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Orienteering in the Sun

Rob Howard / 18.04.2009

For Race two, the orienteering stage, tired legs were walked back to the start line where rolled up maps were handed out, with instructions not to open them until the race buzzer signalled the start. Course planning was going to be part of race time.

What’s more racers were doing the 4 orienteering loops in different orders, depending on which map they picked up. There were two short loops around the ‘lower site’, one around the camping field and another across the cleared site of the old works, but the real pain came on the long loops which made their way back up to the fells and into the quarry.

By now the sun had come out, and it was hot work climbing steeply up onto the fell side. Then once inside the area of the old quarry there were a lot of ups and downs across the spoil heaps. At least there were impressive views when it was time to take a breather, but there wasn’t time to stop too much, it was a long course and would take some of the racers a long time to get around.

This was the chance for the navigators to shine, although as promised none of the CP placements were too technical. Even so there were some very confused faces at the start; those who were new to reading an orienteering map took a while to adjust.

Race one leader Morgan Donnelly adjusted well, despite his nervousness, still finishing 3rd and keeping his overall aggregate lead, although he’s only a few points ahead of Tim Higginbottom who had the best time of 1.02.09. The race one ladies winner, Anna Frost didn’t take part in the orienteering and Zoe Fleming took the chance to take the aggregate lead, finishing 28th in the orienteering in 1.19.05. She was surprised to find she was taking on the race leader’s jersey for the next stage.

There was a slightly longer break before stage 3, the score orienteering, and everyone was glad of it. While racing through the quarry Bruce Duncan said, “This is brutal! Give me Patagonia any day!� (He was recently on the winning team of one of the worlds hardest races there.) For the adventure racers the speed of the races is the major challenge – it’s like a series of long sprints! Others were simply unprepared for how tough and hilly the courses are, and we are now only a third of the way through the whole event!

Tonight there are three more races, the score orienteering (one hour) , night MTB time trial (1.00) and Night trail race. These come in quick succession and the dark, navigation, and the introduction of bike skills into the mix will continue to test everyone, and may shake up the overall leaders. (Reports and pictures on these events will hopefully be posted tomorrow morning – there won’t be time tonight. I’ll try to post the results tonight however.

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