SOL2 Gullane

Gullane is a village on the coast east of Edinburgh. The terrain is sand dunes covered in a variety of vegetation from small pine forest to dense expanses of Buckthorn. I had a very bad run, getting lost immediately in the complex path network on the first two controls.

Results

The Scottish Sprint Champs

This was held at Heriot Watt University on the outskirts of Edinburgh. I didn’t do particularly well but I really enjoyed the challenge that this style if orienteering presents. Navigationally its very easy but the map is still very complex and its easy to loose vital seconds running past controls behind walls or at the bottom stair wells.

Results


Prologue


Final

Pat, Patch and I spent the afternoon putting controls out for the Silver Howe event that was to be held on the 25th.

It was one of those spring days when the braken is down and the sun is strong but low in the sky; alternately casting dark shadows and illuminating red/brown fell sides. Unfortunately a cloud came over when I took this shot!

We drove to Edinburgh that evening for The Scottish Sprint Champs and The SOL2 at Gullane.

I had a contrasting weekend of orienteering.

On Saturday there was a short race at Black Beck near Bouth. This is a very good area but I had a poor run which was extremely demoralising – so much so that I was forced to break one of my pre-race rules and go to the pub for some comfort ale swilling.

The following day (today), there was a National Event at an extensive new area on top of Whitbarrow Scar. Still demoralised after the previous days performance I was resigned to another bad run but as soon as I picked the map up and scanned the intricate open and wooded terrain I was instantly inspired. I finished 3rd in M45 a couple of minutes behind Bilbo and a minute behind Quentin Harding which, by my standards is a really good result.

So how could I have two such contrasting runs? At Black Beck I put it down to over familiarity and complacency. It was just another run in an area I knew well and my overly relaxed attitude meant that I was neither motivated nor prepared for the technicalities of the map. At Whittbarrow I was inspired to be running on a brilliant new area, held my concentration and ran harder.

Many thanks to LOC and SROC for a great weekend of ‘O’ing

Results



Some of the Bastions of GB Veterans Orienteering at the Whittbarrow National Event:

Pete Haines


Martin Dean and Donald Petrie

Ken Daly and Keith Jones

I had an excellent day training at Loch Vaa near Aviemore. I planned a classic style course of approximately 7K with a mixture of short and long legs. When I’m training alone without tapes or kites I tend to use unmistakable features such as boulders, cairns or structures so as I don’t have to waste time wondering if I’m in the right re-entrant or depression.

Loch Vaa is a huge area of relatively flat, forested moraine with endless knolls and depressions. There are a few tracks and forest roads but plenty of opportunity for running very long legs in vague undulating forest.

Call me sad but spiking a control site after 600m of pace counting on a bearing in flat featureless forest gives me a big buzz. My technique on this type of leg is to run on a bearing and pretty much loose contact with the map whilst sighting off significant trees 50M or so ahead until pacing indicates I’m roughly 70M from the control at which point I try and pick-up the contour detail as I approach the circle. It’s amazing how much accuracy you can achieve with a bearing using this ‘sighting ahead’ technique compared to the more common compass technique of merely checking your direction at regular intervals..I don’t know anywhere else in the UK you can practice this technique such an extent.


On one of my longest legs I was aiming for a control feature marked as an X on the map indicating a man-made feature. Such features are usually wood structures, seats, or sculptures. Bizarrely, on this occasion, sat in the middle of this vast forest, was a rotting Austin A30! If only I had brought a camera.

Baluain & Banvie Woods

This area is situated either side of The Falls of Bruar north of Blair Athol. The forest is very open and run-able but not very detailed. Unfortunately I made a 2 min error at 5 which knocked me back to 2nd in M45 behind John Noblett. Martin Dean and John Tullie also beat me running the same course in M50.

Results Page

Ulpha Park.

This was a LOC district event at the bottom end of the Duddon Valley. The area consisted of a couple of small open areas surrounded by mixed woodland. There were some sizeable chunks of wind-blow in the coniferous sections but the birch/hazel coppice was very run-able with plenty of boulders and crag features.

I was initially really pleased with my run especially as I managed to beat Mike Billinghurst and Brendan Bolland, but that was before I had seen Bilbo’s time! Talking to Martin on Monday morning he said that he was bored with the terrain on the first few controls but got inspired when the course entered rough forest at number 4. You need to get inspired more often Bilbo!

