Lettuce's run-mtb-run nav event

 I had the pleasure of doing a run-mtb-run navigation event yesterday morning, hosted by James 'Lettuce' Stewart at his Royston Farm just past Plettenberg Bay. Two friends, Talita and Otto joined me there, and it was a treat to see other friends like Debbie, Jeannette, Christine and John. 

I'm so glad that Otto and Talita are enjoying navigation activities.

A pre-start photo with Debbie. 15 years ago, in the early 2010s, we did a number of the Kinetic Sprint races together. 

We started with a 1km orienteering activity -  a quick loop around the start area to find a number of checkpoints. We then got ready to bike, copying checkpoint locations from a master map on to the Google Earth images provided.

CPs 1, 2, 3 and 4

I decided to hit CPs 1, 2, 4 and 3 first. Otto and Talita made the same decision and we were together through 1 and 2, splitting before 4. I initially thought I'd get #3 first, because it looked like an out-and-back ride from what I could see on the map. Ideally I would have wanted to connect #3 and #7...

They split off first to go to #4; I split a bit later, deciding to get #4 first in case I could take another route from #3... I wouldn't see Otto and Talita until much later.

All was good. Laving #3, I did look for something to the right - like where I've drawn in the yellow dots. I didn't see anything that looked like a trail so I continued on the good dirt road all the way around.

CPs 9, 8, 7, 6... 

Heading east from #2 and looking ahead at route options, I could see what looked like a trail parallel to the highway. Before getting there, I spotted a trail going into the blue gums off the dirt road, so I took it. It worked out well and popped me out on the dirt track. I then took the trail parallel to the highway.

#9 was easy, just off the road.

Going to #8, I planned to take what looked on the map like a track between forest blocks. This is an old map and according to current growth, it doesn't look like this. I saw Jeannette and her teammate here - they had turned around and she said there was no road down the bottom. I checked and turned around too. I did see a ride* in the forest but not knowing quite where it was, I didn't want to chance taking it.

* A ride is a gap in the forest - probably used when planting and later when felling. It is like a row of missing trees. Good for travel.

I rode around instead and as it turned out, the CP was on what was probably the same ride, so my possible route from the other side would have worked out.

#7 was straightforward.

Then on to #6, which was labeled as a tree on single track. I got the CP and then decided to stay on the single track to see where it went. I knew it would hit the dirt road that I could see at some point. It hit the dirt road before the dog leg - all good, I knew exactly where I was.

This is where the fun starts

The actual map is printed a bit darker. I've bumped the brightness up to see more in these images.

Riding on the open forest road from 6, I spotted a trail off to my left (north), which gave me two route options.

The first was to ride back the way I'd come (green arrows), past #9, on the trail parallel to the highway and then to CPs #10 and #5. This was safe and quick.

I looked at the control description for #5 and it said 'Sneaky path'. To me, this suggested that James was indicating a trail that connected the ridge that #5 was on with the ridge which #6 was on (yellow dotted line is what I hoped for). As I could see a clear trail going down, I figured it would be worth a try.

The trail snaked down and at the bottom - next to a stream, I could go left and right. I chose to go left, which was a clearer, more used and worn trail. Should have gone right. haha haha

The trail was spectacular riding with dozens of bridges to facilitate the trail criss-crossing the stream. I loved the mosses on the trees and logs and rocks, gentle rocky stream, meandering trail, sufficiently wide bridges and interesting rocky cliffs. After about 1km, I did think it would be worth turning back to try the right-hand option, but as the trail was really fabulous, clearly new and that James had mentioned a new trail, I figured it had to turn up at some stage to get out of the valley to return to Royston Farms.

I kept riding and knew I was far down but the trail was awesome. Eventually it started to climb out. 

The pink trail that I've drawn in is my estimate of where I was. I do have a Strava track that I'll capture once I finished writing this. A 'game' that I enjoy post event is to draw in where I think I was...

Thinking that my friends Talita and Otto were probably long at the finish, I sent a whatsapp to Talita to say that I was fine and that I'd taken a trail in the valley but that I was climbing up now.

She replied to say that she thought they had done the same.

Not 100m later, I found them ahead of me! 

Back on the ridge, we cycled to #5 then #10 and to the finish-transition.

I told James that I'd ridden the 'Trail of 100 bridges'. He looked at me quizzically for moment and then laughed, saying I'd now be hiking it from the other direction. Haha haha.

Joined by Otto and Talita, we set off, running and hiking the route we'd done in reverse, this time continuing on the right-hand trail.

Another funny trail

We got the 3rd and final hiking checkpoint #3 and turned around to get back on the trail. I expected a forest boundary and I'd seen a track where I have the dotted yellow line when we'd ridden from #5 to #10. I expected the trail we were on to merge or intersect. I either missed it or it wasn't there and so we followed a very good footpath that meandered. We cut through the forest, hitting the road in front of the finish.

Our final activity was walking across a swinging balance beam, and then to the finish.

James cooked us egg-and-bacon breakfast buns - I just had two expertly fried eggs, and we got a slab of chocolate each - it was Easter Sunday after all.

This is my actual Strava track.

33km logged

The new trail through the valley is an MTO trail - they are doing the trail building. It is superb - I'm really glad that I did ride - and hike - it. 

This was a really super morning out - good fun and wonderful exploration.  

See it (from the air), find it (on Google Earth)

 I flew to Jo'burg last week and returned to George on Tuesday evening.

