm sunshine creating a great atmosphere. The trader stalls and catering created one focus, and the start, finish and run-in another. It was hard to judge how many were there, but I would have said at least 1,000. Clubs were grouped around flags, tents or simply loosely defined areas while others simply wandered around, mingling with the international and UK elite. Things seemed very tightly organised and under control, though again the national teams seemed hard to pin down and control – the Finns failing to turn up to a prize-giving, for example.

A protest on the men’s relay meant a 30-minute delay to the public races, so there was even more time to hang around, get sunburnt and hot and chat with people I knew and strangers while watching the UK elite go for it in the future champions cup. It was good to put a few faces to names and nicknames from nopesport.

After a busy day, travelling down to Goodwood among other places, I was relieved to collect a group of students from my school and head off to the University of Surrey at Guildford. We had answered the increasing frantic calls for helpers for the opening ceremony and the sprint qualifiers and zoomed over in a minibus as soon as school finished. When we arrived, the arena was pretty much assembled but there was still a great deal of activity. There were lots of people in “world cup” shirts and red rain-jackets, all sporting id badges around their necks and running around, while we, and what looked like other potential helpers, hung around waiting for someone to tell us what to do. Eventually, the students and other juniors were put into world cup t-shirts and taken over to where the national flags were laid out and told to grab one each. With time running out, there were not enough juniors for the flags (and no-one could find the star and stripes for the USA either) so I was asked to carry the belgian flag across the road to where the teams would assemble. The next thing I knew the parade was off and I had to go with it. I have to say that the Belgian team seemed happy enough to be led in by me, and were smiling happily when I wished them “bonne chance”.
The parade of teams was a little haphazard. Some of the teams simply did not turn up for the parade in time and the opening ceremony was over very quickly. I think the welcome was warm enough, but it would have been good to have someone declare the competition open or something. I think everyone was focused on the sprints and things were underway smoothly and on-time.

The juniors were moved over to the start as a “rent-a-crowd” and happily waved union jacks at the women starters. The GBR competitors were genuinely cheered away. The competitors were incredibly focused. The maps were kept covered on the start with officials lifting the cover away at the moment of starting. It looked like some of the competitors were trying to see the map through the covers. Each of them took three or four long slow steps while peering at the map and then disappeared very quickly round the corner.

Just before women finishers were expected, “rent-a-crowd” was moved to the finish area. We could see the spectator control on the big screen from there, and could tell from the commentary who was turning up impressively early or disappointingly late. Soon we could see for ourselves as the women began to arrive. Starters had gone off in threes, so it was fairly easy to see who had made what time up on the run. Men began to finish even before all the women were back.

It was interesting to see the world’s best in action. Some looked as sweaty and exhausted as I do at the end of a race, while others, like Simone Niggli, hardly seemed out of breath. A surprising number made mistakes on the final control, which was on the run-in directly in front of the finish. A number flew into the crowds of spectators lining the run-in to hunt for the control.

The public races began fairly quickly once the sprint was over. The students were keen to try out the course, so I booked them into yellow. They were the only ones on that course apart from one local. They had a good time, seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly and were pleased with their t-shirts.

I went away thinking how much incredible work must have gone in from volunteers to make this happen. I was deeply impressed with how smoothly the orienteering had gone with excellent maps and courses and a friendly, efficient registration, download and information. I was less impressed with the “pomp and ceremony” side of things, partly because the “crowds” arrived much later – mainly due to Friday night traffic- but maybe the emphasis was right. I was also thinking how big a challenge it is to publicise and explain orienteering to the public. In the arena, we saw people line up and disappear in a few seconds on one side, while others arrived, finished and disappeared on the other. The spectator control shown on the big screen was similarly odd – people appeared, punched and disappeared. What it really needed was overhead cameras, from a blimp or something similar, but there would never be that kind of budget.

I was tempted to stay in bed when I saw that the steady rain had arrived as forecast, but I had everything prepared so I drove the hour or so down to Goodwood Country Park, right next to the famous racecourse. By the time I arrived, the rain had been falling for several hours. It was not particularly heavy, but everywhere and everything was sodden. Thankfully, there was very little wind and it was not cold. I quite like damp and dripping woodland – the sounds and colours are rather muted and there are pretty water droplets hanging from everything. I also like the innocent pleasure of a hot shower and fresh towel when you have been wet through.

I prepared with a few other hardy people, chatting as we sorted ourselves out. Judging by the car park there were already lots of people out in the woods. My map was wet before I even finished copying the course on to it, despite the “tent”, and I realised that seeing anything through my glasses was going to be hard, with droplets on the outside and condensation on the inside. In fact it was a nightmare and I spent quite a lot of time on the course peering at the map and moving my head from side to side to find a spot with reasonable clarity.

