Training Log Archive: jennycas

Event: SA Long Orienteering Championships - Narrinyeri Hills
 

9 hours out there today, starting with unlocking the gate for the coffee van at 7:30am and finishing with locking a different gate at 4:30pm after collecting the last of the model event's mini-flags (I should have had a way of capturing information on how many people actually made use of these...). Because of having a remote start and finish, both across the other side of 100km/hr road from the parking/arena, a lot of signage/taping was required today, but it seems to have all worked out ok, especially as people had to go past the finish on the way to the start and national parks had conveniently cut a gap in the fence at the road-crossing point (for the benefit of an MTB race a couple of weeks ago). And the overnight rain had cleared to a gloriously sunny day.

I'd tried to optimise technical navigation without *too* much physical challenge, and even offered a 65AS class which got reasonable uptake, and although there were still a few long times there were also pretty decent winning times and very few mispunches. Possibly we could have had a 3rd (even shorter) moderate course though...people may have complained about the vegetation but I didn't hear anyone say that any controls were in the wrong place - because they weren't. And actually there was a reasonable amount of complimentary feedback about the courses :)

This weekend's earworm: Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, for all my Victorian friends - I'd so hoped that this event would be the SA/Vic Challenge, but instead it became the SA vs SA Challenge, which was still fairly popular - it's a long time since we had more than 100 people for state champs. I do feel a bit bad that the likely M45 winner inadvertently sabotaged his own challenge by running straight past his last control; in my attempt to make sure that none of the little kids missed seeing where the finish was, I'd made it stand out far more obviously than a mere control flag 100m away!

C • Glorious sunny day 10

Another 7 hours today and now all the controls & water are out, but it was getting dark by the time I'd done the last ones and so I'm very glad of my pre-emptive decision to book a motel in Murray Bridge rather than driving home again (in the pouring rain). Also G is already here, and with him (more important than him?) the club's equipment trailer so in the morning we only have to drive 10 min to set up the tents etc.

C • O 1

C • O 1

Spent about 7 hours at Narrinyeri putting out controls in the thickest scrub where people are least likely to find them in the next 48 hours. People are also very unlikely to find the beautiful little pink sun orchids (Thelymitra) which I nearly stepped on. Vegetation has really dried off in the past few weeks, and it cracked 30 out there today, but at least it clouded over...by the time I'd hung the mini flags for tomorrow's model event I'd more than had enough, but decided to stop in at the top of the national park for a short stagger, and admired more beautiful wildflowers including some donkey orchids (Diuris) which I nearly peed on (TMI?).

C • Least likely to find them... 2

Left work early to go collect the maps from the printer's and thought I'd have time to go for a run afterwards, but I didn't really, because I still needed to finalise the event info while Tyson & AK did the start draw.

Nearly crosseyed with staring at computer screens finalising SA Champs courses for printing, but can't complain about entries being up to 135 people. Annoying that over 30% of them entered in the final 24 hours though - good thing that I extended the closing date from Tues to Wed.

Must have been a few people with tired legs tonight, as Evalin suggested going upriver to the Hackney suspension bridge and running back & forth across it.

8 or 10 sprints back & forth across the bridge, with quite a long rest period in between because we had to wait for all 13 of us to cross it one by one. (Hamstring which has been troublesome for a month but got through the rogaine ok,wasn't too keen on all the bouncing.) Amusement was caused by the pictograph of a human with "10 MAX" written underneath it and which was taken by the junior boys to mean that Max G had some sort of special powers in relation to the bridge, which the rest of us did not. My suggestion that the bridge is a Max-cloning device, as in Calvin's duplicator box, was met with bemusement by the youth of today who've obviously never read the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip.

C • Calvin and Hobbes 1

Predictably slow trot up the hill & back on a warm windy evening.