I've always enjoyed identifying features seen from the air, especially as the plane is on its way up or down when you can see clearly, to gauge my location and orientation.

On the flight out, I spotted some interesting trails just outside of George. I also recognised Oudtshoorn in the far distance and then De Rust, the farm I spent four days visiting a few weeks ago, the Meiringspoort Pass and some other features that I had recently 'flown above' on Google Earth.

Our flight path took us past Parys - my old home town - and then almost following the N1 highway. I identified the Walkerville hills, Turfontein race track, Wemmerpan, my old home suburb in Jo'burg, Linksfield Ridge, my uncle's suburb and other locations as we flew north and then banked sharply to land from the northern 'Denel' side of the airport.

That night, I took to Google Earth to locate some interesting river features (SE of Parys) that I'd seen as well as those trails to the west of George.

On the flight in, there was clear air below the clouds on the approach to enjoy views of the Outeniqua mountains that surround George. Again I took to Google Earth and enjoyed a new game of matching a Google Earth view to my photographs taken from the air.

Check these out...

I was on the western side of the plane so while I didn't have the best light with the sun outside the window, I did get to see super features.

The Google Earth view. Hard to nail the perspective exactly but pretty neat anyway.

In this second view we have the Sentec tower, George Peak (foreground), Craddock Peak (behind) and the Montagu and Outeniqua passes on the left.

Google Earth view of the above photo.

What a blast! A very nice new game to play for the next - and every - time I fly.

Navigation training for the military skills guys

I had a blast last week Wednesday when I hosted a navigation training session for the five guys (four competitors plus coach) going over to the Military Skills competition abroad - they leave this week.

As I've been out of the local orienteering scene since I moved to Parys, I've kept myself busy with mapping the Forest Run area, the local primary school, a section of the Vaal River (for paddle-O) and assisting with the annual rogaining event, which was held out here last year and will be out here again this year. I've had a break for a while and so I was delighted to be recruited by the reservists to plan a training session for them.

I set them a 13km as-the-crow-flies course. Not too difficult, not too easy. The idea behind it was for them to get some practice reading contours and to get into the scale. The terrain can be challenging enough. During the event they compete in teams of three; the competitive trio covered 18 kilometres - they made one big error which cost them distance and time.

The other pair took it steady and had excellent navigation - bar a bad decision that saw them bashing through vegetation and totally missing the lovely path to their right.

I thoroughly enjoyed planning the event for them and also being out there looking for them. A really good day in the office is one where your desk isn't behind a computer.

Teambuild at Otters Haunt

I love watching people new to navigation get it right. Their eyes shine with satisfaction - the reward of completing something new and challenging. And discovering that they can find their way to any destination. Without a voice-assisted satellite navigation device.

I had the fortune of being roped into assisting with a teambuild event at Otters Haunt, a lovely place just outside of Parys (less than 5km from town). It is owned by Karen and Graeme Addision. Otters Haunt lies on the Vaal river and has a section of river front with access to islands - by wooden bridge if the river is low or by kayak if it is high. They have a number of chalets and accommodation options for guests. It is a friendly and tranquil place. It is also where my feline friend, Ribbons, the most massive cat I've had the pleasure of meeting, lives.

Me and Ribbons - about two weeks ago.

The Addisons offer a variety of activities from rafting and kayaking to tours of the Vredefort Dome. They have also facilitated a bunch of other events and were contacted by a university group about a teambuild. Graeme gave me a shout, knowing that I'd have some ideas.

The section of Otters that guests get to see is the river side; but the property also extends for almost a kilometre on the other side of the tar road. I headed out there and took a walk around - I'd never been on this side either. Using an aerial image for the background (thank you Dylan), I overlaid tracks and some details to create a decent map. We printed it at around 1:4,500 on an A3 page. This gave us a long, skinny map - the property is far longer than it is wide.

About 1/4 of the map

In the field we had 16 checkpoint - each with a different point score - and four activity stations. With the river running high and the bridges to the island inaccessible, we cancelled the 5th activity station (A) and another two checkpoints.

For the event, the participants had a limited time (1h15) to visit the four activity stations (compulsory) and they could choose, with the time available, which of the checkpoints to get. Highest point score wins. Total distance, if they got everything, was around 4km.

We had around 84 participants - in pairs for the event. A bunch of Parys locals who manned the activity stations and assisted in guiding the pre-event cone grid, which gave the participants a basic map orientation skill to help them during the event. Nikki, Kevin, Marcelle, Graham, Louis and two young river guides were on hand to help, take photos and to run the activity stations.

The participants did far better than I expected and it was a pleasure to see them really running around and aiming to get all of the checkpoints, which a few pairs did! It was hot and humid and still they totally rocked the activity. The event ticked over smoothly and on time, getting the participants back on their bus and back to Potch and off to catch flights to other provinces in good time.

My next mission is to turn this into a proper orienteering map. This will make for a fun and local orienteering event.

Photos of the event taken by Graeme and Nikki.

The Munga Trail launched

Adventure racers are perfectly suited to Alex Harris' new The Munga Trail event. They can keep going for ages and many can navigate. OK, so navigation for this event is GPS based, but still.

Here's the low-down:

Venue is Lakenvlei Forest Lodge (10km from Belfast – on the Belfast-Dullstroom road) to Blyde River Canyon.

400km non-stop foot event. Five race villages (70-80km apart) where runners can sleep if they want, grab a shower and hot food that we’ll supply. Dedicated water points 20-30km apart. 10 in total.

