The Runners Shop Twilight Series 2010-11

Reports by the Cyborg

I realised something in all the ructions of the TriHards team changes at the start of this season - particularly as Mr GPS and the Capt’n split off to form their own team - I still can’t navigate. With the Shellharbour race looming, and Father Brendan and I as the PANDSI TriHards, I envisaged us spending a day running in circles. Great exercise, but somewhat frustrating!

Then Junior-a navigator of some renown-joined the team and we were saved. Then Father Brendan came down sick and was replaced by Marina - another navigator and racer of some repute. With two excellent navigators we achieved the best result of a TriHards team so far. Well, perhaps second-best - the Canberra TriHards scored a Skins voucher each, that’s probably the best result so far!

However, in terms of race time, placings, and all those things that regular people measure races by (as opposed to adventure, which is the TriHards way!) it was our best result. I’d like to report that we ran like the wind. We swam like fish. We paddled with the clean efficiency and power of a sculling team. And we rode like we were being chased by VB-powered rednecks driving VN commodores. In truth, however, we weren’t moving that fast. We were moving the whole time, at a constant pace. But we weren’t moving all that fast.

We did hit almost all of our controls spot on. There was very little doubling back, and whoever was navigating at the time seemed to have the whole map in their head, or be navigating on the run, but there was no stopping at checkpoints to figure out where to go next.

Knowing that I should work on my navigation skills, I watched the way the pros (Junior and Marina) did it. To my surprise, they didn’t even seem to pull out a compass, just held the map before them and set off! At the conclusion of the race, I asked Junior for some advice on improving my navigation skills, to which he replied along the lines of “Just like everything else, practice.” Then he told me about the forthcoming Runners Shop Twilight Series put on by Orienteering ACT.

So, if you should see a bald man wandering alone and confused in the bush, carrying only a tattered map and maybe a broken compass, on a Wednesday afternoon, it’s probably me. And don’t tell me where the checkpoint is!

About the Twilight Series

The Runners Shop Twilight Series is run by Orienteering ACT and consists of series of 19 orienteering events run on Wednesday night during Spring, Summer and into Autumn.

The courses are cunningly conceived, with some short and easy enough for absolute beginners (such as myself) through to longer, harder courses which will still provide a challenge to more experienced orienteers, yet still have them home in time for dinner.

Four courses are available on the afternoon:

• Blue: Short, and very easy navigation, a great introduction for beginners.
• Green: Slightly longer courses with easy navigation, most checkpoints are located near handrails (roads, fences and the like).
• Orange 2: Intermediate navigation, and about twice as long as the gren course. The navigation in these are about as hard as you might find in an adventure race.
• Orange 1: This is the top level course, the longest and most challenging navigation (though, it's still not incredibly difficult).

You don’t have to be a member to enter, and the people are very, very friendly and quite happy to help. It’s definitely a great way to improve your navigation!

Reports:

• Campbell Park Capers
• Stromlo Scratching
• North No-man’s Land Mt Ainslie
• Weston Park Wanderings
• Rats in the Radford Maze
• Greenhorn in the Grass
• Fun and Frivolity at Farrer
• Black Mountain Blues
• Trails and Tribulations at Taylor
• School Reunion
• Six Degrees of Separation (Part 1)
• Caught in the web
• Six Degrees of Separation (Part 2)