Training Log Archive: graeme

Today I thought it would be a nice idea to plan a relay. Wandered around checking routes/controls for the junior interareas

C • relay 3

Thought it would be nice to go orienteering today. Glen affric is a tad rough for a man with only one leg, but felt I was moving sweetly enough until a big mistake on a parallel error at 9 cost 5 mins. The Charlie Adams raced by and I realised I was actually going slowly. Still, enjoyed it all the way to 17, when I fell on a steep slope and broke a rib. Walked slowly home. Ouch.

I have been saying how even simple decisions can be hard to get right when you are very tired. So today I backed the car into a tree, shattering the rear window with the bike rack. Ooops.

C • These things come in threes 3

S6D - Day 6 Glen Affric - C36 - Splits

Skipped the 6-day in West Guisachen (good call) and cycled from Cannich to the Affric YHA (another good call) and back. Passed a minibus in a ditch.

Controlling day 4 of the 6-day at Darnaway. Hanging the last few controls and checking sites in the p*ssing rain at 7am. Then it brightened up into a lovely day for the runners.

Didn't have much to do, sat back and watched as a slick organisation and coherent planning team (Eddie Harwood, Ian Searle, Pete Lawrence) produced 30+ excellent courses for 5000 people.

Orienteering is great!

Relay Planning,

All worked out much as I hoped, though the Swiss and Danes going so fast off the front was amazing.

Last controls.

Emma Klingenberg was escorted to the last control by her teammates. Shortly afterwards Russia failed to punch, and were DQed. Later Per Forsberg reminded the Swiss men to punch. Leaving aside the fact that the control was in the wrong place, we were lucky to avoid a protest, which I cannot see how we would have survived.

Going back two years: I wanted to avoid the chance for a disqualification in front of the crowd. Then in 2014 Hollie Orr got DQ’ed when thousands of people saw her punch correctly. So I persuaded the team that we should not have a last control in the arena. It was agreed. Then the SEA changed, and so did everything else.

After a heated exchange, I was told that the planner has no responsibility for the last control. I was not allowed to hang it, choose it, or anything. So I looked on in amusement when the IOF team put it in the wrong place – far enough to get confused looks from several runners, but not to affect the middle. Since I have an opt-out, I would like to make a personal apology to the Russian team, but the organizing team can only say that you are incompetent orienteers who deserve your DQ. So there.

Scottish forking.

At first, our Arena was scheduled to be behind the castle. From a spectator run-through was possible, but starting in one corner of the map meant the relay would comprise six similar sections leaving the arena. So I decided to plan it as a six-leg gaffled relay. Later, when the assembly moved, I liked the idea enough to retain it. One advantage of returning twice to the same control was that the TV camera there gets twice as much coverage. My test runners and I spent a lot of time balancing the six forks, and the runners appreciated suddenly finding themselves having to navigate alone, before the pack reformed with those who were clean .

Middle Planning.

By last summer I had two nice courses, test run, and ready to go. Karel, Lorna and I had identified two nice TV legs, one in the open and one in a bowl in the pine forest at what became men’s 4. The SEA had insisted on a long run in through the field (like the 6-day), because the approach we used was “totally unsuited to WOC”. Then the SEA changed, and the fun began.

It started well, we were allowed to use the southern approach to the castle and the courses reached peak quality. Then in July I was forced to change the TV legs to two NS legs on a course running SN, and to take the courses through more of the open felling. I prepared seven different options, all rejected without comment, and decided to resign. Eventually a compromise was hammered out where essentially the SEA planned the men’s course and I did the women’s, provided they fitted around the men.

The course started into tough low visibility heather, the control protected by a big hill which pushed runners off line, then another tricky leg in rough going, so by 2 most of the runners had made some mistake. A short leg to 3 set up the long leg which had many, balanced choices. Four controls in the brash were then needed for TV1. After the TV control came the trickiest section through the low visibility section, with legs diagonal across the slope and controls sites in negative features chosen to be off the natural easy-running lines. Again many errors here. 13-14 brought a change of pace through nice beech forest, to twist the course back on itself for the TV leg, then an easy leg out of the TV, which worked better when the TV leg ran SN.

Very fast running from here on, and the idea was to have a series of legs which were slightly harder than they looked, when the runners were in oxygen debt. I had thought errors of 10-20 seconds were likely here, similar to errors on sprint Courses. I hadn’t expected was the meltdown of Emma Johansson and Thierry on what was essentially and orange course control. It’s not over till it’s over.

The whole planning team felt the men’s course lacked subtlety. I don’t understand where the challenge was meant to be on most of the legs: certainly the men made far fewer mistakes.

At the end of the day Billstam and Hubmann won. I’m delighted with the outcome. Of course they are great orienteers, BIllstam is inspirational in rolling back the years, and I owed her after I unjustly accused her of being W40 on nopesport. Hubmann was also an excellent ambassador for us at Race the Castles, and alone of the international contingent he stayed for the prizegiving at the Scottish Champs.

C • Comments about 90s start in... 5

C • Map around control 20/24 12

C • SEA planning 5

It’s not over until it’s over.

“There is no such thing as a difficult control…what is difficult is judging the safe speed”. For the top elites, all navigation is easy, so to make he course challenging I wanted to change the required style as often as possible. I knew there would be a long, dead, run back to the castle towards the end of the middle, and was keen to have something non-trivial to challenge the oxygen-deprived.

Initially this involved tree and paddocks, but eventually it was a small garden and some sprint-style “left right left” “bridge-gate-hedge”. I had thought this would induce some 10-20 sec errors, but never imagined Thierry and Emma failing to make the turns and going so far into the horrible undergrowth when the map showed white forest. The tracks created by early runners probably didn’t help.

Another day of hanging, shifting ironwork, running, looking at angles, gardening and generally ameliorating the nonsense emanating from a norwegian armchair.

Hanging middle, looking at approach angles etc. Then starting on the relay, Then spectating sprint final, which was sadly a bit meh.

Lots of collecting kit ate the morning. Got out for a ouple of hours and hung 6 controls. Must do better.

Prerun sprint relay.

This was more like it! Great fun running round Nairn with ScotJOS and James. I was the oldest prerunner. Older than any two other put together. Actually, older than any three.

"Banter start" with some squaddies, Scotjos, James and me dad-dancing the run out. So 10m down before we reached the start kite, then spent the rest of the race hauling the little buggers back. Learned from Linlithgow not to get distracted by anyone. Passed everyone except James, incl MCD just before the finish, so he got all the cheers.

C • Oldest pre-runner 1

Event: WOC 2015 & Scottish 6 days
 

Prerun sprint qualifier.

Nice course in an estate in Forres, Started with James and Nixon, and went off totally the wrong way. Ooops. Messy after that.

I'm planning an event. The Redford Sprintelope on the glorious twelfth.
So I went out and ran round the area, checked all the legs, tested the route choices and improved it a lot. Later I'll update the map for summer conditions. This approach has much to be said for it and could usefully be adopted by other events.

C • exciting 2

To and from Redford & to and from work.