Terrain includes about 25km veld running and about 150km single track and trails. Jeep tracks, forestry roads and some district roads will make up the rest.

Navigation by GPS and rudimentary MUNGA route markings at major turning points. GPS track issued two weeks before the start.

The race will start on 19 April 2017 at 12 noon at Lakenvlei Forest Lodge and finish at 12 noon on 24th April in the Blyderiver Canyon – the 3rd largest canyon on earth. Runners will navigate district roads, forestry roads, jeep track, single track and some virgin veld. More than 85% of the route will be exclusive to the race.

The cut-off time limit is 120 hours, and the winners are expected to finish between 60 and 70 hours. They will not be allowed any additional outside assistance i.e. no support crew.

Entries are now open. Early Bird entry fee is R12,000 until 31 October 2016. Thereafter R 15,000. Entries close end February 2017. Limited to 100 runners.

Of course there is much chatter about the entry fee. Please read the post I wrote a while back about entry fees. I hope that this adjusts your perspective on what goes into an event and why fees are what they are. Sure, it is a lot of money to spend to enter, but this isn't more than what you'd spend on many other events and when you consider the logistics and a field that is limited to only 100 runners... This will be a high profile event, media and all the bells and whistle... They cost.

You have two choices; enter, or don't.

From Alex Harris you can definitely expect top quality in planning and execution.

If you wanna keep tabs on this event, Like their FB page The Munga Trail. I most certainly have!

And if you're doing it and you need navigation skills help, call me.

Navigation coaching dates for August

Hi Navigators-to-be,

Thank you for being so patient while I find my feet in my new home. I've been busy with creating a map to use for navigation training - and it is looking fabulous.

I had a most wonderful day yesterday teaching navigation skills to a group from the outdoor-based post-matric 'school', Warriors. I had a group last year, in Jo'burg, and so I was delighted to receive a call from them again a few weeks ago asking me to teach their new group how to navigate. With a fixed date, this was the kick I needed to explore the area more - looking for checkpoints - and to tweak my map.

I did skills and activities with them in the morning and later in the afternoon we headed out for a bushy practical session. This area, being highveld bush terrain, is far more challenging than Delta Park and so I was super-super-super impressed with this group of 19/20 year olds yesterday afternoon. As far as challenging, precise navigation goes, this ticks all the boxes. And they got it! I felt like a proud mother hen watching them in action.

I have TWO DATES for you (minimum 6 people, max 12):

·         TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2016 (public holiday, Women's Day)

·         SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2016 (plus Sunday morning GPS activity)

VENUE: Thabela Thabeng, in the Vredefort Dome (near Parys). It takes me 25-30 minutes in my VW Polo to get to Thabela from my home in Parys. Parys is less than 90-mins from Jo'burg. Thabela has lovely chalets and also a Youth Hostel (my group yesterday stayed in the hostel - it's around R100pppn). www.thabelathabeng.co.za

TIME: 09h00 to 16h00. It is very chilly in the early morning at the moment but by 9am it is much-much improved.

COST: R350 for the full day. For the additional GPS morning, plus R100.

COURSE CONTENT

In the morning we'll cover the fundamental skills: map orientation by features, thumbing, scale-proportion-relationships, pacing, contour lines, compass use (map orientation plus direction of travel).

After lunch, we'll head into the bush for a technical activity where all of these skills will need to come into play.

I know there are a bunch of people looking for GPS assistance. I assume you'll want to know things like following a track, putting in co-ordinates and using the 'Go To' function?

Let me know:

·         what kind of GPS you have

·         what event you want to do, and

·         if you know, what GPS content the event provides i.e. gpx file with a track, a file with waypoints or coordinates

ACCOMMODATION

Thabela Thabeng is a great place to stay - and it is our host venue too. They have a variety of chalet options both on their property and the one next door. Their chalets range from 2-sleepers to 4, 6 and even a 10-sleeper house. Depending on the size of the chalet and number of people, rates would range from R270 to R495 per person per night. These are all self-catering chalets.

If you're not planning a romatic getaway with your partner/family, I'll be happy to coordinate participants to share a chalet.

NOTE:

If you're keen to come through for the Tuesday, 9 August, I'd recommend staying over on the Monday night. Usually bookings are two nights minimum but as it is a public holiday in the week, they're fine for us to book just the Monday night.

If you plan to come through on Saturday, 20 August, this will fall under the 2-nights minimum so you'll stay the Fri and Sat nights. That's why I suggest the Sunday morning for GPS skills. We'll be done by noon.

CATERING

The chalets are all self-catering. There is also a great spot 4km down the road in the historic village of Venterskroon. I used the Venterskroon Inn as my start/finish venue for my Forest Run. They make delicious food. Nice for Saturday night dinner and Sunday lunch.

For lunch during the nav course, pack in some sammies and snacks and we will have a quick 30-minute picnic.

CLOTHING

Dress appropriately for activity and the weather… Hat, shades, water bottle, backpack (for putting in your layers of clothing as you strip them off). Of course, takkies. You won't be running - the focus is on navigation, not exercise.

OTHER THINGS TO BRING

• A pen and a clipboard.
• If you have your own compass, bring it. I do have compasses for you to use if you don't have one. Please don't go out and buy one for the course. Rather buy later once you know what to look for in a compass.
• Lots of enthusiasm and energy :)

RSVP

Please let me know by noon on Thursday, 3 August if you're in for the 9th.

