Monthly Archives: March 2005

34th Oxford vs Cambridge Orienteering Varsity Match

Posted by on 22 March 2005 2 comments

[Updated - added link to results] Just back from the varsity match, which was in Stockholm this year. Up to 6 inches of snow on the ground made for physical as well as technical courses, with the temperatures ranging from 2 degrees celsius down to a Baltic (literally) -15. In the event, almost everyone got around their courses, and there were some fine individual performances.

Oxford achieved a “clean sweep” of trophies, for the third time in as many years, moving the Oxford/Cambridge winning totals over the years ever more towards par. Oxford were so confident they didn’t even bring the trophies to Sweden…

Ed Catmur won the Men’s individual for the third time – the first Oxford man to do so, although Cambridge have matched this feat three times. Newcomer (to Oxford, not orienteering!) Cerys Manning won the women’s. Duncan Archer, a former varsity champion himself, got the best time in the Men’s A on the day, running for JOK, the ex-Oxford club. He narrowly beat Nick Barrable.

In the crucial beer race, JOK rightly won back the trophy, having been “won” last year by a suspiciously small tab Cambridge team won last year by Oxford Uni. Finally, the JOK/DRONGO trophy for the best ex-university team was re-awarded to JOK. Hopefully we’ll get around to engraving it this year.

See also:

The Trossachs FVO Regional Event, 6th March

Posted by on 13 March 2005 1 comment

The Trossachs
Loch Katrine in the Trossachs. The event start was on the hill to the right.
The Trossachs are a long way from London, but they are in my opinion the best map in Britain, and also the one map that I’ve never completed a course at, despite several attempts. The promise of snow in the hills, and a holiday on Monday was the clincher – so I ended up catching an early flight (up at 4am, flying at 7am) to Edinburgh, where my dad picked me up and we headed over to The Trossachs, via the spectacular Duke’s Pass. Little snow in sight, but wonderful weather – cold but clear and sunny.

The Trossachs Legs 3 and 4I ran M21S and yes – finally! – made it around the course. And in a pleasantly good time too. At one point I was second on the results list, behind a fellow JOKer, Jon Marsden. This slipped to 5th place once some faster EUOCers came in. However I was definitely in the top half, with an above-par time for the first time in ages. The course itself was lovely, a classic as always in this area, although staying to the north of the road, meaning the roughest part of the map was missed out – it was still extremely technical and extremely physical, and I made two big mistakes on the first two “real” legs of the course – 2 to 3, and 3 to 4. Both times I headed too far left, going far too high (most mistakes one would assume would be from going too low. I blame my compass) and having to double back both times. These mistakes only amounted to 5 minutes each though and the rest of the course was fine.

My time in the end was 88:30 for a 5.3km course with a most un-English 440m of climb. Now, 16.7 mins/km might sound extremely slow, and on most maps, yes, it would be a disaster. But consider that many of the best runners in Britain were running on the map (it was a FCC and Start race event) and that only one managed to run in less than 10 mins/km, and that puts thing in perspective. In southern England, British champions would typically do 6 mins/km, and I would be happy with 8 mins/km, and disappointed with 10 mins/km. But here in the Trossachs, 16.7 mins/km is just fine, and probably my second best run this year, after the week before. The winner on my course did a 73:43. I reckon I could have made around 78 minutes if I had had a run free from major mistakes – a virtual impossibility in terrain like this.

The Trossachs are possibly the best UK-based training I could have done for my next race: the 38th Annual Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match in Sweden, next weekend. And unlike the Trossachs, the snow is still very much there. Looking forward to it.

I Want to Break Free

Posted by on 5 March 2005 No comments

In 12 hours, I’m off to Scotland, to conquer some personal orienteering demons at an event in The Trossachs, that most Scandinavian of British maps. Orienteering in the Trossachs is always a challenge, and I’ve never successfully completed a course there, let alone got a good time. The course details for tomorrow give a hint of the terrain – the M21L course has 700m of climb (most of the way up a Munro) while the most junior course (J1) is just 800m long – but even then comes with a warning that the difficulty is harder than would be expected for 10 year olds. Looking forward to it.

In two weeks I’m off to Stockholm in Sweden, for the 34th Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Orienteering Match. I’m not expecting to do well, but excellent terrain and a good time is a given – although it’ll be even colder than a frozen London.

In eight weeks, I’ll be back in Oxford for the JOK 18th birthday dinner, and maybe a bit of a punt if it isn’t too cold.

In sixteen weeks, I’ll be in Barcelona for a stag do. Should be nice and warm by then!

In twenty weeks, I’ll be back in Scotland, for at least a week this time, for the Scottish 6-Days at Royal Deeside. I made it to the 6-Days in 1997, 1999 and 2001, but missed the last one. I had a good excuse though – I was in New York.

(Cross-posting between Yablog and Yepsport.)

Odd Orienteering Maps: No. 3 in a series

Posted by on 5 March 2005 No comments

Overuse of the “earth features” symbols, at Irchester Country Park. Almost the entire map, which can be viewed here, is like this.

Irchester

(Suggested by Ian W. I haven’t actually run on this area yet, and don’t own a copy of the map.)