Six Minutes of Separation (Part 1)

(That’s 1/10th of a degree)

Report by the Cap’n

It’s funny how so many words, particularly technical terms, can refer to multiple things. For example when orienteering we rely heavily on a compass, and a compass-as most of you would be aware-is made up of 360 degrees (360°). Basically this amounts to a circle taking you from North (0°), through East (90°), South (180°) and then West (270°) in a clockwise direction. As it so happens each degree is made up of 60 minutes, and each minute made up of sixty seconds. As you’ve no doubt realised this is also exactly the same breakup of our standard measurement of time. Orienteering being a timed sport only helps to reinforce these relationships. And it’s actually relationships I’m wanting to talk about in this review of the first two Runners Shop Twilight events for 2011.

The first event of the year, held at the ANU, was a relationship with water mostly, it had been raining quite a bit you see, and was continuing to do so on and off. As a result there was water on the ground, water in the air and also lots of water in Sullivans Creek, which, ignoring the warning of “cross at your own risk” also meant water in my shoes... The TriHards in attendance were myself (The Cap’n), Mr GPS and Cyborg, all content to continue our attack at whatever the Orange 2 course on the day had to offer. There had been some sort of supply chain glitch apparently so whilst we had maps, there were no control cards, so we punched the sides of our maps instead. Having gotten a park closer than myself, the Cyborg was organised and away first, I wasn’t so lucky and so by the time I’d gone back to the car to ditch my wallet and have a last drink or, you guessed it, water, he was already away. Returning to the start at the edge of South Oval, I found Mr GPS ready to go and so gave him a minute or two’s head start.

Hearing that cheerful little beep from the timing box, I too commenced my journey toward checkpoint 1 by the edge of Sullivans Creek. Easily found without a compass (I didn’t use it for this entire run due to all the buildings providing excellent landmarks) I paused momentarily to consider the warning about crossing the creeks stepping stones, now a couple of inches underwater and then promptly ignored it, hard men of the TriHards and all that ...;-)

Checkpoint 2 was a little further away around the back of the Sports Union and so offered two ways to get there, the slightly longer way following the nice path around the building and then backtracking slightly on the other side or alternatively heading along the creek, through some quite dense shrubbery as it turned out, and straight to the checkpoint. The shrubbery like much of the rest of the day was also covered in water. Once gained, it was a fairly straightforward run to checkpoints 3 and 4. Checkpoint 5 was a little harder, hiding as it was down some stairs and tucked away, but it only slowed me briefly as I skirted some large building project (there’s always one) and headed to checkpoint 6. It was at this point I spied Mr GPS in the distance, the first time I had seen him since the start. Spurred on with the hope I might actually be gaining, rather than just having an unimpeded view for the first time, I arrived at checkpoint 6 shortly after he had left it.

Checkpoint 7 was tucked in a building courtyard and I believe I took the most direct route, but upon gaining it I also noticed a nice set of automatic doors which gave me a straight line out the corner of the building and on to checkpoint 8.

At Checkpoint 9 MR GPS was insight, and maybe I was gaining. As I was arriving, he was departing, perhaps 200 yards ahead and so it was, completely out of breath I arrived at the finish line to find Cyborg and Junior also waiting.

Eager to see the outcome, Cyborg insisted I quickly download my time and see who of us had taken the day. As it turned out I managed to make up a vital 30 seconds on Mr GPS and a staggering 6 minutes on the Cyborg. Whilst generally unenthusiastic about his time, none of us beat Junior as he had undertaken the longer Orange 1 course.

Results - Orange 2 - 2.9km

The Cap’n     23:24

Mr GPS         23:55

The Cyborg   29:34

Junior (Orange1 - 4.2km) 34:57