Please let me know by noon on Tuesday, 16 August if you're in for the 20th.

Payment confirms your place.

Email me at lisa@ar.co.za

Brown squiggly lines bring bliss

I know how to use OCAD - orienteering map-making software. I'm not the most proficient nor practised as I don't map very often - and I haven't mapped any seriously tricky terrain. I've modified other people's maps and I've drawn my own maps of schools and a park. I'm busy with my first river map (mapping the bank features and islands) and a map of a primary school here in Parys.

My next project is to create a basic orienteering map for Forest Run. It serves a couple of functions:

• A hand-out to introduce participants to the delights of a map and knowing where you are. Yes, the route will be fully marked, but I like to think that runners may enjoy knowing where they are. Of course they can tuck it into their backpacks and leave it there...
• A guide for my marshals (many of whom are orienteers) to get to their marshalling points - and for sweeping the route.
• For safety: this special version for my marshals and medics will show escape routes and accesses.
• The start of a wonderful map for technical, long-distance orienteering events and for rogaining, a long-distance, time-limited form of orienteering - my favourite-favourite.

For now, this will be a really simple map - I'm short on time and a complex map is not required just yet.

In order to create an orienteering map, one needs a base map. We generally use orthophotos, which have been corrected for distortion and they carry contour lines, which indicate elevation and topographical features. Google Earth screen shots do work - for small areas - but there are no contours. 

Fortunately, being in the modern age, we can get digital aerial imagery and also digital contour lines; both of which can be georeferenced and imported into OCAD.

I've never had experience with this.

Until today.

OMG! My heart runneth over with bliss. And I can give full credit to Stephanie, who supplied me with the necessary files - all beautifully georeferenced and ready to go. Sarah R and Paul were also on hand, offering assistance - thank you. Nic, with his OCAD experience, got me to the final stage of success tonight - getting my GPS track in.

And so it was that I successfully imported the contour line file. With counsel, I got the background images in (13 x image files at 285MB each!). And I've just experienced the joy that comes with importing a gpx file and successfully positioning it so that my track for the routes is in the correct place. Oh, what joy!

Now the work starts - to turn these squiggly lines into something that can be read and interpreted. 

Rogaining in some rain

On Saturday I ran in the annual foot rogaining event with my friend Sarah. We ran together a few years ago at the Kaapschehoop rogaining event and teamed up again for this one at one of my favourite places, Lakenvlei - the same place where I host Forest Run.

We drove through from Jo'burg on the morning of the event, especially as it was only starting at 10am and was set at six-hour duration. Other years the events have usually been eight hours (there is also a half-duration course on offer too).

We started in the rain and choosing what to wear before the start was difficult. It wasn't freezing cold and when you run you get hot - quickly. Wearing waterproof jackets keeps you dry (from the rain, but not from sweat) but you get hotter quicker. Wearing a shell, the wind is kept off and you stay warm; but you're likely to get wet because shells really are just wind and splash proof.

We went with our long-sleeve thermal tops and shells. And the balance was spot-on.

Fortunately the rain stopped at about 90-minutes in and although there were moments in this time when we were chilled in the wind, we had the benefit of protection from the trees when running inside the forest.

I didn't take much in the way of photos this year - the rain and damp being a factor as well as not having my happy-snappy race camera on hand (the battery charger is AWOL - and the battery is flat!).

Me and Sarah at control #70

The objective of rogaining is that you've got a limited time (six hours) to collect as many POINTS as possible. This doesn't meant that you need to visit as many checkpoints as possible but rather that you must assess the allocation of points to each checkpoint (20 to 50) and then choose an appropriate route that gets you the most points in the available time. Of course this also depends on how fast you can run and how well you can navigate.

When we got our maps and looked at the checkpoint locations, there was no doubt that we needed to hit the North of the property. The controls in the South were further spread and the points there were not anything magical to lure us that side.

We started out from Lakenvlei Forest Lodge and around the dam to our first control #85. If you look at the map you'll see two numbers at each control location. The first is the control number; the second is the points value for that control.

To guide you as to the direction/route we took... #85, #94, #51 etc and finishing with  #112, #113, #33, #63 and home.

In rogaining, we know that we're not going to get all of the controls. So, selecting a route is as much about which controls we're going to get as which ones we're going to leave out. We decided to leave out #43 and #79 as they were 'awkward' to get.

Michele and Cindy were our female pair competitors and they went in the opposite direction to us. Some of the order in which they got some of the controls differed - and they got the two that we left out.

Michele and Cindy's route. They clocked 35.2km

By the time we reached #112, we still had an hour left. So we ate some munchies and hit the last three controls - totally not in a rush. We didn't have too many other options available for the homeward sweep as more weighted controls were too far away. We finished with 15 mins to spare - and just as the drizle began again.

We were happy with our route and run but most certainly bow to Michele and Cindy's superior route.

We skipped the mountain bike rogaine the next day as we both had commitments - this is also excellent fun.

This rogaine event only comes up once a year and is always one of my most-looked-forward-to.

My thanks to Ian Bratt, Glen Terry and their team of people from Rand Orienteering Club who put out and collected the control flags. They put in a lot of work for a very [too] small crowd of enthusiastic participants.

And extra special thanks to Sarah for a really super day out there with her.

How far is close?