Brown
1 Martin Bagness WAROC 55.04
2 Shane Lynch WAROC 59.50
3 Andy Hyslop WAROC 01.01.18
4 Michael Billinghurst WCOC 01.01.54
5 Brendan Bolland WAROC 01.02.09

Full Results Page

Portugal O Meeting 2007

Superb areas and strong competition made this an excellent trip. There were 4 races with a chasing sprint on the last day for those within an hour of the lead runner in each class. Unfortunately I made a really annoying error on day 3 which meant that I was out of the running for an overall podium position.

On the up side I did have 3 really good runs with minimal errors and managed to beat twice veteran world champion Jörgen Mårtensson
once and got within a few seconds of him twice. Of course I didn’t actually see him so he might have been running with a wooden leg for all I know but it’s great for a short-term ego boost.

Results page at the POM web site

Day 1
A super technical open area with lots of complex rock features. My strategy was to run steady and not risk any mistakes.

1 5399 Sören Sand 61 Boxholm-Mjölby 31:24
2 5384 Jörgen Mårtensson 59 Modum O-lag 32:19
3 5960 Andy Hyslop 59 WAROC 32:36
4 1532 José Fernandes 59 .COM 33:00
5 5350 Heikki Vestola 59 Rastivarsat 34:45
6 1512 Manuel Santos 59 .COM 36:46
7 3864 António Marcolino 60 GD4C 36:53
8 3728 Vitor Pereira 60 AAMafra 37:05
9 1907 Carlos Coelho 61 CPOC 37:10
10 1321 Carlos Pires 61 .COM 37:12


Day 2
Adjacent to day one. Similar complexity of terrain but with longer legs. I had a 100m miss on 3 which cost me 90 secs.

1 5967 Achiles Humbel 59 Mythen Runners 48:19
2 1532 José Fernandes 59 .COM 50:26
3 5399 Sören Sand 61 Boxholm-Mjölby 51:00
4 5960 Andy Hyslop 59 WAROC 51:30
5 5808 Per-Olof Derebrant 62 Aneby SOK 52:08
6 5426 Ulu Aeschlimann 59 Austrian National Team 52:55
7 5384 Jörgen Mårtensson 59 Modum O-lag 53:41
8 1182 Albano João 59 COC 54:32
9 5350 Heikki Vestola 59 Rastivarsat 55:21
10 5932 Peter Haines 54 Aire GB 55:47

Lone orienteer in the terrain on Day 2

Control 14 on Day 2

Day 3
“Like the first 2 days with attitude” Super complex terrain on a steep hillside with mixed forest cover. I missed control 5 and went straight to 6 without realising until after I had finished. I have developed this really bad habit since Christmas. I worked out a simple routine to avoid making the error and the fact that I forgot to practice the routine on this race suggests that it does work when I can remember to do it.

I also made a big error at 14 which cost me 6 mins!

1 5384 Jörgen Mårtensson 59 Modum O-lag 38:27
2 1532 José Fernandes 59 .COM 42:03
3 5399 Sören Sand 61 Boxholm-Mjölby 44:19
4 1182 Albano João 59 COC 44:20
5 5808 Per-Olof Derebrant 62 Aneby SOK 44:25
6 5350 Heikki Vestola 59 Rastivarsat 44:55
7 5737 Martin Sacher 59 Kilroy 46:37
8 5141 Mark Selley 62 BOK 46:59
9 5932 Peter Haines 54 Aire GB 47:00
10 5426 Ulu Aeschlimann 59 Austrian National Team 47:05




Day 4
Another complex open area similar to day 1.

1 5399 Sören Sand 61 Boxholm-Mjölby 31:24
2 5384 Jörgen Mårtensson 59 Modum O-lag 32:19
3 5960 Andy Hyslop 59 WAROC 32:36
4 1532 José Fernandes 59 .COM 33:00
5 5350 Heikki Vestola 59 Rastivarsat 34:45
6 1512 Manuel Santos 59 .COM 36:46
7 3864 António Marcolino 60 GD4C 36:53
8 3728 Vitor Pereira 60 AAMafra 37:05
9 1907 Carlos Coelho 61 CPOC 37:10
10 1321 Carlos Pires 61 .COM 37:12

Here are the last 3 days of the Lakes Training Week. Sunday was a long 16K on 2 maps. Bilbo linked up his newly mapped 'Area X' with the existing Bethacar Moor area to produce a stunningly technical and varied course. The last part of the course was in the Scale Green area which was linked by about 1K of forest track.

