Hedianga

Well done to Zoe for finishing the Brown course in a decent time and being the first lady. On the Blue, Sarah managed to keep the mistakes down and was the first Junior - about 20 min behind Ian. Salome was nursing an injury apparently and still won the Green. Well done.

Here is the the Blue Course from the weekend. Ian won it and drew in his route. There are also some comments about his decisions and mistakes.

0-1 Started a bit hesitantly. I knew area was complex and didn’t want to mess up first control. Headed NE over the spur into the valley. Up valley and crossed over to other side and ran parallel to ditch until I hit the wall. Turned right along wall to control.

1-2 Followed wall until past thickets. Aimed off across re-entrant and saw boulders ahead. No problems.

2-3 Out on to track. Followed this round until clearing with large trees. Aimed off towards control. No problems.

3-4 Back to track. Ran hard down to bend. Aimed off to knoll. No problems.

4-5 Back to track. Followed round to gap in vegetation. Headed off down the hill and Straight into control.

5-6 Decided to go back to track the way I came in. Along to track bend. Contoured around re-entrant and along far side until fell into niche.

6-7 Down re-entrant and across valley to main track and past start. Able to run pretty hard along track. [Some people saw # 14 but I wasn’t looking on that side of the track !] Cut off to SE and over spur to join path. Along path past rocky outcrop on right. Turned left towards thicket and fell over # 8 !! Checked code and realised that I had misread map. However, once I realised my mistake, I went round thicket to south between thickets and up to clearing without problems. Not a bad route choice in the end but direct route would have saved time if I had been able to navigate properly. [lost 2 min]

7-8 Back the same way so didn’t have to think much. Went slightly too far but no real problem.

8-9 Out to path. Along until on north side of spur. Around up re-entrant and then up slope to control. No problem.

9-10 Out to track. Along and then through open area by ruin. Down slope and came across control much earlier than expected ?

10-11 Back to track and straight across. Headed NW until I hit other track. Along track until junction just past power line crossing. Aimed up hill between thickets and fell straight on to control.

11-12 Exited due west hitting path. Along path until I saw large knoll. Ran up re-entrant north of knoll, across end of wall and straight into control.

12-13 Headed SE down slope. Through area of trees (white) under power line but came too far south and saw fence. Realised I had overshot and contoured back to boulders. [lost 1 min]

13-14 Headed out of control NE down slope. Intended to run between large knoll and spur directly towards control (through semi-open area) However, after crossing track, I ran to the south side of knoll (also through semi-open area). Ended up (I think) on rocky knoll far to far south. Everthing seemed to fit but no control ! Eventually decided to go out on to track and run north, possibly up to junction. However, luckily I saw control from path and relieved to correct my biggest mistake [lost 3 min].

14-15 NW to track junction. Alog track, around bend and then head up slop just after thicket on right. Up re-entrant (not that obvious) and straight on to knoll and control.

15-16 Out to track. Follow track around bend and down hill. Saw thicket on right. Headed down slope and somewhat luckily went straight into control.

16-17 Out to track. Down to bend. Headed north from track bend. Between spur/knoll on left and thickets on right. Across top of small spur. Over larger spur and straight into boulder.

17-18 Headed NE into re-entrant and down hill. Hard down hill until hit ditch. Found path and along looking for wall on right. Not very obvious so overran to path/wall/rocks junction. Back along wall and up to crag. No sign of control – had to get within 1m before I saw it. Very relieved to find it.

18-19 Back to path. Along path, around bend. Boulder was very obvious from path. Control on far side.

19-20 Headed SW knowing that last control was very obvious by track.

Generally a great run with a few minor problems. Probably lost 7-8 minutes in total – perfect run would have been 50-51 minutes. Not having a compass (I left it at home by mistake !!) probably helped as I was forced to read the map. The map is generally excellent the biggest problems being the vegetation which I found iffy in places and the interpretation of rack features.

Laurentia

Rather late than never... here's the Green Course from Laurentia. With a bit of luck I'll try to do the Blue course too.This Green course might not have many options, but I think it is still good to go through the process of planning a leg: looking for route choices, assessing the difficulty of the leg and choosing attack points.

Hedianga will be really interesting. Coming soon

South African team at JWOC 2009

SOUTH AFRICAN AND TURKISH NATIONAL TEAM AT JWOC 2009
06/09/2008

Turkey and South Africa confirmed their partecipation to the next year Junior World Orienteering Championships. We are very glad to host them in our beautiful valley. The number of pre-registered team increase in size.
Posted by giancarlo_simion

Visit JWOC 2009 Website

Bushtrails analysis

Better late than never...
Most of the Juniors were on the Blue Course. Well done to Brad and Salome for outstanding performances over both courses.

Everyone should have drawn their routes on the their maps and had a think about their mistakes. You can compare your routes to what Nicholas would have done. You can also have a look at his notes to see his thought process. Thanks Nic!

One of the aims of this analysis is to make sure you don't make the same mistakes again. This Sunday you get to put it into practise.