This afternoon a Cape Town friend posted on Facebook asking us, his Jo'burg friends, to recommend a venue for a teambuild he's hosting. He specifies "The nearer to the airports/Sandton area, the better" and "Must also have about 10km of trails or small dirt roads on the estate".

A couple of friends recommended Avianto, a venue regularly used for adventure sprint races, trail runs, mountain bike rides and the like. They have the infrastructure to accommodate his large group and the venue is pleasant.

One of the friends, with a connection to the venue, replies "...we are close to lanseria airport, and not far from Sandton".

While I agree that they're well placed for access from Lanseria, they're not anywhere near Sandton. I asked Google Maps to draw me a driving route from Sandton Gautrain Station to Avianto. The optimal option is around 32km. While that doesn't sound too far, when you factor in traffic... It will certainly take over an hour to get from one place to the next - around the same time it takes me to drive the 124km from home to Parys.

A friend recently took two hours to drive the 12 kilometres from Cresta to Sandton CBD!

Let's take a look at a map with OR Tambo, Sandton, Lanseria and Avianto indicated.

There's a Gautrain from OR Tambo to Sandton... but no venues that quite fit the bill (depending really on what my friend wants to do on the property).

Lanseria is a very good proposition and there are transport services that can be booked to transport arrivals to Avianto.

But to fly in to ORT, take the Gautrain to Sandton and then drive from there to Avianto... Ja, they may as well come to Parys. Only 1h30 from ORT airport and on the Vaal.

This geographical blackhole reminds me of when I did the English Teaching course two years ago. The lady says to me that the venue is in Randburg. I asked for the address.

I remember telling her that she possibly paid her water bill to the greater Randburg muncipality but that Ruimsig was nowhere near Randburg (20km apart)!

There's close and there's close. When you've got traffic lights out, loadshedding, accidents and overloaded, congested roads, 10-kilometres is far, especially considering the time spent on the road.

Close, for me, is 5-15 minutes. OK is 30 minutes and 45-min to an hour is far.

A Google Earth challenge book

I love Google Earth. A few years ago I had a monthly challenge on my www.AR.co.za site where I'd fly around and look for a location. I'd look for something identifiable - with features-vegetation-geology that would be distinctive and aid participants in identifying the location. It was good fun.

On Tuesday I was on a mission to find birthday gifts for children. I'm practical so clothing and books or something activity-related are my top choices.

At the mall they had one of those book sales, where books are spread on tables in a big open court at the mall. I began browsing.

They had a superb selection of children's books and a better selection of children's reference books - dinosaurs, insects, space, how things are made, science, human body and the like. I picked up a lovely, thick science reference for the 10-year old. Kyla is showing good strength at school and interest in geography and biology - after my own heart.

For the seven-year old I picked up a fun sticker book and a Mr Men book.

And then I saw it. "The Great Global Puzzle Challenge with Google Earth". Only R85 (R135 on Loot).

While I have officially bought it for the seven-year old, Ruben, the reality is that I actually bought it more for myself. To do with him..

It is hardcover, a good big size, not very thick and the illustrations inside are divine.

Each double-page spread is a location - cities like London, New York, Tokyo and sites like the Great Barrier Reef, Himalayas and the Amazon.

You type in coordinates on Google Earth to go to the locations. Once there the page has interesting information on the location and a second coordinate for a specific feature / landmark to visit. There are also items to find on the book page and it is great fun searching the illustration for these as well as a historic and geographic 'misfit' - like the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the New York picture.

This book is a gem and I hope it will be a fun introduction for children to the wonders of Google Earth.

More Summer Series events

My club, Adventure Racing Club, has three weekly Summer Series events coming up; the first on Wednesday 28 January 2015.

I organise these events with friend and club-mate Garry.

These are really fun one-hour events that take in the beauty of Delta Park, a wonderful open parkland expanse in the middle of Johannesburg.

Although we often vary the format of each of the weekly events, the general idea is that you get a map at the start and on the map a bunch of checkpoints are marked. You either have to locate all of them or a defined number of checkpoints (in any order) within the one-hour time.

What this means is that people run like crazy chickens all over the part, each person choosing their own route and which checkpoints they want to visit in any order. Navigation is pretty easy so no special skills are needed.

This is a family-friendly event and I look forward to seeing more children (they get free entry!) and newcomer adults at the events.

Metrogaine, novelty O, nav coaching and cultivating young orienteers

Tomorrow night is the last Metrogaine event for the year. This is by far the most difficult course planning that I've undertaken. The area is challenging with the road closures (restricts the flow of the course and makes sections unusable) and using a Scatter-ScoreO format (as opposed to the rogaining format Metrogaine is based on).

This meant a smaller area and a lot of juggling of control placements to get specified minimum distances on the courses. It's fun to have my course planning powers completely and utterly stretched and exercised. Tomorrow night the proof, of course, will be in the eating of the pudding that is Metrogaine when the participants set out to spend 90-minutes on my map.

On Sun 7 December I'm looking forward to the annual Xmas orienteering event. It's always a novelty-style event and this year it is at that paintball place off the N1. Entry fee is a gift (labelled men, women, child) to the value of R40. You hand it in at registration and during prize giving you receive one. It's good fun.

I'm also excited about doing some navigation coaching on the 6th with bunch of sporty, adventure racing women (and I think one guy). I always enjoy coaching sessions and I think this group will be a hoot.

