Glasgow 3 Parks in 1 Day 2010
Posted on 16 Jan, 2011 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • Orienteering
This annual race is great fun and a bit quirky. The 2010 race took place on Sunday 16th January 2011. Blame the snow and ice in December. However the change of date meant that Paul & I could enter. Carol was relieved at this as she could then have a lift between locations!
You can enter a ‘Guess the Parks’ competition before the event. For this you have to correctly decide which three parks will be used and the order of the races in these parks. Terry gives a ‘History of locations used’ to help you with this. No one had the correct guess this time, partly due to park 3 which has about 100m2 within the Glasgow City boundary.
On the Thursday before the event, Terry publishes the location of the first race. Great, it was Bellahouston this time so easy to get to from the west. We arranged to meet Carol there and she would leave her car while we took her around the other two locations.
Bellahouston has a large flat area and a hill. The flat area was wet after the recent deluge. There was also someone practising their golf much to Paul’s consternation! The hill was a climb up (seemed a lot more than the contours showed) and the crossable fence was only just for me. Picture a metal stake fence with the stakes about 15cm apart, vertically. Then put a wee pointy top on the stakes and have it high enough for me to be on tip toes trying to cross it . . . Too fast an area for me so I came last in my class.
The next park was then revealed, along with a printed Google map to help you to get there. Terry is getting soft these days. Before all you had was a cryptic clue! Tollcross was the location (many quipped OK – from Ibrox to Parkhead and then speculated that the third park would be near Hampden). Relatively easy journey to get there; I say relatively because when the navigator on the back seat asked me to take the slip road off the motorway and I was three lanes away from it . . .
This race was much better for me and I was not last. A bit of confusion at the start. I had not been able to get the loose control descriptions (told they would be at download, then told at the start and they were on chairs outside download). I started with four others and they all took off to the left; I looked at my map and thought ‘I have to go right’. My compass was in my pocket but I was sure and it was correct. Looking at the splits I was the fastest in my class for this leg! Then there was the sting. Between #2 and #3 there was a stream. This was not jumpable for me; it was hard to gauge the depth as the water was ‘urban brown’. Up and down the banks to see if there was anywhere to cross. Eventually settle on a tree part way across the stream. Find control #3 and then it was back across the stream. Others were crossing here so I waded. It did not go over the top of my longish waterproof socks – whew! Rest of the course was a bit of a runners one again but the open areas were a bit less soggy.
Where would Park 3 be? Turns out that we were to continue east to Drumpellier. Evidently a tiny bit is within the Glasgow City boundary. This meant that no one solved correctly the location of the three parks this year. Drumpellier Country Park is a well-used area between the M73 and Coatbridge. There is a Visitor Centre and Terry had arranged use of the lecture room. The best laid plans though . . . There was a power cut over a large part of the area as a cable had come down. The organisers coped very well, even pulling a generator out of somewhere.
The third race is a chasing start – times from the first two races added together; the leader starts at 2pm and then there are people off continually for about 15 minutes. I did not have a hope of catching any of the others as I was about 4 minutes behind. The first leg was around the loch on paths. Little energy left by this time meant that this was a bit of a shuffle and fast walk. Approaching my attack point for #1 was a little confusing as there was a flooded area to my right. There was a flooded area marked on the map but beyond my attack point. I had not been pacing or really paying much attention to things. I decided to alter tactics and headed in through a pale green area. This worked well and I landed straight on to the control. The rest of the course went OK except for the running element, especially the penultimate leg up beside the road. I was not last though! The class leader had blown – badly – the first control.
Overall the navigation was easy and I did not make mistakes (or at least ones that cost me time). Must improve the running though.
The 13th 3 Parks In 1 Day Champs is Sunday 4th December 2011. On 1st November 2011 a comprehensive list of possible venues will be announced and entries will open on line.
Give it a go! It is a very social time and courses are planned for younger juniors as well.
I am a level 4 orienteering coach and a qualified Assessor & Coach Educator. I have been orienteering for xx years and have coached on many foreign tours.