Chris Curtis Web Site

The last orienteering around here until September so worth the hour’s rush-hour drive. As I headed across the weald towards the coast, there were a few huge towering cumulus clouds – probably thunderstorms or heavy showers – but they were surprisingly far away and the evening was warm, dry and summery.

The event was great. A new map of a small but super area between the A29 and A27 where the woodland contained a number of overlapping “mini-quarries” making extremely complex areas with lots to catch you out. This alternated with more open woodland, but with subtle features, so what looked simple, was not.

I had a clean run to control 7 where the subtle terrain caught me out and I lost at least 5 minutes, but after giving myself a severe talking to I managed a clean(ish) run after that for a tolerably respectful 50 minutes overall. i was slightly over-cautious in a few places, but I was running comfortably and navigating fairly accurately. It felt as if I am coming into a little form again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and the relaxed social atmosphere afterwards, and the perfect weather. Sadly, it was slightly spoilt by the inconsiderate parking of “stool-ball” players who blocked several of us in and refused to respond to requests to move their cars, so I was home later than planned, but what a great way to end the season.

Image of Hampden Park Finish.jpg
This was the last Saturday event until September and it was excellent. The course had 20 controls which called on all sorts of different skills and with a pleasant breeze it was not too hot. There were a couple of very physical controls which made an interesting change. Control 11 was at the bottom of a 2-metre deep ditch, requiring  some climbing to access and  one of the controls demanded a stream crossing on the way in and one on the way out (at least the way I approached it).

For me, it all went wrong between controls 1 and 4, which were in fairly dense woodland with lots and lots of paths, only some of which were mapped. I kept picking up the wrong paths and lost about 15 minutes in total, so that although the rest of the run was pretty clean and reasonably fast I was well down on the field.

Still. It was a quality event in interesting and sometimes tricky terrain and I had a good time.

By the way, this article and the photo were done mobile – starting at the event and finished at home.