Orienteering: SO 3-in-1
Today was the major summer event for Southdowns Orienteers – the “3-in-1 O-ringen”. Three orienteering courses on the same day.
As I had promised to help, I was down at Tulleys Farm, near Crawley, bright and early for my first run. Although all the really good runners were aiming to do three green courses, while people of my standard were mostly doing light green, I decided to stick with my normal level and set off on my first green course of around 4km. I simply flew to the first control, very confident, then looped around the second, losing time, and then settled into the course. The Tulley’s Farm Green course had several long straight runs across fields, as well as a few technical controls. Considering the calibre of the competition I did reasonably well, though more than 15 minutes off my personal target time. Winsplits shows I was fairly consistent, never being lost, but much slower than the better runners.
There was not time to run again before I was on car park duty, but I felt well and was keen to go out again – perhaps I could have pushed it more on the first run.
I prepared my second course and had everything ready, then did an hour and a half in the car park. This was not too demanding, and pleasant in the warm sun and breeze, with a chance to chat with various folks who wandered by.
I set off into Worth North. Again, I was fast to the first control, confident and feeling full of beans. I made a hash of the second control – taking a bearing that landed me on 3 and having to go back to two first. Eventually, I found myself in the damp, dark area that looks like Swedish forest. I felt the doubt rising fast as I did not find the control instantly, but I forced myself to go steadily and not go into “headless chicken mode”. I was slow, but I found it and moved on.
Fortunes were a little mixed. My bearings were often poor, but I am becoming convinced that Worth Forest does bad things to compasses. At one point it was swinging more than 40 degrees when I moved it slightly – it does not usually do that. Whether it was the high power lines that cross the forest, or iron in the ground, I do not know. Again Winsplits shows a consistent run – though much slower than most of the field. i was never lost and made sensible route choices, though I did not have the finesse in executing routes that I would like. I have to admit that I was extremely tired by the last part of the course, though generally I thought my fitness was better than before. I was running freely quite often, and feeling more flexible and responsive than usual. I made a hash of the last control, coming out at 90 degrees from the correct route before I realised. This made me so annoyed with myself that I sprinted to the finish (only 60m away) and was the fastest in the field over that leg! I finished much lower down on that course than at Tulley’s. The field for the green alone was well over 100 and some extremely high quality runners too (including Sarah Rollins) and the tired legs showed.
It was too late to run again, and I was not too disappointed at this.
I thought it was a great day. Lots of people from complete beginners to top internationals, good courses and great terrain. I was pleased that I ran almost all of what I estimate was over 10km, though I could and should have done better. That 60 minute target for green still seems challenging, and it is humbling to realise that quite a few folks today did three of them in under 30 minutes each.