This came up during a conversation about the
STORM adventure race in November. One tactic I've learned from some very experienced racers is the CMAP (Crew Map And Prepare).
The scenario is thus: you get some maps and some checkpoint locations in the form of UTMs
all at the start of the race.
The clock is ticking. The racers on your team quickly identify
the maps necessary for the first part of the race and plot those points
accurately and then leave everything else with their support crew. For this to work, the racers must leave the start
only
with what is necessary to get them to the first Transition Area and
nothing more. While the racers on your team are racing, putting
time into those teams that are plotting all the points or taking more
time preparing their maps all nice and fancy, your support crew takes
over the maps and race instructions. The crew does some or all of
the following:
- Grid the maps as necessary (in the comfort of a nice dry spot, on
a pristinely flat surface, since the support crew is not going at race
speed much care can be taken in this process)
- Plot all the checkpoint locations, including noting any
significant compass bearings or race rules (like off-limit
routes). They can get routes highlighted and, again, much care
can be taken in this process
- Protect the maps as desired (here is more about preparing your race maps)
The beauty of this approach is that the the support crew doesn't have
the same urgency that the racers have so time can be invested in
getting every detail correct. So many teams rush through a point
or two and end up paying for it in hours on the race course. The
CMAP strategy lets the racers
race and the support crew . . .
support.
It requires a lot of confidence and, probably, race experience on the
part of your support crew and won't work in many situations. But,
under the right circumstances, something like this could save 30
minutes or more just in map work and who knows how much time on the
course if the map work is done more carefully and in better conditions
than by the racers on the go.
By the time your team arrives at the first Transition Area, they are
greeted with carefully prepared maps containing more information than
most racers would take the time to put on the map. It could be a
thing of real beauty!
All that being said, the CMAP strategy is one I've never fully utilized
in a real race because it's a lot to ask of a support crew. We
haven't been comfortable delegating that level of responsibility to our
support crew, but we
have had success in asking the support
crew to do some minor map work on our behalf. I recall at the
Mountain Sports Festival last Spring where our support crew had our
extra topo maps taped to our table and ready to review when we arrived (it was a very windy
TA); we could refer to them while we were transitioning and I have to
give those maps a bit of the credit for the accuracy of
most of
the points I plotted from there. Picture this: I'm trying to
change out of my wet clothes and into bike gear, drink a Red Bull
, eat some solid food, and plot the CPs for the final portion of the race
all while shaking from the cold river we just exited.
I don't exactly remember why Mike or Don couldn't help with that, maybe
they were shaking more than I was or seeing to a bike issue.
Anyway, that's a few frantic minutes we could have saved by having
those points plotted and done entirely by our support crew. I
don't think our support crew, who did an awesome job I should add,
would have been comfortable with that -- but it's a lesson
learned.
This all brings me back to the upcoming
STORM the Eastern Shore adventure race.
I suspect this is a race ripe for the CMAP strategy, but it takes a lot of
teamwork from racers and their support crew: they need to truly be a
unified team. As always, I'll be curious to watch and see what
those innovative teams come up with.