Chris Curtis Web Site

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.