Category: Orienteering Events Log

Brown
(7.6k/130m)
52:30, 6.9mpk
3rd/26 finishers.

Writeup / Results

Pleased to have finished 3rd at this race. I was caught up by the person who finished second, about half way round. I took a different route to lose him and he got ahead, but I caught up at the very end. An interesting course, with some long cross-country legs followed by a quite technical section in a maze of paths and ditches, finishing with some hilly route-choice sections.

M21L
(12.2k/300m)
103:37, 8.5mpk
31st/38 finishers.

Writeup / Results

I was really aching from the Oxford City Race the previous day, which had really hurt my quads (running in O-shoes on tarmac for 10km, not a great idea) – or maybe it was just the hangover from the JOK Annual Dinner. Either way, this was not a good race for me. 21 minutes of mistakes, mainly in the middle section, killed off any chance of a good time, plus I hit a wall 2/3rds of the way around and had to walk for a bit. It’s a while since I got that way – but then, it’s a while since I’ve done a 12km course.

I was the last starter – but also the last finisher by quite a way. Thank goodness the catering was still going – it’s amazing how nice a hot dog with onions tastes after a 100 minute run.

I’m thinking that I really am more of a middle distance runner.

Open
(6.29k)
47:57, 7.6mpk
25th/82 finishers.

Writeup / Results

It was great to finally run in the Oxford City Race, years after it was originally conceived. It was a novelty to be sprinting down the middle of the streets and past historic buildings. I even deliberately went through The Turf pub – because I could! I defintely had a home advantage, useful on the long legs as you could pinpoint the control and then fold the map away and sprint. Despite this though, I made quite a few mistakes and poor route choice decisions. For the Men’s Open, the planner was trying to catch us out as often as possible, and succeeded in quite a few places.

Incidentally the shortest possible legal distance for the course was 9.4km, making my pace around 5mins/km, a bit more respectible for what was a sprint, albeit a long one.

M21L
(11.5k/70m)
100:06, 8.7mpk
14th/20 finishers.

Writeup / Results

Brown Course
(10.2k/120m)
73:48, 7.2mpk
75th/144 finishers.

Writeup / Results

Brown Course
(7.2k/180m)
56:11, 6.7mpk
1st/26 finishers.

Writeup / Results

Brown Course
(9.01k/205m)
61:11, 6.7mpk
6th/22 finishers.

Writeup / Results

Brown Course
(8.67k/205m)
69:44, 8.0mpk
8th/35 finishers.

Writeup / Results

I raced on 12 maps this July.

They are:

Pieriskiai
JWOC Lithuania
Tue 4 July 2006
Spectator Races 1
H21S (6.37k/150m)
51:38, 8.1mpk
28th/73. 27C
Writeup

Noskunu Miskas
JWOC Lithuania
Wed 5 July 2006
Spectator Races 2
H21S (8.26k/170m)
92:48, 11.2mpk
51st/68. 30C
Writeup

Petrosku Miskas N
JWOC Lithuania
Thu 6 July 2006
Spectator Races 3
H21S (5.40k)
51:25, 9.5mpk
40th/73. 30C
Writeup

Petrosku Miskas S
JWOC Lithuania
Fri 7 July 2006
Spectator Races 4
H21S (5.80k)
58:04, 10.0mpk
27th/67. 31C
Writeup

Druskininku Miskas
JWOC Lithuania
Sat 8 July
Spectator Races 5
H21S (7.70k)
59:44, 7.8mpk
48th/59. 33C!
Writeup

Oxshott Heath
SLOW Local Event
Tue 11 July
Medium (3.70k)
27:23, 7.4mpk
8th/40.
Writeup

Gornergrat
Swiss O Week
Day 1
Sun 16 July
HAM (5.3k/170m)
50:41, 9.6mpk
82nd. 2950m up!
Writeup

Riffelalp
Swiss O Week
Day 2
Mon 17 July
HAM (4.0k/280m)
45:45, 11.4mpk
58th. 2250m up.
Writeup

Trockener Steg
Swiss O Week
Day 3
Tue 18 July
HAM (5.5k/280m)
70:52, 12.9mpk
78th. 2700m up.
Writeup

Schwarzsee
Swiss O Week
Day 4
Thu 20 July
HAM (6.4k/340m)
60:31, 9.5mpk
71st. 2500m up.
Writeup

Sunnegga
Swiss O Week
Day 6
Sat 22 July
HAM (5.0k/220m)
61:45, 12.4mpk
75th. 2600m up.
Writeup

Wimbledon Common SW
SLOW
Sun 30 July
Frolic (3.76k/80m)
35:08, 9.3mpk
10th/107
Extension (3.03k)
21:31, 7.1mpk
5th/48
Writeup

I’ve put up my Swiss photos on a Flickr set here. A few were taken by fellow SLOW runner Paul Nixon (thanks Paul) on the last day when I was running.

Writeups of each day are here. I’ll eventually get around to scanning in some map fragments, too.

Swiss O Week was definitely the best orienteering holiday I’ve been on. The location was superb, the weather was amazing, Switzerland is a great country to holiday in, and the orienteering wasn’t bad either. Not quite as technical as Lithuania, but certainly more scenic. Orienteering in the heart of the alps, across the alpine meadows, steep forests and glacial debris was a real experience.

The afternoons were generally given over to touristy things. While some did some serious hiking, many of us (including myself) were content to take the nearest cable car, cog-wheel railway or gondola up some mountain. The Klein Matterhorn cable car summit station, at 3800m above sea-level, is the highest I’ve ever been on land.

We were very lucky with the weather – the Alps were a lot more forgiving than my previous holiday there five years ago. Every morning, the sky would be blue and the Matterhorn would look just like it does on a bar of Toblerone. A few clouds would appear in the sky in the afternoon, and a cooling breeze would start. Then, in the evening, a distant thunderstorm would rumble, cooling down the air (it did rain, once, on the last evening.) The next morning, everything would be “reset” back to the blue sky. The temperature was pleasantly moderate – hot enough to sunbathe in, but not oppressively hot like London, or the rest of the Europe at sea-level, was suffering last week.

One thing that sticks in my mind are the dry alpine pastures, heaving with grasshoppers. Everywhere you stepped, the grass would become alive with the insects leaping away. They are harmless, of course, and it was nice to have no midges, mosquitoes or ticks – Zermatt, at 1600m altitude, is too high up for these critters.

My only regret is that I wasn’t well enough for the street race (the fifth day of the event.) Zermatt’s winding streets, open grass fields and complete lack of cars, would have provided a compelling racing experience. I’ll have to content myself with Oxford’s own street race, later this year.

Stopping off at Montreux and Geneva on the way back was a bonus. The Montreux Grand Prix happened to be on the same time that I was in town. And Geneva, with it’s old-town streets, water fountains and cosmopolitan people, was a delight to walk through – even if it was a little too hot.

HAM (Men’s A-Standard, Medium Distance) – Top 7 UK/IE Results