Annual xmas O novelty event

On Saturday was the annual xmas orienteering novelty event organised by my friend Sarah and her helpers from WITSOC (the university orienteering club). And they totally outdid themselves.

With Sarah. Wearing my xmas socks for the occasion ;)

We started off with four controls that we had to find in order - like regular O.

Then, it was a corridor orienteering task. Here most of the map is deleted to remove all but a ribbon of map. You have to stay within this ribbon (the 'corridor') and along the way there were xmas-themed pictures like a snowman, bells, an angel and such. The location of these pictures is not marked on the map so you just have to stay in the corridor and look out for them along the way.

An angel picture on the corridor O section

I bumped into Brian (peeking on the side), Pat and Evan out on the corridor O section.

The third task was a score-O. There were seven controls that we could find in any order. Two of them had questions. Brian and Timothy were running near me and we all got to their first of the two question controls and couldn't find the sign with the question on it. We went to the next. Again, no question. We were puzzled but knew we were in the right place. Just as we started running off Timothy realised our error - the questions were on our control sheet! So, we went back to the first one and continued from there.

The fourth task was a map memory exercise combined with a multiple choice thing. At the 'start' there was an A4 sheet with a section of map and two controls marked - A & B. Then, there was a question that went something like, "Does Christmas Day fall on a Tuesday or Thursday this year?". And the answer was linked to A or B. Brian and I didn't get it as we thought we had to go to both controls. So, off we went to A. When we got there a sheet said that we were wrong (Thursday) and that xmas was on a Tuesday this year -  a map directed us to control B. Ahhhh! At B there was another section of map with C & D. The question related to a control description symbol - what did the symbol drawn (circle with an 'x' in it) represent... a root stock (tree stump) or man-made feature. We got it and shot off to the correct control.

Pat was with me and Brian at this point and as we left for the root stock he shot off to my right - 90 degrees different to me. At the finish I asked him what he was doing and he blushed - saying that he'd gone in completely the wrong direction. He'd checked the map (remember that this was a map memory exercise so the controls were not marked on the map we were carrying - we didn't even have this bit), noted the road and root stock and shot off up the hill. He got to another root stock and realised that Brian and I were nowhere to be seen. He was quite sheepish (as he should be!).

The course wrapped up with a cone grid. Under each cone was a number and we had to add 'em all up to get the answer. 29. Boom. What fun!

The entry fee for this event is a pressie no more than R40 in value. Then, at prize giving, every person that brought a gift along gets to choose a gift from the table. I got a lovely gift with pecan fudge shortbread and Sally Williams chocolate.

Pressie time!

Well done WITSOC. That has to be one of the most fun O events that I've done. Very creative! Thank you.