Author: Oliver O'Brien

The Ease of Monitoring with Munin

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 7 November 2011
2 Comments on The Ease of Monitoring with Munin

I’m currently using Munin to keep an eye on the various services running on my main server at UCL CASA. Munin is a monitoring package. It is simple to install (on Ubuntu, sudo apt-get install munin on your primary server, sudo apt-get install munin-node on all servers you want to monitor), and brilliantly simple to set up and – most importantly – extend.

Out of the box, Munin will start monitoring and graphing various aspects of your server, such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk space and uptime. The key is that everything is graphed, so that trends can be spotted and action taken before it’s too late. Munin always collects its data every five minutes, and always presents the graphs in four timescales: the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, the last month and the last year.

Extending Munin to measure your own service or process is quite straightforward. All you need is a shell-executable script which returns key/value pairs representing the metric you want to measure. You also need to add a special response for when Munin wants to configure your plugin. This response sets graph titles, information on what you are measuring, and optionally thresholds for tripping alerts.

Here’s a typical response from a munin script “uptime”, this is used by Munin to construct the graph:

uptime.value 9.29

Here’s what you get when you call it with the config parameter:

graph_title Uptime
graph_args --base 1000 -l 0 
graph_scale no
graph_vlabel uptime in days
graph_category system
uptime.label uptime
uptime.draw AREA

Munin takes this and draws (or reconfigures) the trend graph, with the data and a historical record. Here’s the daily graph for that:

I have two custom processes being monitored with Munin. The first is my minute-by-minute synchronisation of my database (used by OpenOrienteeringMap and, soon hopefully*, GEMMA) with the UK portion of the master OpenStreetMap database. The metric being measured is the time lag. Normally this is around a minute or less, but if there are problems with the feed at either OSM’s end or (more likely) my end, the graph spikes up and the problem can be spotted and dealt with. Also, the subsequent graphing trend, after such an issue, is useful for predicting how quickly things will be back to normal. I’m using an OSM plugin (part of the Osmosis system, which is also doing the synchronisation) rather than writing my own.

The other process is for monitoring the various feeds I have to around 50 cities around the world, to get their current bikes/spaces information for my Bike Share Map. Munin graphs are useful for spotting feeds that temporarily fail, and then hopefully fix themselves, resulting in distinctive “shark fin” trendlines. If one feed doesn’t fix itself, its shark fin will get huge and I will then probably go and have a look. Above is what the daily graph looks like.

I wrote this plugin myself, in two stages. First, my scripts themselves “touch” a “heartbeat” file (one for each script) upon successful execution. When the feed’s file is touched, its modified timestamp updates, this can then be used as a basis for determining how long ago the last successful operation is.

Secondly, my Munin plugin, every five minutes, scans through the folder of heartbeat files (new ones may occasionally appear – they go automatically onto the graph which is nice) and extracts the name and modified timestamp for each file, and reports this back to Munin, which then updates the graphs.

Because Munin allows any shell-executable script, I was able to use my language du-jour, Python, to write the plugin.

Here it is – latest_dir is an absolute path to the parent of the heartbeats directory, scheme is the name of the city concerned:

#!/usr/bin/python

import os
import time
import sys

filedir = latest_dir + '/heartbeats/'

files = os.listdir(filedir)
files.sort()

if len(sys.argv) > 1: 
	if sys.argv[1] == 'config':
		print "graph_title Bike Data Monitoring"
		print "graph_vlabel seconds"
		for f in files:
			fp = f[:-6]
			print fp + ".label " + fp
		exit()

for f in files:
	tdiff = time.time() - os.path.getmtime(filedir + f)
	fp = f[:-6]
	print fp + ".value " + str(tdiff)

The middle section is for the config, the bit that is used every five minutes is just the gathering of the list of files at the top, and the simple measurement at the bottom.

That is really it – there is no other custom code that is producing the graphs like the one at the top of this post – all the colours, historical result storing and HTML production is handled internally in Munin.

My code that updates the heartbeat file is even simpler:


def heartbeat(scheme):
	open(latest_dir + '/heartbeats/' + scheme + '.touch', 'w').close()

Fingers crossed things won’t go wrong, but if they do, I now have a pleasant, graphical interface to spotting them.