The first few controls were very easy indeed – more like an orange than a green course – though I was slightly thrown on control 2 by a small building that I could not see on the map. I was about to become worried when I turned round and saw the control. Although the navigation did become more technical, I did not find it too hard. This left me free to try to keep moving and improve my speed over the ground.

The woods in the country park are quite mixed. There are some stands of tall beech, with almost nothing beneath it so it is very open to run through. There are a few very dense areas too, but mostly it is a mixture of deciduous trees, many of which look fairly young, shrubs and ground vegetation. The ground has lots of small “features” with pits, tree-stumps, large logs, lots of hides, benches and tables, small ditches and earthbanks, as well as small sections of fence and earth-wall. There are lots of paths. The park is on chalk, so the rain had gone into the ground and there were very few puddles and no streams. The soil is thin, often no more than 2cm on top of the white rock, so the wet made things slippery. In a few places the soil had turned into a very efficient lubricant making a thin covering on hard chalk. This made me nervous about running, even so I felt reasonably fit and comfortable all the way round and felt like I was making progress rather than struggling.

I was delighted to finish within the hour. I have been aiming at, and close to, completing a green course in less than an hour for quite a while, so I was delighted to do it today, even if the course was slightly shorter than usual and had easier navigation. This was the first time I have completed a green course in less than an hour – a milestone worth celebrating, I think. Now I have to do it consistenly and aim at 50 minutes!

UPDATE: Well, I am still pleased with my increase in speed, but it seems everyone else went much faster too, so the result was 29th. The winning time was about half an hour! Just shows how important the ease of navigation and terrain are in determining what happens, rather than just the distance.

Sorry if you have noticed any glitches in the operation of the site. I have moved my domain and content to a new web host. The site and domain is now hosted by “Webfusion” which is part of the Pipex empire. So far I am mightily impressed by my new hosts.

I am also extremely impressed by WordPress and the relative ease of moving my whole installation to the new host. Very clear instructions at the WordPress Codex helped a great deal.

I think everything is working as it should except the photo gallery. The new host uses a different “image library” – I will fix things when I can.

Update: I have installed a new gallery that works – rather better than the old one did, I think. Try it here.

I was determined to have a better run today. If I copied the map correctly, and stayed in proper contact with it so I did not get lost, I ought to do better.

It was cold but dry as I headed towards Tulley’s Farm. The event was based around the 100-acre wood area of the farm, well away from the farm shop and tea rooms (both highly recommended, by the way!). I arrived a little later than I usually do and there were crowds of people around: well over 100 runners, plus all sorts of walkers including families with push chairs. There was quite a long queue for registration and map sales, but I went through quickly enough. I copied the course onto the map and checked it with particular care. Then after another queue at the start and I was off.

I felt good from the very beginning. The long downhill run across a field into the woods, helped me to move fairly fast and easily so I was soon warmed up and running well by my standards. Things seemed to click into place. The map has a lot of detail, so there are lots of checking features to reassure you that you are where you think you are. My fitness seemed much better than recently too. I was able to run comfortably over fairly long distances – for the first time in ages – and I felt fine almost all the way round – fading a little by the last two controls, but not before.

Looking at the split times, I think I made a good route choice between 7 and 8, though while I was on the course I had my doubts. I came along the path and turned right at the junction to go past the two fenced areas. I followed the stream past the tall fenced area all the way to the control on the footbridge. The alternative route that I thought might be quicker was to stay on paths all the way round to the control, but it was much longer. Although the stream went through fairly dense forest and undergrowth, at the stream edge was a clear area all the way along and I made fairly good time. I went straight through the forest on a bearing to control 9 too. Again I think this was the best route and I was able to check off the fenced enclosures and ditch so despite the brambles (see photo above) I was able to move fairly fast.

I was tired by control 9 and tried to go straight towards 10, when this time the path would have been the best bet. I did go straight to the finish from 10, when I saw lots of people running up the road, and that was definitely right. I was faster than most of the field, despite being really quite tired by then.

I ended up doing under 64 minutes around 15 minutes per km – very much better than recently – and I was in much better shape all round than for ages. I was fairly pleased, really. I came 29th out of about 55 runners on my course. I beat a few people who are much better orienteers than me. Most importantly, I enjoyed myself much more, felt fitter (to motivate me to do even more training!) and had that magic sense of achievement. Who can ask for more?

The target remains doing green consistently in less than an hour, but if I can run every time like I did today, it does not seem so far away.

The house is very quiet as the sons have gone travelling. Thom is in Venice with some friends and Nathan is in Gibraltar (some last minute bargain, apparently). Oh the joys of cheap travel for students!