JK 2010
Posted on 05 Apr, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • Orienteering
Paul and Lynne were lured by the ‘sunny Devon’ image and travelled down to take part in the annual orienteering festival. A day later than anticipated we arrived at our Dartmoor holiday cottage.
The journey down had been mainly uneventful even though it was Good Friday. A slow bit around Birmingham which dispersed as we left the M6 for the M5. At Bristol there was a huge hailstorm which nearly had us leaving the motorway it was so heavy. The holiday cottage lived up to the images in the brochure. It is warm, very comfortable and well equipped.
Cookworthy Forest - orienteering in liquid mud
Saturday was Day 2 of the JK. We had missed the sprint Day 1 at Bicton College and so had to make sure we remembered to collect our bibs before going to the start of Day 2 at Cookworthy Forest. It was raining and there was bussing involved. As we were in the van, we were considered to be a campervan and needed to park on a wide forest track. This was an advantage as we only had 200m to walk to the bus. We put all our O clothes and shoes on in the van and then our Paramo kit.
The first shock was had on reaching the assembly field. Well ‘field’ was rather a posh name for the grassy area that had about 2cm of liquid mud on the top. We found our bibs, then a corner to hang our rucksacks in, removed the outer clothing and paddled our way to the starts. Paddled is the correct word as I was above my knees in the mud a couple of times.
Things might have improved on the course? No they did not! I fell headfirst on the way to the first control which meant a muddy map. At least I fold it quite small so some of the course was unaffected. Route choice was determined by the estimation of the depth of mud there might be. The orienteering navigation was not hard but the physical nature of the mud made it a trial. I finished, covered from foot to thigh in clarty sticky mud, with parts of the top also covered but I just put my Paramo on to keep warm. As Paul was off about 15 minutes before me I decided to wait and see if he came in before I went back to the van. He did, and true to form he was slightly less dirty than I was! In Scotland we have wet conditions but the mud is not a sticky and there is often a clear water stream to wash in.
We decided to have a bacon roll before returning to the van. There was a long queue for the buses - but not for the bus that took people to where the van was parked! We were going to the BOF AGM but cleaning up came first so Paul got his shoes off (with help!) and drove while I sat on a seat cover. At the cottage there was an outside hose pipe (note to self - make sure of this in the future as well as WiFi!) and I scrubbed myself and then Paul’s kit at the hose pipe before going to the sink in the utility room to finish off. As this took about half an hour you can understand the extent of the mud. These photos show a bit of the extent of the mud (the shoes had already been washed in a stream)
We did make the AGM and because it finished so late we had a meal out in Barnstaple before driving home.
Braunton Burrows - contours and MOD vehicle tracks
Sunday - JK Day 3 - was a sand dune area at Braunton Burrows. It was quite a drive but the weather was dry although a bit windy. This area was a total contrast with intricate contours, subtle in the south and masked by a network of tracks (caused by army vehicles) in the middle and north; it was also dry underfoot although the seasonal marshes were very wet and I avoided them. Most of my run was clean but I had a disaster at the third control and lost between five and eight minutes. Many others in my class made mistakes so my place was the same as the previous day. I suppose it could be summarised as consistently off the pace!
After running we had all the vehicles to leaflet for Oban 2011. This was quite a task but also interesting as you were marketing if people were at their vehicles so it took a long time! At least the field was flat and the vehicles were all in rows. 1500 leaflets later they were all done; Paul had to do the campervans as I struggle to reach the windscreens! I gave 200 to a gentleman from Switzerland and a small bundle to a Norwegian club and a Swedish club. The gentleman from Sweden was delighted to hear that he could go training on Kerrera but disappointed that it was not to be used for competition. He did mention that in Sweden they would just build a bridge!
Time for coffee and cake in Braunton then head back to the cottage. We did not enter the relays so have a couple of days exploring Dartmoor - weather permitting - before another couple of ‘interesting’ orienteering events. I will post about these later this week.
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.