Orienteering 2:00:00 [3] 12.0 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 201110 Inov-8 Oroc 280
Today, I set a training day for intermediate level orienteers at Houghton's Pond in Blue Hills West. My plans to be judicious and intelligent about my activity failed a bit, and I ran about 12 km setting flags in the woods. There had been some intermittent discussion about focused trainings over the past few years, but I finally made arrangements on the schedule this year.
I haven't really designed intermediate level exercises before, so after some consultation, I designed four courses for today:
- White course, for complete beginners
- Attackpoint exercise with AP/control pairs
- Compass exercise punching through the woods from one trail to another aiming to hit the target trail at a particular point; also on trail + contour only
- Orange course, with the training objective of planning routes in advance and execution
The day would have been infeasible without the assistance of several NEOC veterans to offer instruction and coordinate the event: Barb, Dave, Izzy, Andy McIlvaine, Tim Parson, Michelle Faucher, Joanne Sankus, Jim Paschetto, Richard Powers, and Earl LaVallee. They were clutch in every way. I didn't do a good job recruiting assistance in advance, and I planned and set the exercises by myself (like an idiot).
I don't know the exact count of people who showed up, but it was a much greater volume than anticipated (and more than RSVPed). Many of the people who showed up had no experience or only one or two white courses. I found that my exercises, while introductory, were really suited for yellow and orange level orienteers, not complete beginners. Most people had fun and had only positive feedback, but there were a few people who found the exercises too difficult and were disappointed by the camp. Today's event was a prototype, and based on its general success and the group interest, a major training day once or twice per year will be on future calendars.
It turns out I also set an especially challenging orange course; only three people had interest after the training exercises - Andy, Richard, and Earl. I was tired and dehydrated by the end of the event, but I'm satisfied with how it went.