* GEMMA will use OpenStreetMap data for the whole world, but currently it takes longer than a minute to process a minute’s worth of OpenStreetMap database updates, such is the level of activity in the project at the moment, so my minutely-updating database only covers the UK. So, for GEMMA, I am just using a “static” copy of the whole world. OpenOrienteeringMap has two modes, UK and Global – only the UK one uses the updating database.

London OpenStreetMap

Someone’s Mouse Slipped

…when they were plotting this road in East London for Google Maps:

A quick look at the Google Maps aerial imagery confirms there’s something odd about that road kink:

Never fear, OSM is here:

Olympic Park

Olympic Volunteering Interview

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 1 November 2011
3 Comments on Olympic Volunteering Interview

I was invited along this morning to a “Games Maker” selection event, i.e. an interview session for volunteers for the Olympic Games in London next year. Should I be accepted, I’ll be in a Security team, which sounds like it means standing at Stratford Station pointing people through the shopping mall to the Olympic Park, or possibly telling people to stand in line for the park entrance screening – hmm.

Anyway, the interview process itself was quite unlike any I’ve had before – some of the quirks can be explained by the fact that LOCOG are apparently needing to interview over 100,000 people.

The interviews were on the 19th floor of a skyscraper in Canary Wharf – chosen presumably because of the stunning view north to the Olympic Park, which is looking encouragingly complete these days. I guess some interviewees have found the drop from the 19th floor a bit much, because we were asked if we wanted an interview “pod” away from the windows…

The process is timetabled to take 90 minutes, but I was in and out in just over 65 minutes – although I did arrive a little late. On arriving in the interview area, you are welcomed by a person at a desk, given a wristband (red, white or blue) indicating your interview time, and a programme. Then a second desk checks your passport and takes your photo. On both desks there was a large box of sweets, which at the time seemed a little odd – however Cadbury is one of the major sponsors of the volunteering program (along with McDonalds) and I really should have been a little more boldand nabbed the rather nice Creme Egg “Twisted” chocs that were in abundance.

Stage three is an exhibition – a map, some panels and screens – best of all is the aforementioned view to the park. Then there’s a short film to watch, where Seb, Tanni and Eddie Izzard, + a Cadburys guy, encourage you to be motivated for the interview itself. Despite the efficiency and formality of the whole process, Eddie’s section is actually quite funny – “We don’t want you to be just talking about cheese – now if this was an interview for a cheese competition, you’d be sorted.” Finally, the interview itself – the interviewer read strictly from a script – when I failed to understand the final question, he simply read it out several times! He also was glancing around quite a lot which was a bit disconcerting. To be fair to the interviewer, he was under quite strict time pressure, and also I think he himself was a Games Maker, i.e. volunteer. He was also an extremely polite and nice person, which is presumably why he had landed that role.

Finally you end up back with your fellow interviewees in a small room with a board on it where you are encouraged to write a “thought” on a whiteboard. Apparently the whiteboard fills up and is wiped each week – which considering there must have been a thousand comments on it, makes you realise just how many people are going through the process. There was also a small Olympic shop, although no one in my group went in it. I already have my British Team mug thanks to the John Lewis Olympic Shop in Stratford City.

…and that was it! Very organised, very slickly run, very slightly overbearing, but considering the numbers of people involved, about as good as it could be. My fellow interviewees probably represented the average demographic of London, with an average age probably mid/late 30s, mainly professionals and about half women.

I have no idea if I’ll be accepted. I wanted to phrase all my answers to the questions in relation to my volunteering and organising of various orienteering races, but the interviewer tended to steer me towards classic work-based scenarios. I guess I will find out in a few weeks. It sounds like I won’t be the one handing the towel to Usain Bolt, but you might see me with an Olympic map, pointing people in various, hopefully correct, directions.

OpenStreetMap

Buying iPhone: An Unusual Retail Experience

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 27 October 2011
No Comments on Buying iPhone: An Unusual Retail Experience

I have finally upgraded my old iPhone 3G, which I’ve had for a good three years, to a shiny iPhone 4S.

