Discussion: World's Hardest Night-O'

Here's the the course.

Another masterpiece by JJ.

That's insanity

And here's my route.

Insanity? No more than most other things we do.

I have to agree with Barbie... Course looks touch enough for day-time orienteering... I'd like to see the list of people willingly paid to run that course in the dark...

The list of people will be posted soon on the UNO website. Eight people completed all 12 controls, in times ranging from 84 to 138 minutes. The successful 8 are:
Pavlina Brautigam
Joe Brautigam
Ross Smith
Ernst Linder
John Fredrickson
Peter Gagarin
Chris Edmundson
Barb Bryant
21 others did between 4 and 10 controls.

Was it the world's hardest night-O? Now that it's over, I'd say probably not. In fact, the times were considerably faster than I expected. I think there were three reasons why it wasn't as hard as some other night events:
1) Mass start. Even though there were only 29 people, I think this helped morale early on.
2) Very visible controls. UNO's night controls are quite good, and I added white bicycle reflectors and reflective tape on the punches. I figured that the point of this was to navigate to the control, not to hunt for some tiny thing in the dark. I also hung them nice and high, and kept them out of the thick stuff.
3) Good map. As Peter noted on his log, the hardest night-Os are the ones where the map is bad (e.g. certain Rogaines). Pawtuckaway may be intense terrain, but on the other hand, the map is exquisite, and if you're careful, all the information you need is available to you.

But, Pavlina also mentioned that she did a night-O in Bulgaria once on a plateau covered with depressions that was harder.

Overall, I think this was a success, and something worth adding to the annual Camping Weekend schedule.

It definitely looks tough, but certainly on par (if not easier - because of the huge features such as lakes) with, say, running night-O in Lunsen in a foot of snow...

this should be a good practice prior to tio-mila or Jukola.
nice

It was pretty awesome, but I have to say, the lakes were probably the hardest thing to use for navigation. I could always see them out of the corner of my eye, but as soon as I turned to look my light would illuminate the trees in front of me and hide the lake. I finally learned to turn off my light to see the lake, but even then it was really hard to distinguish exactly where it was, or even which part of it you were at.

The most reliable thing ended up being all the boulders. I have never been more accurate in my navigation at Pawtuckaway then I was during the night-o and that was mainly because I took the time to read and note every boulder along my route and even to go out of my way to hit some of the more prominent ones. It was a really cool experience.

This was tough, but as JJ said, there were a couple of factors that made it a bit easier and definitely increased the fun factor.

1 - Mass start - with a line of headlamps bobbing through the woods ahead of you, the feeling of being part of a train was great and definitely was a help until it started breaking up - for me around control 6. I wouldn't say the speeds were blazing, but much faster than if I'd been out there on my own. My hat's off to John F, who started 45 minutes after everyone else - must have run the whole course solo.

2 - Well reflectorized controls - there was a couple times when I was positive I was looking at someone's headlamp and they'd just stopped to check their map, the reflection was so strong.

Not sure who was in the lead between 3 and 4, but they pulled a lot of us enough right of the line that we got into the marsh. Heard lot's of splashes and some muttering - some of us were in up to our knees...

I'd had enough after 7 controls - the idea of heading into the depths of the Pawtuckaway boulder field in the dark with a questionable ankle was more than I was ready for.

Thanks to JJ for thinking of this and making it happen - I agree this should become part of the regular Camping weekend events.

This was a fun race and one I hope they continue to offer at the camping weekend. Not the most difficult night navigation I have encountered, but one of the toughest night orienteering races for sure due to the speed you could potentially run. I am sure there are places that are much harder than this at night though.

I agree with JF that the lakes were not much help. the one location I used a lake was to find and cross a beaver dam. My attack point was pretty solid, but once I reached the edge I had no idea where I was. I could not see very far with my bright light due to a slight fog. I ended up back tracking to the trail and found a longer route.

I disagree with JF in that I thought it was easier to disregard the many boulders and use just the contours.

But I used every boulder for navigation! Maybe that's why you beat me by so much...

Joe - you were going to run over a beaver dam? where is it on the map? dont they nibble at the power cables of your headlamp?

Congrats to all those who got all 12. Now I feel like a wimp for bailing out after 9, but I was psychically tired out by the experience of checking off every boulder between 8 and 9 and just wanted to go in before I got in trouble. The train wasn't much help to me - they were all gone after #2, but the great control visibility was the key. That and the hatlamp! Thanks, J-J!

afterwards JJ pointed out that the beaver dam had a break in it, but he also noted that it had been used during the day.

I used the beaver dam on Sunday (the beavers have repaired it, and it does continue across now), but I think it was a poor route choice on either course.

Oops, old tread, but I found it now ... it's from the period when I didn't even know about attackpoint's existense .

"But, Pavlina also mentioned that she did a night-O in Bulgaria once on a plateau covered with depressions that was harder. "

Here's the map of the plateau with the depressions ... it's near Shumen in Bulgaria, very popular forest among the Bulgarian orienteers: http://bgorienteering.com/forums/download/file.php...

That link didn't get me to a map, but I did see a page with some words that I can't read very well, like "Информация", which I think transliterates to "Informatia". But nothing that I can click on.

looks like a normal halden night cup...

In subsequent years, we've continued to hold the event at Pawtuckaway, but it's now called the "Wicked Hard Night-O" instead of "World's Hardest Night-O". Still, it's pretty challenging when it's pouring rain and you break your only light at the far end of the course...

He he, I did not know of this site. Looks pretty active and current. The link above needs registration, but there is no obvious way to change the language to english before you register.
I created a user and changed it's language settings.

After following the link above, click "Влез" (Enter) and logon with 'Ususer' / 'password' credentials. Once you are logged on, the link above will work.

The negative terrain there is really unique and unusual for Bulgaria. Very fast, very open woods.

That worked -- thanks!

I remember doing a night O on this map. I was running well until entering the football field of depressions. lost 20 minutes running between them as lights kept streaming past me. I wonder if there are results available somewhere.