I'm in the process of setting up a new Orienteering Schools League (OSL) for schools in eastern Jo'burg. On Monday I'm coaching a teacher's workshop. I did one in October (in our northern OSL area) and the teachers were superb and enthusiastic. The response for the workshop hasn't been great - but the timing is not ideal for everyone with year-end, exams and marking. Three geography teachers are confirmed and I look forward to exploring opportunities to align orienteering with map-related syllabus components - for practical map reading experience that will make maps 'real' and fun.

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of putting two children through one of my orienteering cone grid games -  a six-year old boy and a nine-year old girl. I've never done cone grids with a child as young as 6. He nailed map orientation within a few minutes of being shown what to do and he got addicted, trying grid course after grid course. This weekend I'll try them on a 4x5 grid... and maybe a 7x7 grid too. Yes, they're totally being cultivated.

(Download the grid cards and instructions for Counting Coloured Cones and give it a try too.)

Maps, maps, maps... there's navigation opportunities everywhere!

Night navigation coaching session (Tues 22 July)

NIGHT NAVIGATION: Tues, 22 July 2014

You know how it goes. A friend says, "Let's get together for coffee". And then a year passes...

Once my navigation coaching routine from March / April got out-of-sync with the April/May public holidays, our National Orienteering Squad coaching weekend and then Expedition Africa and then Metrogaine... Well, my AR-style nav coaching sessions went a bit like that coffee arrangement. They didn't happen.

Over the Easter weekend I was involved with our youth, junior and senior orienteering squads and in addition to coaching I participated in a fun relay event (daylight) and a night O. Running through those forests in the pitch-black night... I'm still tingling with delight! I had the most superb, spot-on run. Not everyone did.

Navigating at night is a totally different game. It can be stressful but it can also be good fun - if you know where you are.

In low visibility conditions (night, forests, vegetation, fog) your compass is key. You need to know how to use it and trust it. Your map orientation also has to be spot-on and you've got to keep distance judgement in mind too, especially for technical controls.

"How do I navigate at night?" is a question I often hear from my navigation students and adventure racers.

On Tuesday, 22 July 2014 I'll give you some of the tools that will see you through the night. Of course practice-practice-practice is also key. Practice in daylight hones your skills; practice at night builds your confidence.

Date: Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Venue: Delta Park. Use the parking off Pitcairn Road (near the intersection with Penelope Avenue)

Session 1: 17h00 to 17h45: Compass use (orientating map with compass; direction of travel)
Session 2: 18h00 to 19h00: Practical activity

Cost: R50/session

To bring:

• Headlamp
• Warm clothing
• Base-plate compass (I have got a number of compasses available for your use if you don't yet have your own compass)

If you walk/run with a mobile app (or other device) that tracks your movements by GPS, I'll gladly give you feedback on your route choices.

Please book, don't just rock up. Payment confirms booking and map printing. And also gives me an idea of numbers so that I know how many other coaches to pull in.

Note that this is NOT an event or race. It is for the express purpose of coaching compass and night navigation skills.

We (Adventure Racing Club) are cooking up a Night Series for summer (similar but different to our Summer Series which we held earlier this year). You can race then.

I hope to see you on the 22nd.

Lisa

lisa@ar.co.za

P.S. If you have not yet considered entering the annual foot & mtb rogaining event on the weekend of 26/27 July, please give it some thought. Phone me if you have questions about it. Navigation and strategy in one event. www.roc.org.za/rogaine.

Navigation coaching: Dates and times

Navigation Coaching

For adventure racing, orienteering and trail running

Finally... I know... After four weeks of AR Club's Summer Series at Delta Park, five weeks of the Orienteering Schools League and Forest Run at the beginning of March... now I'm ready to look at nav coaching again.

Below I've included a table of dates and times and sessions.

	Morning	14h45-15h45	16h00-17h00	Evening	Venue
Sat, 22 March				O EVENT	Houghton Golf Estate
Sat, 29 March		Session 1	Session 2		Delta Park
Sat, 5 April		Session 2	Session 3		Delta Park
Sun, 6 April	O EVENT				Nirox Sculpture Park
Sat, 12 April		Session 3	Session 4		Delta Park
Sat, 26 April	Session 4 Session 5 (ALL)				Delta Park
Sat, 3 May		Session 6			Groenkloof
Sun, 4 May	O EVENT				TBC (probably TUKS)
Wed, 7 May				Session 7	Rivonia
Sat, 10 May		Session 8			Venue TBC

• Session 1: Map orientation; map familiarity (colours and symbols)
• Session 2: Map orientation; scale and proportion; Lisa's 'purple circles' (intro)
• Session 3: Map orientation; thumbing and folding; 'purple circles' (self)
• Session 4: Route choice; compass use
• Session 5: Course running (all invited) (incl. route tracking feedback)
• Session 6: Understanding contour lines
• Session 7: (indoor, theory session) Understanding topographical maps (true vs magnetic, colours and symbols, prepping maps) - for adventure racers
• Session 8: The great outdoors - putting it all together

PLEASE NOTE
Sessions are R100pp. Payment in advance of session by EFT. No refunds. All materials (take-home maps, compasses (to borrow), activity sheets) provided unless specified. Each session is followed up with an email to remind you of what you have learned. Other experienced coaches may be pulled in to assist - depending on numbers of participants per session.

