Orienteering Mini Event Report

Post date: Oct 24, 2016 10:00:20 PM

By Robert Semple

I have written this report so that members will have an idea for future events and what to expect. I have organised dozens of map reading

exercises and tests over the years and always they are against the clock, this can be done running ,walking by day or night.

These events can be easy or difficult , long or short the main factor to consider is the competitors and the ground that they have to cross.

I had hoped to put this event on during the summer and in daylight but just did not have time so being on holiday this week I contacted Elaine

and Stuart who said to post it on the FB page and take it from there. After a couple of hours I knew there was potentially enough

runners to make the effort of organising the event worth it. These events take time and a bit of thought but it was worth all the effort.

I was unsure how to split the teams and left it to Robert McDonald as there are several ways to do it but I did not want to mismatch running

speeds too much. The teams worked well with Margaret Sinclair and Eilidh Girvan were having to run harder than normal to keep with their

teammates Fiona and Jen. Eilidh proved to be an excellent map reader thanks to her duke of Edinburgh training and all competitors had little

trouble finding the locations.

The route was set at Approx just under 5 miles as I did not want to make the training last more than an hour including the start and finish

admin and we only ran over the time by a few minutes.

Orienteering is a discipline of running and there is a Scottish Championship for it. The true orienteering events will often require you

to plot your own grids run on bearings etc. The event that we ran last night did not require this as I had marked the maps and there was no

requirement for compasses. Navigation is a very satisfying there is a reward in itself to running over the brow of a hill or round a corner

and indeed the check point is there.

Last night the competitors had to write down part of a post code at each checkpoint this was to ensure they had indeed found the location so it

was a bit of a post code lottery and at the end had a go at guessing where the codes were from, which included places like the Isle of Coll

and other exotic locations. The feedback from last night was positive and I hope to do a Saturday or Sunday fun event during the winter at possibly Lussa . There are several ways that this can be done but teams would be best for the moment as it would give newcomers a chance to get a feel for navigating on the move, The distance and timescale would be increased with faster teams set off last.

Navigation lessons could be given to anyone interested prior to the event if they wanted.

Well done to the teams last night who certainly got into the competitive spirit and made the event a success.