The old iPhone has done well – it still works, although its volume control has fallen off and its back is scuffed and slightly cracked – dropping it recently, at speed on the A104 through Epping Forest, didn’t help. It even survived being submerged for several minutes in an authentic peat bog in the Scottish Highlands last year. The battery is not great – if I have my screen as dim as possible, and don’t make/take more than a couple of calls, it will generally make it through the day. Its second most irritating habit is regularly freezing up for several minutes – often when trying to get a GPS lock (as happens automatically when tweeting or using the Maps app) – and then reopening such an app will cause it to crash repeatedly. This has meant I’ve spent plenty of times at the side of a road junction, cussing my phone for freezing up just when I need to to show me a map of where I am. Its most irritating habit is locking up occasionally when a call comes in, so I miss the call. Bad phone.

Despite these annoyances, the new phone was, I’m afraid, always going to be an iPhone. Reports from my Android-using friends are mixed, and now that I am 100% Mac at work as well as at home, having a phone with an OS that is designed by people who consider Mac users to be more than an afterthought (hello Sony Ericsson synchronisation c. 2007, hello Nokia developer environment c. 2005) is key.

To get my new iPhone, I went on to the Apple website at 9pm yesterday. The list of UK stores appeared, after a couple of browser refreshes, a couple of minutes later. However, very disappointingly, it listed all versions of the iPhone 4S as out of stock at all nearby stores. However on refreshing again a few minutes later, full availability suddenly appeared. You then pick a store and date – and also a 15-minute time-slot!

So this morning I headed along to Westfield Stratford City for 9am. This was my fifth (!) visit to the giant complex – once previously for the opening, a couple of times to map for OpenStreetMap and once to buy a British Olympic Team mug from the Olympic store at the back of the John Lewis. This visit was very different to before – it was almost empty and there was quite a bit of store construction and general maintenance going on. Odd. But then I noticed the sign on the door to the mall – open at 10am on weekdays. Ah. But you can still get inside, and it turns out the Apple Store is opening between 8am and 10am for reservation pickups only. So I headed up the stairs and over to the shop with its giant Apple logo shining like an artificial sun over the muted mall surroundings.

Here’s what Stratford City currently looks like on OpenStreetMap, following a coordinated mapping party there a few weeks ago, and some usefully licensed areal imagery – the Apple Store is not currently shown but is essentially above the “Tommy Hilfinger” shop that is marked:

Here’s the same map on Google Maps:

Good to see the John Lewis in there.

To be fair, the Ordnance Survey (available via Bing Maps) also have updated they Landranger map to show Stratford City correctly and also add in the various Olympic stadia.

Once at the store, the process is surprisingly convoluted but at the same time efficient – first you join a short queue of people to get into the store, then a store employee checks your ID, matches you up with an appointment list on an iPad he is holding, and points you to another queue line. At the end of this line, another employee again checks your ID against their iPad list, and then points you to one of the tables in the middle of the store, where a third employee, standing with you rather than across at you, picks up a boxed iPhone and scans the barcode with a special iPod Touch. You hand over the credit card, and finally a receipt appears from a printer very well hidden underneath the table. And that’s it. I was in and out of the store in less than five minutes, and out of Stratford Westfield and back on my bike in another five.

Apple obviously intends the Apple Store retail experience to be something slightly different. There is an unmistakable if unintentional feel that roles are switched from the traditional consumer model – the store is a temple and I am a disciple?

Bike Share

V’Lille and Bike in Bath Online – Huge Lille Figures

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 3 October 2011
3 Comments on V’Lille and Bike in Bath Online – Huge Lille Figures

I’ve added Lille and Bath to the Bike Share Map. Lille’s system, V’Lille, was soft-launched a few weeks ago, while Bike in Bath, a very small system run by Bicincitta, also launched recently. Bath’s uptake so far seems to have been virtually non-existent – with no rides yet today – however Lille’s usage has been nothing short of spectacular – yesterday, nearly 70% of all the bikes in the system were on the streets rather than in the docks. In fact, Lille tops the following table which shows my estimated maximum use of bike share bikes across 17 cities yesterday. In calculating these numbers, I’ve assumed that at some point in the night before/after, no bikes were being used, and that any change in the total number of docks is because of faulty bikes. That last assumption is a conservative one, so the actual %s may well be a little higher. I can’t be sure that these are accurate numbers so these stats should not be regarded as being definitive, just (perhaps) indicative.

Lille leads the way and Seoul’s small system (in two seperate suburbs) also had impressive usage. San Antonio in Texas, another small system, is in a surprise third place, with London fourth. Vienna also had a very good day.

