Orienteering: Cinderella Dam

This past Sunday was orienteering at Cinderella Dam. I think I last ran there about four years ago.

Again I didn't have an astounding run and I certainly didn't speed over this grassy terrain; I almost landed on my face a few times! Overall my navigation was ok - not spectacular. I did hunt for controls a few times.

Without going into each leg, I'll just mention the bloopses that I made.

Part 1

Going to control #4 I was on target, found the dry ditch and the road... except, I think that I was one vegetation boundary too soon. I'm not completely convinced but this is my only explanation. The road that I found wasn't on the map. I should have used the reeds (green stripes on the map) as a second positioning reference. After a few mins there were a few of us hunting around this same area.

To control #10 I underjudged the distance. There was a small brick building to the west of the pipeline, which I thought would be a useful feature. Except that I thought the black triangle near the "1" of the number 10 was a square. But it isn't, it's a triangle depicting a boulder cluster. so, I stopped a bit too soon, realised my error. I continued straight ahead and hit the control spot on.

Part 2Going to #11 I headed for the stone wall, planning to follow it. Not in the mood or long grass, backjacks and khakibos I turned back up on to the path that was on the ground, but not on the map. Only problem with this kind of thing is judging the distance to leave the path and look for the feature. I judged well when I headed back to the stone wall, reaching the wall about five metres short of the feature.

#13 should have been easy... I did notice the cross-road and the control should have been about 50m from it. I'm quite convinced that the control was a bit sooner than marked on the map. I'm not sure... I did overshoot into the open vegetation and backtracked to the control.

I took an odd route to #15, choosing to run on the dirtroad.

I did mess up #19 - the second last control! I was spot on but didn't see it wedged between two rocks. I saw another control for another course a bit further up, close to the fence. I knew it had to be wrong. I then tookmy position from the marked significant tree, which has a rock next to it and worked back to the correct boulder cluster. Some other guys were also looking around there and as I got to the rock they found it too. Really irritating 'cos it is such a silly error.

The orienteering juniors are organising an event at Heron Bridge school on 16 June, which is a public holiday. As the event is on school grounds the terrain is easy going but navigation could be a good mix of easy and tricky, especially where school buildings, quads and corridors are concerned. 20/21 June is Gauteng Champs - and I do hope I have a better run than what I've had this past month!