• Sessions are progressive.
• Date options are provided and participants my attend double sessions (i.e. Session 1 and 2 on the same day).
• Sessions 5 is to give you some 'real' quick-thinking experience. If you run with a GPS tracking unit (GPS, cell phone etc), I'll gladly give you route-choice feedback by email after looking at your track.
• Sessions 6 and 8 are again progressive.
• Session 7 is in place to get participants in tune with 1:50,000 topographical maps. I'll guide you in apply skills learned on orienteering maps and in a small area to topo maps (relevant for adventure racers, not relevant for orienteers).
• Session 8 is specifically for adventure racers and a good challenge for everyone else. It brings everything together in a setting that will challenge your newly learned skills.
• Homework (online) will come into play from after Session 3.

The events highlighted are not compulsory but they are (very) highly recommended.
Note that the Houghton Golf Estate event on Saturday night is pre-entry ONLY (by Thursday night).

People who have done Session 1 or 2 (November or December last year) are welcome to jump in at Session 2 or 3 respectively.

 The challenge is always that not everyone will be able to make all sessions. I've aimed to provide options and I've gone with Saturday afternoons as weekends are often jam-packed with events, family commitments and such. Saturday afternoons 'should' have the least clashes... Note that the sessions on Saturday, 26 April will be in the morning as I'm on a course in the afternoon.

The idea is for you attend to the sessions from 1 to 8; they have been created to be progressive, building on what you have learned.

Note that if you skip a session, I will not be able to go back to teach you what you may not know. With limited time and other people in the session, who have attended the previous session, it is just not possible. You'll just have to pick it up as you go along. Or recruit a friend to join you so that at least one of you is at every session - you can teach each other.

If you would like to book a place on any of the sessions, please do so (with EFT) by noon on the Thursday before the session so that I have sufficient time to print materials. Bookings only confirmed with EFT. You can contact me on 082 936 2509 or lisa@ar.co.za. I'll provide you with details.

I look forward to helping you to become an efficient and capable navigator.

 Lisa

 About Lisa de Speville
Lisa has been orienteering, adventure racing and trail running for almost 15 years. She has navigated in adventure racing since she started the sport (1999) and her favourite orienteering variation is the time-limited, point-score rogaining events (she has done two international 24-hour events - Estonia and Ireland). Lisa organises short, urban events based on this format - Metrogaine Jo'burg.

 Lisa has been teaching map and navigation skills to adventure racers since 2002 and in this time she has trained over 800 adults and teenagers. She heads up the South Africa Orienteering Federation's school sport development programme, writing coaching material for schools. Between October 2012 and September 2013 Lisa completed her British Orienteering Federation Level 2 coaching qualification. She doesn't go anywhere without a map.

 Feedback from participants on Lisa's most recent courses (April, May and November 2013)

A note from Jess on Session #1:

Thanks so much for yesterday! :) learnt a lot and its amazing what a difference the simpler things that you can do can make (things I didn't know before).

An email from Kim:

I have dabbled a little in orienteering, but you have made a whole lot of stuff a lot clearer for me. I especially enjoyed the compass work (after I figured out how to use a compass, thanks for this!) & I enjoyed the tasks you made us do, the 'purple circle' tasks were very beneficial too. Another task I REALLY enjoyed was when we had to memorise the maps & go off in search of our cones. This was so much fun & showed us just how much we 'assume' along the way. Funny how I 'knew exactly' where the next cone was only to be totally surprised when I got there! You explained everything very well & were super patient with all of us. The Kloofendal orienteering was the toughest for me, but I managed to find all the checkpoints on my own, except the last one where myself & Mike teamed up but still could not find it! I probably found the compass work to be the most beneficial to me, purely because this was something I have never attempted before. 

And feedback from Trudey:

I have been on another training course in the past and I must be honest did not feel I learnt much – was not really ‘user friendly’ - if I can call it that. I honestly learnt a lot on your course – what truly worked for me was the following: · Keeping your finger on your position at all times when travelling · PURPLE CIRCLES RULE!! Thanks for that. · Contour lines ie: saddle vs gully etc – now I can identify them · Advantage of going to the highest point to getter a ‘clearer picture’ · The whole compass thing – total understanding & wow, what a difference I really enjoyed every week of training with you – you not only made it informative but fun too.

From Matthew:

Just a quick note to say that I thought your course was superb. You are a born teacher. I didn’t get to chat to you on Saturday because I had to leave quite quickly. But I actually found the activity rather difficult – I think my biggest problem was I had no idea how to use the compass (that's what happens when you miss sessions!). All in all I can see the key is experience!

A note from Wim:

Thank you for a most enjoyable course. After five weeks I feel that I really have learnt a lot but still need a lot of practice to become anywhere near competent. When I started, I didn’t know how much I didn’t know and I thought I knew a lot, as I had done a bit of mapping and compass reading in my boy-scout days (about 53-years ago). As far as I’m concerned, I enjoyed every week and every activity because you have such a lovely way of sharing your enthusiasm of the sport. I really messed up where we had to memorise the map and go to the next control. It seemed so simple and so didn’t take any notice of any landmarks or surroundings. I thought I would be able to run straight to the point. Lesson learnt. I don’t think there is any other course available that can teach so much and be so enjoyable.

Navigation coaching - who needs trails?

Trail running is the next best thing since mountain biking and the number of events and participation has soared over the past five years.

And yet orienteering, in South Africa, remains very small. The moment the word m.a.p. is mentioned, numbers drop.

