The G-Rant : Grant's Rants on Adventure Racing

Some O-purists might have thought the course was too tough or complained that there wasn't enough opportunity to run (very dense deadfall and vegetation, even for December!), but Encompass caveated everything properly and I had a lot of fun and got a great navigation work out from it. The map wasn't as accurate as a true classic orienteering map, but -again- Encompass warned everyone going in and I treated it as part of the challenge. Click the small map to your right to view a higher resolution version (500K) of my map for the long course; I didn't draw my routes onto the map so my explanations below will have to suffice.

I want to capture my thoughts on the course while it's fresh in my mind; in the past I've done this personally but never posted one publicly -- who knows, maybe somebody will get something out of this. Lets see how it goes . . .

Start to Control 1:
I took the paved road East until it ended and jumped onto the dirt road that wound South and then Southwest. Seeing the lake on my right, I left the road and cut South heading straight for the control. I learned a few things very quickly over the next several hundred meters, these lessons would prove to be themes for the day:
1) The map didn't show every detail, there were more re-entrants than the map indicated (Encompass told us to expect this)
2) Traveling off trail was much slower going than I expected. There was a lot of downed trees and thick vegetation.

I ran into Mike en route to #1 and he was learning the same lessons I was. We collaborated and eventually located the control together, but it took me a good 10 minutes longer than I would have first estimated.

Control 1 to 2:
I followed the gulley South-Southwest all the way to the dirt road cutting east-west through the map. I took the road West a short bit and then cut due south from the Y intersection of the road with the trail, keeping my eye out for the control on my left as I made my way (slowly) through some more dense vegetation and deadfall. I found the control fairly easily, the re-entrant was very prominent and there was also a team of 4 hanging out near the flag -- I think they were discussing their route to #3. That's a lesson I could pass on to others . . . don't linger near the control and debate your route to the next bag; instead, get some space between yourself and the control or you risk leading others to the location. Of course, if you're not competitive about your time it's not a big deal, but in a "real" race situation it can help the competition!

Control 2 to 3:
By this point I had learned the hard way how dense the vegetation was all over the map -- not just in the areas mapped as "dense veg." I opted to cut East from control 2 and rejoin the dirt trail heading Southeast. When I got to the slight Eastern curve in the trail, I left the trail heading South and followed the re-entrant down to the control location. My route here was certainly circuitous, probably twice the distance as a straight shot, but traveling briefly on the trail let me be certain about my baring and helped me avoid some of the deadfall. I think it was the right choice for me.

Control 3 to 4:
This is another one of those decisions where I was very conservative and took the trail Northwest to the main dirt road, and then the dirt road East until it ended. The control was in the bottom of a pit just a hundred meters from the end of the road -- I found it easily. This route choice was probably TRIPLE the distance of a straight shot, but I didn't have to use my compass at all with the choice I made and I was able to actually run the entire way. I made fast time, for the first time all day, and it was a good decision based on the circumstances.

Control 4 to 5:
Here is where I got into some real trouble and it shows one of my weaknesses as an orienteer. I took off Northwest from Control 4 and, finding the going relatively clear of vegetation, I focussed on running and lost track of my exact location on the map. I misred the color on the small "x" on the map, thinking it was a "man-made object" such as an abandoned shelter or something -- it was actually marking a rootstock instead so I was looking for the wrong feature. I encountered my catching feature, the BIG ravine and swamp Northwest of the control by 300 meters or so, and realized my error. I ended up backtracking to control 5 by just following along the ridge line and noting all the re-entrants. I easily wasted a good 15 minutes on this one.

Control 5 to 6:
From 5, I made my way South by Southwest, just aiming for the dirt road. I caught the road and cut West on it for a while until a trail joined it from the North. This junction was my clue to cut South and reach the disconnected trail bending to the Southeast. I did find this trail, but it extends much further than the map indicates and it took me 20 minutes scanning every re-entrant up and down the Southwest facing valley. It turns out the control wasn't nearly as close to the edge of the valley as I orginally thought and I found #6 on my way back to the Southeast heading trail -- I was backtracking and planning my alternative attack point when I came across the control. Lucky, I know. Many gave up on #6 and the thought did cross my mind, I must admit.

At this point I was over 90 minutes into the course and, having heard an estimated "good" finish time of 150 minutes from Encompass, I was getting concerned. I had a lot of controls still to get!

Control 6 to 7:
I traveled due West from Control 6 and found the hillside with #7 on it had many, many small re-entrants although only 1 or 2 were actually on the map. Making matters worse, there were a lot of downed trees, BIG trees, sprinkled all over the hillside and I was crawling under or climbing over every minute or two. I admit I struggled with #7 for several minutes until I decided to regroup and head for high ground (the pronounced summit of the hillside #7 was on). I got to the high spot with ease and shot a baring to where the flag should be. Of course, there was a dense fence of downed trees -- I'm talking about 20 thick tree trunks, standing in my way but once I squeezed through I found the flag in short order. This is a tactic I've used time and time again when I'm having trouble with a control: regroup by finding a known location on the map and attack it from a new point. It worked well for me this time.

Control 7 to 8:
I struggled North through the vegetation to the trail and eventually the asphalt road. I ran West down the asphalt road until I saw the start of the gulley to the North. Then I ventured into the gulley and picked up Control #8, but not without a little challenge to pick the correct re-entrant. I think this was another area where the map neglected to show things as they really were -- but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't find the flag.

Control 8 to 9:
This was an easy one, I jogged down the stream bed past two big re-entrants and then up the third one to the control. This took only a few minutes and I was starting to see that the tough part of the course was the first half and the second half, the part I was on now, was going much quicker.

Control 9 to 10:
The vegetation was thick heading South from 9, but once I got to the asphalt road I picked out the hill that 10 was on and ran straight to it. This control was hanging high, too, which was a nice surprise since the bags had been placed low and tough up until this point.

Control 10 to 11:
I headed due East from 10 and nabbed 11 in only a few minutes. The trees weren't quite so dense through here so the going was quicker.

Control 11 to 12:
I followed the streambed Northeast and counted the re-entrants until the valley narrowed significantly. The narrow area was my clue to head North up the ridge and, sure enough, the flag was right there. By this point, I was really "into" the map and guaging my pace, the contours, and the terrain really effectively. Too bad it took until the last few controls, huh? I haven't been on a "real" o-course for 6 months or more, though, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

Control 12 to 13:
This was a quick jog North across the road and then down the hill to the control. I punched it quickly and then headed straight to the finish as quickly as I could. Shawn, from Encompass, was hiding in the woods taking pictures and I stuck my tongue out at him as I went by.

My final time was 2 hours, 35 minutes (if I remember correctly). When they said 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) was a "good" time, I set that number as my goal and I was happy to get within a few minutes of it. Now, orienteer-extraordinaire Scott Pleban did the same course in 1 hour less than me -- which shows I have a ton of room for improvement. By the sound of it, however, a lot of people struggled so much with the first half of the course that they didn't attempt to finish it. It was a tough course with lots of decisions and many ways to make errors . . . I made more than my fair share of errors, probably 40 minutes too long just on #5 and #6, but I recovered from the mishaps. I was particularly happy with my route choices for the day: even though my routes weren't all that aggressive, they were effective and that is what matters on a course like this one where you can loose 30 minutes bashing through downed trees and vegetation. I was also encouraged by how I was working with the map near the end; granted, it took nearly 2 hours for me to get into the groove with the map, but a groove late is better than no groove at all! I suspect great orienteers establish that "groove" with a map nearly right off the bat.

Again, thanks to Encompass for making the event possible!  Let's see some more O in Hampton Roads!