Course 1:
S-1 Navigate your way through the buildings, then take a rough compass bearing from the path junction or nearest bend to the control, taking the easiest line across the river. The river is your attack point (AP).
1-2 Two route choices, follow the river or go for the road. My initial choice would have been to run next to the river, but some felling in the forest meant that the road was probably faster!
2-3 Easy crossing point at the gate, which is also your AP.
3-4 Run parallel to the fence until you find an easy crossing point. Keep an eye on the distance to the end of the forest, as this will give you a relative position to the rootstock.
4-5 With such high grass, get out to the path immediately.
5-6 Straight forward, read your control description and look far ahead of you when you are running for the significant tree.
6-7 The route choice to the W of the out-of-bounds is too long, thus you go along the eastern side. At the fence corner, take a rough compass bearing, also keeping an ensuring that you keep the stony ground on your left side. Running along the edge of this stony ground should lead you into the control area.
7-8 Don't assume that you will find an indistinct path easily! Always have a back-up plan, in this case, using the big cliff as your AP. The catching feature should you miss the control is the green hill immediately above the control.
8-9 Not much detail to go on, so play it safe and get to the cliff edge asap. The follow the top of the cliffs into the control. The first re-entrant is your final AP.
9-10 Find the easiest crossing point over the river, then up the hill trying to identify the open grass area between the bare rock. Look into the distance for the significant tree.
10-11 Short rough bearing. Make sure you stay in the open grass area.
11-12 Aim off by getting onto the top of the ridge early, then run down the ridge into the control.
12-13 Get off the stony ground area asap, then contour across the valley, looking at the hill slope to try and identify where the control is.
13-14 Aim off to the right until you are within sight of the fence, then run parallel down to the control, using the distance to the fence as a gauge.
14-15 Try go for a straight line. As you get to the valley, re-orientate, and try identify exactly where the control should be on the opposite hill. Look for the spur and the vegetation on top of it. 15-16 Get down off the hill onto the indistinct track asap. Stay on the track until you reach the edge of the undergrowth, then follow it into the control.
16-17 Try get a visual on what is the easiest route before leaving the control. This will probably be contouring slightly above the undergrowth.
17-18 It is generally easier to climb up a hill in tough rocky terrain on a ridge line, so arc slightly to the south, making use of the spur to reach the top of the hill.
18-19 Start heading off to the NE, until you get in sight of the fence. Then run parallel to the fence at the distance you feel the control will be at. Make a mental note when you pass the hill on the left and when you cross over the fist bare rock section. Then try and identify the rocky area / bare rock just before the control. Use this as your AP.
19-20 Short leg. Try get your distance judgement right here. A good AP is the boulder stuff between the two controls.
20-21 Get onto the small path immediately, then get down into the valley asap. Attack this control from higher up the valley.
21-22 Get onto the top of the cliffs asap. then take a rough bearing to the contol. Use the white forest area just before it as your main navigation aid.
22-23 Identify the fastest route down the hill. This will probably be down the track starting immediately behind the water feature.

Course 2:
S-1 Down the main track to the junction. Then aim off slightly to the right, so you come past the bend in the river first before entering the marsh area.
1-2 Out onto the road asap, then down the track to the fence corner.
2-3 Road and then following the ditch is probably the fastest.
3-4 Finding an easy crossing point in the fence is very important. There will probably be one where the path crosses it. This will also lead you straight into the control. Use the white forest patch to confirm your exact location if the paths aren't too visible.
4-5 Fastest line across the field and back up the side of the fence. From the fence corner, take another rough bearing, aiming off slightly to the left, so that you can run parallel up the ridge line / cliffs into the shallow re-entrant / cliff.
5-6 Contour along the slope, wherever it is easiest to run, probably on the edge of the bare rock / open grassland. You might not see the indistinct track, so keep an eye on the big track approaching on your right when attacking the control. Try and identify the significant tree just before the control.
6-7 Straight up the hill, running for a short while on the track. Try and identify the re-entrant before leaving the track.
7-8 Not much to go on here. Take a rough bearing, looking forward into the distance for the small hill with vegetation on top of it. The line of open grassland behind it serves as a catching feature.
8-9 When you get to the top of the cliffs, stop for a moment and try and read the detail on the other side of the valley. With a bit of luck, you might even see the control.
9-10 Up the hill wherever it is most runnable. When you get to the top, locate yourself on the circular ruin and line of cliffs if you can't already see the pit.
10-11 Straight down the valley. Use the track bend as your AP into the control. Make note of the ditches.
11-12 Finding the indistinct track will be the fastest route option. Leave the track as late as possible before going into #12.
12-13 Back out the same way and across the path.
13-14 Immediately back onto the path again, as you need it to cross the undergrowth in the valley. Follow the path down the left side of the valley, leaving it when it crosses back over the river, where there should be a break in the cliffs to reach the control.
14-15 Stay on the high ground above the cliffs.
15-16 Stay on the ridge line once again until you hit the path, which will be faster running off the hill.
Thanks Nic!