Chris Curtis Web Site

Most of the orienteering routes and other information you see on this site come from the SportTracks software I use with my Garmin Forerunner 305.

SportTracks is free software that takes the information from the Garmin (and other equipment and sources), records it in a log and can link it with map and satellite image sources to give a record of where and how well you have run (or walked, or cycled or whatever).

Recently, version2 has appeared in beta. It is amazing. As long as you remember to record your run with the Garmin (it is quite easy to forget to press “start”!) you can analyse your pace, heart rate, elevation and even the weather second by second through your run. With plug-ins contributed by users you can even keep track of your best times ever, or analyse your training performance over time.

If you have a gps training aid, you just have to have SportTracks.

Upgrade worked without any visible problems.

There was rain overnight and it was still raining when I set out. The temperature and wind had a real feel of autumn. Cold, wet, muddy and a physically tough forest – that’s proper orienteering!

I like Sheffield Forest. It feels as if it is rarely visited, with lots of bracken and brambles in places and a wide variety of woodland, with well-grown plantations and more tangled older areas and even a sense of “landscape garden” in a few places. There are lots of streams, in deeply incised valleys and there are even genuine rock outcrops – almost unheard of here in Sussex. I remembered it being quite physical both in and out of the valleys and running through the forest itself.

The green course was well planned to use the terrain. There were lots of route choices and always diving back onto paths and tracks was not going to be successful and in some cases was clearly daft. That said, there were a couple of legs when I should have done that and did not! The forest was wet, though the rain stopped before we started running, and I was soaked very quickly. The terrain was fairly open, but the bracken has not died back yet and was very hard going at times, even though I stayed out of the areas where thick undergrowth was marked. Recent forestry also left some areas covered in cut branches (brashings) though had also removed quite a lot of bramble. The feeling of running well off the paths through dark, almost gloomy, forest while rain dripped from the trees and almost believing that I was the only person out there was a classic orienteering experience.

My run was reasonably clean though not a “classic”. I lost a lot of time on one control again – number 7. I headed straight for it but the going was much tougher than the map suggested and it was hard to keep on line. I emerged onto a clear path, but was not quite clear at first how far along it I was. I finally spotted an area of “green” (thick forest) that should have led me to the control but it was hard to see where the green stopped and the open forest began. A couple of loops round the area found the control – which was quite low and beneath low-growing trees – but my navigation felt very sloppy. I also made a bad choice going along the fence by the lakes towards control 10 and 11. Although my navigation was secure, it was impossible to go through there with any speed – I should have gone on the paths and headed back in.

It took 75 minutes – much slower than my average, but faster than the last times I have run here. The physical terrain and challenging courses brought all times down so I was 21st. According to my gps I was really motoring when I had the chance – comparing myself with others I was less consistent, mainly where my navigation was sloppy or where I made the wrong route choice and found myself caught up in tough terrain. Still, I beat pretty much everyone in the field on at least one leg (including the winner) which suggests that the potential is there and the fitness training is bearing fruit – I just have to get every control right!

I enjoyed it – I got back covered in mud, water and blood from hundreds of scratches but I felt I had conquered a challenge – that’s what it is all about.

The first of this season’s “Southdown Orienteers Gallopen (League)” events (known, for obvious reasons as “SOGs”) was at Goodwood Country Park, north of Chichester. This is a narrow area of varied woodland on the chalk downs, much of which is fairly open without too much undergrowth and with lots of paths and tracks. It adjoins the Goodwood race track so there is the opportunity for a couple of straight runs across the grass car parks. This means that a well planned course, like today’s, will require all sorts of skills: fast easy running, track runs, going straight through forest and choosing routes. As we arrived, the sun came out and the day was soon warm (20C) and very humid, with the overnight mist dissolving in the sunshine before we arrived.

I was fairly pleased with my run, except for one disastrous control. The first couple of controls took us straight off the tracks and through the forest – quite a shock after the summer park-o events. There were then plenty of choices – run round the tracks or go straight – I did both at various times.

I completely messed up control 5. I went straight aiming to pick up a clear path later on. I landed on the path, which was heading in the right way and followed it until I could see an electricity line ahead, exactly where I expected it. At this point there should have been another path joining from the left, but there was not. The woods were fairly brashed (covered with cut branches) and I wondered if the path was not very visible. It did not feel quite right though but this did not stop me heading into the woods towards where I thought the control should be, trying again and then simply scratching my head until I realised I must have hit a parallel path and that I was “out of bounds” which was why this path was not on the map. I was able to relocate quickly once I realised, but ten minutes had gone.

Things went fairly smoothly after that until control 10, which was in a deep pit by a rootstock and invisible until you hit it straight on which took me a couple of tries. I probably lost a minute or two here.

I was back in 55 minutes and finished 24th (out of 43). Without the mistakes it would have been a very reasonable 45 minutes (and a place in the high teens) so my speed across the ground was pleasing. I felt fitter than I have done for ages and was able to run through the forest and across rough open much more consistently than has been the case and in general I felt pretty good. Just a matter of working on the navigation.

The last of what has been an excellent series of events. The format has been sprint orienteering round parks with excursions into pockets of woodland and other complex areas. Fast running and quick thinking to compensate for relatively simple navigation.

Today was in Preston Park – a classic Victorian park complete with bowling greens and pavilions and full of people and activities on a Saturday morning.

The course was very well planned. A quick run across the park then into the greenery and fences for several controls close together with lots of changes of directions. We then visited the velodrome, where there were several of us together so that any mistake or poor route choice felt even more embarrassing. Inevitably, this was followed by a simple long run right across the park, then another collection of confusing controls – this time in and around the rose garden before a straight run into the finish.

I loved this event – you had to concentrate every second and there was no “dead running” – even the long run across the park was all about pacing so you went as fast as you possibly could but had at least a few brain cells left for what was coming. I felt good and apart from fading a little on the last but one control, I was smooth and running throughout. I got round in 26 minutes, for a pace of 7:03 per km – a personal best, beating my previous best pace by 20 seconds per km. The training is obviously paying off. The huge turn out and very close competition meant that the placing was not so impressive, but my average over this series of park events has been about a minute per km faster than last year. I am quite pleased with that.

We are back in the forests from next week.

This was a genuine sprint race. Two “circuits” round parkland of only 1.3km each with about a dozen controls so some were only seconds apart, but complex enough terrain to be interesting and plenty of chances to go wrong.

I was much faster on the second part than the first, where I ran straight past an obvious control and lost time looking forwards for it. The moment I looked back, it was obvious. I was also not sure how I would feel physically but was basically OK, if a little “wobbly” from this virus or whatever it was., so I was a little cautious. On the second circuit I knew what to expect and just ran – my heart rate hit 186 at one point – the highest my Garmin has monitored.

The turn-out was huge (over 120) and there were some literally world class runners, so being 56th was not quite as bad as it sounds. Had I not lost about 2 minutes on the first “circuit” I would have been much higher – we were all separated by seconds.

A lovely event – thoroughly good fun and a great start to the new “season”.