Sunday 2 October – Estimated Maximum Simultaneous Use

City	Local Time of Maximum	Weather	No of Bikes in System	Max % In Use
Lille	Sunday 16:56	Sunny	678	65.9%
Seoul	Sunday 16:16	Sunny	301	40.5%
San Antonio	Sunday 11:18	Sunny	109	37.6%
London	Sunday 15:52	Sunny	4765	36.9%
Vienna	Sunday 16:48	Sunny	878	30.6%
Saragossa	Sunday 19:44	Sunny	885	25.9%
Bordeaux	Sunday 16:38	Cloudy	1254	19.5%
Tel Aviv (Saturday)	Saturday 17:10	Part Cloudy	667	18.1%
Washington DC and Arlington	Sunday 12:50	Part Cloudy	852	18.0%
Changzhou (China)	Sunday 08:34	Rain	1543	16.3%
Miami Beach (4h interval)	Sunday 19:30	Part Cloudy	598	16.2%
Dublin (3rd party data)	Sunday 18:10	Rain	448	12.5%
Minneapolis	Sunday 11:46	Sunny	987	8.4%
Rennes	Sunday 18:00	Sunny	801	7.2%
Toronto	Sunday 10:42	Rain	772	6.7%
Montreal	Sunday 17:32	Rain	4274	4.0%
Melbourne	Sunday 11:48	Part Cloudy	541	2.6%

Thanks as ever to Russell from the Bike-sharing Blog for alerting me to Lille and Bath’s go-live.

Picture from Jason Jones on Flickr.

Olympic Park OpenStreetMap

So Just How Exactly Do You Get to Stratford City?

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 19 September 2011
1 Comment on So Just How Exactly Do You Get to Stratford City?

So the huge Stratford City mega-mall opened up last week. But, thanks to a combination of the Olympic Park, security concerns, and existing geographical barriers, it’s actually rather hard to get to – particularly if you don’t have a car.

As things stand, here are the ways you can get to it. I’ve marked the entrances on in red, on an OpenStreetMap map. The map is currently rather bare, in that it doesn’t really show the mall buildings, or indeed much else. However never fear, the OpenStreetMap community is here, and I have it on good authority that the map will rapidly become more comprehensive and complete in the next few days.

1 – NE. Cars only.

2 – NE. Pedestrians and cyclists only. After walking along a dusty, unpleasant road through a building site, you then follow a narrow path, with a couple of switchbacks to climb up onto a bridge. Only after passing the main access road to the Athlete’s Village can you join the road. There are security people at three points – the entrance to No. 1, the bridge, and the point where the route joins the road, to ensure everyone goes the right way.

3 – SE. Pedestrians only – although you could walk your bike. This is over the huge “rusty” bridge from Stratford itself, and drops you straight onto the “ground” level of the mall.

4 – SE. Pedestrians and cyclists via train from Stratford station, or pedestrians from the bus station just to the north. This entrance is at “lower ground” level of the mall, i.e. below the “rusty” bridge. There are a few cycle parking stands here.

5 – SW. Cars, pedestrians and cycles, although it’s a long lonely road to walk along from here – but you do get a great close-up view of the Aquatic Centre and its curious turf wall. The cycle lane marking is a bit of a mess – initially you start on one pavement, then encounter a no-cycling sign and have to cross to the other – but breeze-blocks have hemmed in the route, meaning pedestrians and cyclists have to share less than a metre’s width of space.

6 – NW. Cars only. The most contentious route for me on a bike, as it’s the direct route from Hackney. Security here is polite but firm – only cars get to drive through the Olympic Park. I suspect the real reason cyclists and pedestrians can’t enter here is because there are no pavements, just fences and walls – so for safety these road-users would need to take up the whole lane – and that would slow the traffic flow on this critical link between the A/M11 and the mall.

7 – N. Pedestrians via train only. Entrance from the DLR station at Stratford International (bikes not allowed.) Note you have to exit through the main Stratford International station, i.e. entry-point 8. The road leading from 7 is barricaded off at this end (only) and I got a yelling from security when I approached from the other (unblocked) end of the road.

8 – N. Pedestrians and cyclists via train from the High-Speed train services from St Pancras International or from Kent.

So, the only route by bicycle that does not involve you needing to dismount is from entrance 5, i.e. to the far south of the site. And, as the Londonist has spotted, even from this direction, there are obstacles in the way!