Bethecar Moor and Area X


Scale Green

This is a week of training organised by Martin Bagness. I haven’t been able to attend every session but here are some of the maps so far. The un-named area at 1:7500 was particularly good and is probably one of the best bits of forest in England. It’s location is cannot be disclosed at this time.

10th December – Gelt Woods

I was last in Gelt Woods around 1968, fishing with my Dad. The Who and The Stones were playing in Carlisle and United were top of the football league for a glorious couple of weeks. The whole town was buzzing and the bloke who operated the lift in Binns knew everything that was worth knowing. There must have been a cloudburst on the moors because a bore swept down the narrow Gelt gorge forcing us to scramble for safety.

Enough of reminiscing, the Gelt Woods map covers both sides of the steep sided gorge where there is a mixture of woodland and run-ability. The whole area is criss-crossed by path networks. I suppose it’s not the best area in Cumbria but I enjoyed the challenge of linking the complex paths, a skill that doesn’t come naturally to me. I think I ran fairly fast and didn’t make any mistakes apart from maybe some slightly less optimal route choices on a couple of legs.

I am feeling fit again but my ankles are still giving me some trouble so a couple of weeks lay-off will be good. Looking forward to some cycling.

Results

3rd December – Hathersage & Burbage Moors

This was my first time orienteering at Burbage and it seemed slightly strange to be running in an area that I had previously only ever associated with climbing and bouldering. Despite passing through the Secret Garden (the section of birch wood between 3 and 4), and crossing between the two Burbage crags I didn’t recognise any of the climbing areas. I even thought that I was on top of Stanage at one point. Although I didn’t know where I was in the general area I was absolutely focused on the corridor behind the running line and this is one the aspects of orienteering that really inspires me. When you are running and navigating efficiently you utilise the minimum of information for maximum efficiency.

A good run at last. I seem to be running strongly again and I managed to win M45 by a clear margin. It’s a shame Mike Billinghurst and Tim Tett wern’t running. I’m not sure I could have beaten them but I think I could have got fairly close.

Results Page

26th November - Muncaster

Muncaster is a fairly small area but it’s quite interesting and I really enjoyed the course. The sausage butty in the Muncaster Castle Café was good too.

Technically I had a good run although I still felt that I was lacking in energy. Didn’t make any errors apart from some brief hesitation to check location just before running into a couple of controls.

Bilbo (Martin Bagness) beat me by a minute again. It seems I am destined never to orienteer faster than him but considering his impeccable O credentials I suppose that’s fair enough.

Results Page

20th November, Tim Watkins Blodslitet

This is one of my favourite events, so good that I wish I had timed my return to orienteering a couple of years sooner so I could have competed in some of the earlier years.

Areas like Torver Common (last year) and Bethecar Moor are perfect for long challenging races in fantastic areas. For me these two races epitomise everything that inspires me about moving efficiently in the terrain. Even in the Lakes I think they are very special places because they are big, have complex contour and rock detail and are relatively track-less, yet it’s easy to forget how accessible they are.

Putting the controls out must have been a mammoth task for the organisers. I didn’t envy the job of having to start collecting them late on a very cold Sunday afternoon as the wind and rain started advance from the west.

Personally I didn’t feel that I ran too well. I felt very tired early on and was more or less in survival mode (just finish), in the last third of the race. I did prepare well for the event so I had hoped to run faster but having started with a cold this morning makes sense. So much for staying off the ale again.

Well done SROC!

Results Page and some history of the event

Got behind with my blog somewhat over the last couple of weeks. Here’s an update of events I have competed in since Buxton.

12th November, Arnside Knott



I work close to Arnside Knott and know it from lunchtime runs. It turned out to be an excellent orienteering area. I had a reasonably good run apart from making a couple of small errors on 4 and 5 – cost me about 2 mins. Peter Haines caught me up at 5 and we had a bit of a burn-up for the next few controls, which was great fun.

