Chris Curtis Web Site

What a difference a week makes!

I arrived at Park Wood in good humour, enjoying the gentle sunshine after overnight rain. I wanted to have a decent run after my success last week. Oh dear! It all went horribly wrong on the first control.

It should have been reasonably easy. A quick run up a path then angle in between thickets to a platform. As I started I was chased by a small dog and its owner who was shouting at it to stop. I was a little distracted. Even so I went in at the right place and what I thought was the right angle. I knew I was in trouble when I could see thickets, but not tie them to what was on the map. I went right throught the compartment and relocated to try again from another path junction. No luck. A third try from another attack point and I finally found the control – tucked among low trees. It had taken me a ghastly 17 minutes!
After this I had lost a lot of confidence. Although I came back by six places by the end (and more at one point) I made some poor route choices and further mistakes because I wanted to avoid repeating the experience. I was also very aware how long it was taking me, and could not keep myself working towards the end.

The worst run for a very long time.

After the week’s hot weather and heavy rain yesterday, it was misty and more like autumn – though still warm, especially when the sun broke through. There was a fine view of the sea beyond Chichester as I approached the event site, next to Goodwood Racecourse.

After my big mistake on the last Park-O, where I missed a control, I was determined to be more careful even if this meant being a little slower. I was hoping that the summer training might still allow me to run well – especially as having been here before I know that the terrain is fast.

I felt very good indeed until about 2/3 of the way round, when I felt myself slowing. I only made one mistake navigationally, when I was not quite sure which side of a path I was on until I found a control I had already visited, but fortunately I had realised this might happen and was straight onto the proper control on the other side of the path quickly.

I was back in 47 minutes – which I was pleased about – but I had felt very unfit over the last part of the race and had to walk most of the way from the last control to the finish and was annoyed with myself for that.

When I sat down to look at the results I was thrilled and the reason for the slowdown at the end became clear. Today was a personal best for a green course, and my first ever top ten placing (ninth) in a non-handicap event (out of more than 40 runners). I slowed down at the end because I had gone so fast (by my standards!) through the race. Also very good was that there was not a twinge of any kind from ankle, foot, heel, hamstring, hip or any of the other things that I injured before the summer.
Last season my target was all events in under an hour, which by the end of season I was meeting on average. This season it looks like 50 minutes will have to be the target! That is still pathetic compared with the speeds of runners on the blue course and especially with the top orienteers, but I think I am entitled to enjoy the improvement in my performance, as well as vowing to keep working on it.

I spent a few days watching the progress of Hurricane Gordon as it crossed the Azores and headed this way. It still had a visible eye while in the Bay of Biscay, but became mixed up with a frontal system and ended up crossing Southern Ireland before dissipating in the Atlantic.

The effect here was to give us a day and evening of remarkable hot winds – the top temperature was 26C with a moderate to strong breeze. This was most noticeable in the evening when the warmth surrounded you in the dark – more like the South of France in summer than the UK in early autumn.

Perfect September weather today, with gentle sun and warmth, rather than heat, plus a breeze. This classic park was full of colourful footballers in new kit and children were playing everywhere. It felt like a blast of late summer.

Sadly, I was particularly hopeless at the orienteering. I had my mind fixed on running fast and I took a full eight minutes off last week’s time, but missed one control completely and mispunched another in my hurry. I never felt in contact with the map and was bound to go wrong.

They say that a bad dress rehearsal is good for the main performance – I hope so with the new season about to begin.

Routes and results for this event are available on the SO routegadget 

Eastbourne is a long way to drive for a local event, but this was the last weekend of my summer vacation and the first orienteering for a long time, so I thought I would go along.

It rained during the journey – quite a lot but it stopped just before I arrived and started again as I drove away! The temperature and grey skies were great for running.

The terrain was interesting. Although the area is a park, with open grassland, tennis courts and so on, much of it is wooded so although there were lots of paths it felt more like “ordinary” orienteering.

I felt good. I was covering ground well for me and felt in good contact with the map. About 2/3 of the way round I lost concentration. I came to the wrong side of a large and very thick thicket at control 9 and lost lots of time, then took the wrong path to 10 and had to cut across some slow but fairly open ground – losing more time. making errors in the middle and early second half of a run is becoming a bad habit. Otherwise a fairly clean run and I felt fairly fit. I was disappointed with my 38 minutes as I thought I was going better than that, though I was not too far behind some much more accomplished orienteers and if I can do 38 minutes in the SOG events I will be very pleased! Had I kept up the flow through controls 9 and 10, my time would have been under the half-hour, which would have pleased me greatly.

You can see the results and routes on “routegadget” at the SO website