One tip for Olympic Park spotters, there was (on Sunday) a temporary overflow car-park that had opened just NE of the Aquatic Centre, allowing people an even closer view of the facility, along with the rather attractive temporary Water Polo arena. The Olympic Stadium and the Orbit are not far away either. It’s all coming together!

Orienteering Events Log

Getting Back in the Forest

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 16 September 2011
2 Comments on Getting Back in the Forest

Normally at this time of year I plan out the events I’m thinking of going to, as the UK season gets going again after the summer recess, and “terrain” events start to appear in SE England, following the summer’s Park-O and urban race action (as an aside, my 2004 list contains entirely forest events, how times have changed.) I’ve marked on as NEW the areas I haven’t run on before. My attendance at most of the below depends on weather and hangover, obviously.

Every Saturday morning that I have free – Hackney Marshes parkrun 5K
Every Tuesday evening that I have free – City Runners 6.5K club run
~~Sun 18 Sept – HAVOC, Weald Country Park – if the weather’s nice (it doesn’t look like it!)~~ Yes
Sat 24 Sept – DFOK, Lloyd Park NEW No
~~Sun 25 Sept – BKO, Hawley Common~~ Yes
Thu 29 Sept pm – CHIG Street-O, Loughton NEW Yes
Sat 1 Oct – CHIG, Latton Woods NEW No
~~Sun 2 Oct – ?~~
~~Sun 9 Oct – SLOW Trail Challenge Half-Marathon, Richmond Park~~ Yes
~~Tue 11 Oct – SLOW Street-O, Putney~~ Yes
Sun 16 Oct – CompassSport Cup Final, Longshaw NEW Yes
~~Sat 22 Oct – CUOC City Race, Cambridge~~ Yes
Sun 23 Oct – WAOC, Rowney Warren NEW Yes
Thu 27 Oct – HH Street-O, Winchmore Hill NEW Yes
Sat 29 + Sun 30 Oct – The OMM NEW Yes
~~Sat 5 Nov – OUOC Sprint-O, Shotover?~~ No
~~Sun 6 Nov – SOC November Classic?~~ No
Tue 8 Nov – SLOW Street-O, Aldgate NEW
Sat 12 + Sun 13 Nov – Venice
Sun 20 Nov – CHIG, Epping North
Thu 24 Nov – LOK West End
Sun 27 Nov – SLOW OK Nuts Trophy, Hankley Common
Sun 4 Dec – GO, Hascombe NEW
Sat 10 Dec – Possible date for super-secret race
Sun 11 Dec – SAX Hindleap Warren
Tue 13 Dec pm – SLOW Street-O, Clapham NEW
Sun 18 Dec – TVOC Wendover Woods (nice try MV, but I’m not going anywhere near Ranmore again)
Tue 20 Dec – SO Brighton City Race
Wed 28 Dec for a week – JOK New Year, Fort Augustus

Orienteering

The Fourth City of London Race

Post author By Oliver O'Brien
Post date 15 September 2011
1 Comment on The Fourth City of London Race

So, the fourth City of London Race happened at the weekend. 1109 people crossed the start line, and with around 80 helpers from South London Orienteers, almost all dressed in the distinctive red City Race helpers tees and hoodies, the event went off pretty smoothly. No controls were vandalised this year, even though we had almost 80 out on the course, and although there were a couple of mistakes on the map (including at a key section in the Barbican), and a normally-locked gate that a number of people discovered open (and ran through), no competitors raised formal complaints. Feedback on Nopesport, Attackpoint and Twitter has been generally very positive. St Giles Terrace and the City of London School for Girls proved to be a brilliant race arena. It was big enough to accommodate everyone, scenic (with the old church, the lake, and a glimpse of the Gherkin if you knew where to look) and visible to the public, some of whom had a go at a course on the day. I don’t think the flats overlooking the arena were unduly disturbed by the noise – it turns out that once the fountains in the lake switch on in the morning, everything else is drowned out.

During the event, I was able to spend most of my time out in the Barbican Estate itself, taking numerous photographs of runners at various levels and angles – you can see 156 of the best here. I only needed a few urgent trips out on the bike – to rehang a control higher, hang two in a park that only opened just before the event start, and tape off an illegal approach to a control hung by a (low) uncrossable wall. Other developing issues, such as a poorly mapped set of stairs confusing some people, were left unchanged so as not to make it even more unfair for the early runners.