Earlier this year I restructured by AR navigation coaching sessions according to principles learned during my British Orienteering Federation Level 2 coaching qualification process. Also, things have changed in AR on the nav side where we don't need to know how to plot CPs and instead these sessions can focus on the practical aspects.

I ran a series of sessions in April-May-June and just recently had two open group sessions, assisted by other coaches. We've got a super bunch of students who I look forward to working with more in the new year.

I'm also doing some one-on-one coaching with two chaps. It is very seldom that I've had the luxury of doing one-on-one coaching. It offers me a lot more freedom to change and mix up the sessions according to the level of the students and how quickly they progress and what skills they need to work on. At the moment we're building a foundation and from here I can really stretch my coaching to prepare challenging and interesting games for them.
I'm really enjoying all the coaching that I'm doing - I find it very rewarding.
At the end of the month - from 30 Dec - 3 Jan, I'm participating in the Big 5 O event. It's a five-day international orienteering event hosted here in SA - our second one (only held every two years). I'll be writing about my navigation successes (and blunders) here throughout the event. I'll also be mentoring and coaching our your orienteers from Polokwane, which should keep me on my toes.

One of our orienteers posted a link to this super cool orienteering video on FB this morning and watching it I thought, "Who needs trails when you've got a map?". It's very much why I love being able to navigate - I just choose my own routes.

This video is of two top Swiss orienteers (brothers) racing each other through forested terrain. One is a former World Champion. And yes, they really do run this fast! Well worth a watch even if you're not an orienteer or navigator.

Navigation coaching sessions

I couple of weeks ago I set up a couple of navigation coaching sessions to get the momentum going for next year.

Two weeks ago we had the first session and I was ably assisted by Garry, Sarah and Stephanie. We had 11 keen and eager participants. The evening turned into a beautiful one - straight after a good 'ol highveld downpour.

The first session focuses on basics like map orientation, pacing, thumbing and map familiarity (paying attention to the colours and symbols that tell you about the terrain and surroundings).

For our second evening - last night - we ran two sessions with Garry taking the newcomers for Session #1 and me taking our returning participants for Session #2. You can't do Session #2 without having done Session #1.

This morning one of our new participants wrote to say of her experience of Session #1 - "Learnt a lot and it's amazing what a difference the simpler things that you can do can make (things I didn't know before)". Jess is quite right. Sometimes it takes just a bit of experienced guidance to get you on the right track.

Session #2 works a bit more on map orientation and I was delighted to see the participants moving much more smoothly, changing direction and keeping their maps orientated. A couple of them commented how they felt all fingers at the first session but were way more coordinated this time around. And then we began with an activity that begins with finding your way from A to B.

My top pleasure from the evening was seeing one of my participants glowing on her return from her first activity loop. This was the first time that she's been out navigating on her own and she found everything perfectly. Yes, THIS is exactly why I totally get a kick out of navigation coaching.

In the next two weeks Garry and I will be planning dates for sessions in Jan-Feb-March. I'll let you know details when we've got 'em planned. We've also got a few other treats planned to celebrate AR Club's 10th year as an orienteering club affiliated to the SA Orienteering Federation.

A taste of my own Metrogaine medicine

The WITSOC bunch (Stephanie, Christie, Sarah P and Sarah) really planned a superb Festive Metrogaine on Saturday. As they did all the work and planning, it was a wonderful opportunity for me to participate.

The route linked orienteering maps of Zoo Lake (start/finish) with Emmarentia (and JHB Botanical Gardens) with a good load of controls all over the place. The map covered a really big area, which gave a lot of options. But, as Emmarentia (the park) was loaded with high scoring controls, if you wanted to really score well, it was pretty much compulsory to head over there.

I'd decided not to head over to Emmies, choosing instead to visit a bunch of controls on the Zoo Lake side of Barry Hertzog. Not a good choice in terms of being very high scoring, but a nice route to run. I guess it doesn't help kinda knowing the suburbs... I didn't feel like running up Westcliff and nor did I want to run up and over to Emmies and then up and over on the way back. Yip... lazy ass ;)

The street part of the map. Big area and lots of controls. Points work according to the control number where 10-19 would be 10 pts each, 20-29 are 20pts each etc.

Looking at the points, if I'd run more directly from Zoo Lake and into Emmies to pick up a couple of controls there and then straight back, I'd probably have collected more points. I think my total was 530 points - not bad in the overall ranking but pretty dismal compared to Timothy Chambers' 1200 (a bit more maybe) points.

My route. A few in-and-outs.

I made two errors on the route. Leaving Zoo Lake I thought that the road I exited on was one lower than where I actually was. This meant that when I got to the corner where my first control should have been on (I'd run one block up - looking at the map I'm not sure what I was thinking...), the house number in the clue didn't match. Fortunately I could see a few blocks up so I realised that I was too high up and had to drop down a block (I was actually on the correct road initially but didn't realise it because I only started looking for the house when I got to the next corner).

On the home stretch back to Zoo Lake I mis-counted the blocks. I'd counted 'two blocks up' on my map and so that's what I did. But it was actually three blocks up (need new contact lenses?)... Again, the clues didn't match what I found in reality so after another look at my map I realised what a paw-paw I was and corrected.

Zoo Lake controls.

And this is what I missed out on in Emmies. Look at all those 50 and 60 point controls!

I ran about 13km in total. Nice 'n easy.

Metrogaine is a super event format and I enjoyed running around, map in hand. Well done to Stephanie, Christie, Sarah P and Sarah for planning this excellent event.