O coach

Weekends away

Posted on 18 Oct, 2009 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • Orienteering • General

Retirement – all the time in the world to do things! Start to try to live up to the profile on the blog – an active Orienteer (yes), Mountain biker (can’t cycle at the moment due to hip), Kayaker (not been in my kayak this year due to hip), Climber (would probably fall off a ‘Diff’ and not been up a hill for ages!).

I finished work on 30th September and we packed the car for a few nights away on 1st October. I had a 6-Day Company meeting in Perth on the 1st so we stayed in a Travelodge that night. Paul was running the Loch Ness Marathon on Sunday 4th October so we headed to Inverness from Perth. I suggested that we drove the route as it starts out near to Whitebridge (at the back of beyond between Fort Augustus and Daviot). As we drove along, I could see his face become longer and longer. Yes, the route is generally downhill to Foyers but there are some really vicious ups as well. Along the lochside is gently undulating and just after Dores, around the infamous mile 18 when folk hit ‘The Wall’ there is a long uphill that lasts over a mile.

Once in Inverness (another Travelodge) we did the usual things – saw a couple of films, had a small run between the showers, visited coffee shops, ate out.

I am not keen on being a ‘shuttle bunny’ type person and so decided in mid-September to enter the 10km race. The start was not far from the Travelodge and I reckoned I could manage 10km. Just after entering I got my usual September cold/sore throat so there was no training (a glamorous word for shuffling round the streets).

However, the day of the marathon dawned bright and cool. Paul left about 7am to make his way to the Bught Park and the buses to take them to Whitebridge. I had a leisurely start and walked along to the 10km start. It was mobbed! About 2500 runners were taking part – and just after the start we were all squeezed into this little lane for about 2km! There was much elbowing and dodging about; I was amazed that there were some people walking at this stage. Well, I finished the race without walking, and without being last. Paul finished the marathon in under 4 hours 30 minutes and was reasonably happy given the nature of the course.

After spending Sunday night in Inverness we headed for Oban as I had an afternoon of meetings there. Paul wandered around a bit but was also suffering a little. It was then home for a few days.

There were two high standard orienteering events the next weekend – 10th and 11th October. The first one was at Coull, near Aboyne. I had last run there in the 1980’s and had good memories of it. We drove up early Saturday morning, through thick mist over the Cairn o’Mount. The orienteering was good with well planned courses. I was quite happy with my run, except for one control when I did not stick to my line and was drawn off by seeing others.

Many of the orienteering club headed up to Aberdeen for the weekend and were staying in Travelodges near the Airport (where would we be without Travelodges?!). 15 of us met for a Chinese buffet that evening.

The next day was sand dune time at Forvie. I was really looking forward to this as I like the challenge of the contours! It was bright with the threat of some heavy showers but it was windy! This really affects the asthma so I was hoping not to have to go far into the wind.

What a disaster the first control was for me. Look at the screen shot of my route. I was really glad I had my GPS watch on as otherwise I would not have had a clue where I went. I have put coloured arrows onto the route. First of all, follow the blue arrows. I should have made a route choice to go north of the marsh, but I decided to go south. The marsh was not as crossable as it seems on the map. I should have realised this earlier as I got my feet wet just after leaving the start in an area where there is no marsh shown. I then ended up in the area of broken ground, stood around and tried to make sense of the map. Reckoned I had to go north and did so but did not find the control where I thought it would be. Now look at where the blue arrows end. Change to the green arrows. I headed south and was relocating off a 2 contour hill (that’s only 4m!) when I met Genevieve who was heading from #6 to #7. She shook her head at me and said I was well lost but I did not want to know where I was as I wanted to work it out for myself. I found where the 2 contour knoll was and took an accurate bearing and paced to the control. When you look at the map you will see that I was within spitting distance of the control on my first approach but did not see the feature or the control.

After that the course went OK, except I found the ground quite physical. Again I made the wrong choice of route around the marsh from #7 to #8 as it was hard to stick as close to the marsh as I would have liked – and I heard later that there was a path around the east side!

Ah well, you can learn a lot from some races and this is certainly one of them!

The good news from the weekend was that we just managed to make the Glen Doig tearoom near Perth before it closed!

Tagged : Blog • Orienteering • General