We know some people ran out of bounds (N.B. The person in the photo here is in-bounds!) – through the aforementioned locked gate for instance, and one person with a headcam filmed himself running into the Barbican centre, up a couple of internal stairwells and back out onto the map. There were other similar quirks, and also roadworks that disappeared in the few days before the event, while several others sprang up. Crossrail’s and Thameslink’s impact on the City should not be underestimated, and hoarding lines seem to change on an almost daily basis. The City also itself is carrying out many “Streetscene” enhancements, gradually pedestrianising and beautifying areas, the skyscraper builders are hard at work anticipating the next boom, and Thames Water is desperate to find all those leaks. It’s not my final call, but I don’t think we are disqualifying anyone – it’s not a Championship, we don’t think these wrinkles materially affected the results enough (the notorious gate saved people at most 40m and a couple of turns), and it’s part of what makes it an urban race, rather than a sprint or a regular orienteering event where the land is more static and reliable. I’m sure that gate will be taped in future years though…

We had great difficulty accommodating the 209-odd starters on the Men’s Long course – fewer than expected opted for Men’s Short on entering. Maybe a Men’s Elite (with a hard limit of say 90, at two minute intervals, and entry by invitation from the Men’s Long start list) would be the way to go. At the same time, I dislike having a Men’s Short with a prize for the winner. People are in fact allowed to enter any course at non-Championship events like this, and many people treat Men’s Short as a course to run if they are injured, want an easy run, or consider themselves to be “not competitive” rather than as a genuine competitive course. This is why the Men’s Short course had two people who finished well ahead of the rest, and who have scored far more points than indeed the winner of the Men’s Long. So maybe an invited Men’s Elite and general Men’s Open should be the split for future years.

The event organising team is, I think, now suffering somewhat from volunteer fatigue. I know that the time spent on the event by many in SLOW (the organising club) was great – probably too great. In my case, the great majority of the time was spent on the “labour-of-love” work of extending, updating and correcting the map that I have nurtured now for over four years, exploring the new parts of the City, test-running, and running the event’s website – including a “live page” on the day that I was able to post photos to, and gather tweets from others. Only the last-minute worrying and what-if-ing of the final two weeks was the bit I would rather avoid! The traditional organising truimviate of planner, organiser and controller also spent more time than they normally would on a “bog-standard orienteering event”. It was a lot of time, but the result was a polished event – I thought the planner’s courses this year were the best yet, even the very first leg had three possible routes and an immediate decision to be taken by most competitors.

It will also be interesting seeing what happens to the event, now that it is the biggest urban orienteering race in the UK, and quite possibly the second biggest in the world after Venice. Certainly, the 300-odd overseas competitors gave the event a lovely international feel – particularly as the overseas designs of orienteering tops generally look a lot better. I have already written my thoughts on what could happen to urban orienteering in London in general. Clearly there is a certain expectation amongst both the local orienteering community and the o-tourist, for future “city style” events, where the typical run is for an hour and the route, while not necessarily being very technical, passes several of the “London landmarks” – this year St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin, Lloyds of London and of course the Barbican were visited by many. But at the same time I think the format needs to be tweaked and refined to keep it fresh. Certainly we have overused the Barbican Estate now – it was used a lot in 2008 and a bit in 2009, and a huge amount this year – so I expect that this will play almost no part in races for the next few years – not least because of impact on the residents and the difficulty of negotiating access. With next year’s pairing with the Southern Championships in nearby Epping Forest the following day, perhaps there is a case for having shorter courses with target winning times of say 35 minutes – i.e. a “middle-distance” urban race which, due to the higher pace and shorter legs, would also allow less technical areas to be enjoyed more. There is also perhaps less pressure on keeping the race “technical” anyway, as the following day’s event should satisfy in that regard.

Now, back to the regular orienteering – Street-Os in London, “real” orienteering outside such as the CompassSport Cup Final and a Mountain Marathon, and enjoying the efforts of other urban race organisers – Cambridge in October should be a real treat with the college quadrangles, and I might even make it back to the granddaddy of urban racing – Venice.

See also the report from Brooner, the co-founder of the City of London Race.