Results Page

5th November, November Classic – New Forest



This was a Vets Interland selection event which is why I made the effort to drive to Southampton and back. I thought I might have an outside chance of getting a good result. Although I initially ran well I was caught out early by a pit in a vague flat area of bracken and clearings. In fact I had problems with every pit feature on the whole course which put me well out of the running and 10 mins down on the winner Michael Billinghurst. I guess having run in the area previously might have helped but really, I think I need to put this down to not remembering one of my O mantras: ‘Adapt your technique according to the terrain’ – I didn’t

Results Page

29th Ocober, Cambus O’May

An area of mixed forest, with complex moraine detail, in a beautiful setting. The courses were short to allow for the rough going in some parts of the area. Boulders slowed progress significantly in parts. I didn’t have a bad run but was unlucky to miss a small re-entrant towards the end, which cost me 4 mins. A couple of other sloppy errors put me 6 mins down on Martin and 3 mins down on Donald.

Overall Results

A link to the map on Martin’s site


28th October, Scottish Night Championships – Potarch

I was pretty daunted by the prospect of running in an unfamiliar area at night so decided to go for a super safe and steady approach. It paid off because I won! Although there weren’t many people running M45 there were some good runners including Martin Dean. Talking to Martin the next day he said that his approach was to go fast because the course was so short but unfortunately he made some costly errors.

Overall Results

A link to the map on Martin’s site

The Twin Peaks Weekend

Two areas either side of the Goyt Valley near Buxton.

Day 1 was a mixture of pine and birch forest with some extremely un-run-able open moor. I really enjoyed the technical legs in the green. Recent trips to Scotland have definitely helped my technique and I’m starting to feel quite at home blindly bashing through green on a bearing to pickup a vegetation change or clearing. One technique that I found particularly useful on some of the more ‘hit and miss’ controls was to get as close to the control as possible on some kind of line feature such as a ride or fence, even if it means running off line, before heading into the green This minimises the distance you have to run on a bearing alone, and reduces the margin of error in your bearing once you reach the vicinity of the control.

I finished 4th in M45L which was a bit frustrating because I seemed to be competing well on the technical legs but lost time on the pure running sections where I normally do well. Unlike the previous weekend I didn’t feel that I was running strongly. So much for keeping off the beer!

Day 2 was on the opposite side of the valley being typical open Pennine moor contrasting to the forest of Saturday’s race. I lost some time by not taking a direct line between 1 and 2, also missed 3 slightly otherwise no problems apart from not feeling particularly sprightly again. I finished 3rd behind Kevin Harding and Tim Tett but felt that I might have won if I hadn’t made those small errors – I guess that’s part of game.

Pat did really well in one of her first W50L’s to finish 3rd overall. Pretty impressive for someone who has been orienteering for less than a year.

Overall Results

Shaiba, Catterick.

This event was centred on the Catterick Army Garrison in N.Yorkshire.

Open heath, steep sided wooded valleys and some street O. I really enjoyed the contrasting technique to the previous weekend, which was easy nav, but fast with some path/track route choices.

Results
Splits

My O-Mantras

Here are a few simple tips that I find helpful before and during races.

“If you’re finding it hard, so is everyone else” – Martin Dean

“Simplify to the big features” – Jonathan Lagoe

“Adapt your technique according to the terrain” – Michael Billinghurst

“Visualise what’s in the circle” – Martin Bagness

“Orienteering is easy! All the information you need is on the map” – David Brickhill-Jones

Deishar 8th Oct

Another superb Speyside forest. Open run-able pine forest with very little brash. Plenty of crag and contour features.

Really enjoyed the race but made a few 2 min errors, which put me 6 mins behind Martin Dean’s time of 65 mins (I did 71 mins). I had a particularly bad miss on 7 where I got confused by an unmapped marsh a 100m or so before the control. I was going pretty well to 6 and was slightly up on Martin at that point. The error blew my concentration and I was messy going to 8. Had a miss on the cairn and the pond too.

An excellent video of the event

Results

Pannanich

A very runable forest on a steep hillside with some open heather moor on top. The forest is covered in a forgiving carpet of moss which helped running speed. Quite a contrast to Raemoir. Wearing orthotics seems to be an effective solution to yesterday’s ankle pain. Felt pretty strong running and was really enjoying the course until I completely lost it at 12. I got confused with some rides and ended up punching 13 by mistake. Probably lost about 10-12 mins. I’ll put it down to over relaxing on the last few controls – most annoying. Looking forward to seeing Martin Dean’s splits to 11, which will give me some indication of how I was doing.

Pat and I are staying at Kincraig for the week. We are hoping to do some good training in the Speyside forests. I (we) need the practice.