MNOC Valentines Day Orienteering Meet

After Clark and I competed in the Lake Elmo meet, I was asked if I would set the next meet for the club.  I took the class on setting/vetting last spring, but the opportunity to exercise those skills hadn't materialized.  This small venue with only one course would be the perfect opportunity to gain the insight that was the motivation for going to the course in the first place.  While orienteering during an event, I find that I am taking in as much information as possible to assist my navigating to a control.  This is probably about 25% of the information digested by the elites and I am searching for methods to increase my awareness.  Having the opportunity to analyze each control at a snails pace provides unique insights into both the map details and terrain features.  Finding the exact location on the ground that you placed a control circle on a map is a lot different than running to the approximate area, sighting the control and never taking in the exact features of the area.  Unless the control was poorly placed, the orienteer is mentally moving out of the area as soon as they arrive.  I was determined not to get feedback on poor control placement.  What did I notice?  Seasonal conditions can change your control location.  The north side of a boulder doesn't work well if the boulder is covered in snow...  A better appreciation for white, light green and dark green forests.  

I was happy that the team chose to come out and participate.  Chris, Clark and Will ran the full 90 minute Score-O.  Paula and Chris' wife Emily assisted with registration and organization.  They even got on the map for 30 minutes and collected 5 controls while the rest of the club huffed and puffed through the 18" of snow.  Chris' take on the event follows:

On Valentine’s Day I ran in my first score-O.  Prior to this race, my experience with orienteering has been from adventure races and non-competitive activities.  I went into the race with low expectations and appreciated the opportunity to work on my fast-pace navigation skills.

The race was 90 minutes and set at Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Lake.  I actually grew up in WBL and went to elementary school across the street from Tamarack.  I don’t think that being familiar with Tamarack gave me any sort of advantage but I’m sure it made me a little more comfortable going into the race. Between the location and the fact that Pete set the course, I had a comfortable entry into MNOC events.

The snow on the course was fairly deep and made for a drastic difference between speed on trail and speed off trail.  We were given two maps of the course.  Each map had a different set of CPs but were similar in number of CPs and the area they covered; we could start on either map and switch them out whenever we wanted during the race.  I didn’t put too much thought into which map I used first.

I really don’t have too much to say about the race itself.  I felt good about my navigation; I always knew where I was and never had to spend extra time looking for a CP.  I was able to run most of the time except some of the times I was off-trail.  This course was pretty manageable with just the map but I did use my compass a few times to attack distant points or confirm my location.  The only thing I question is the route I choose.  I managed to get 22 CPs while 5 or 6 others found up to 27 CPs. I doubt that the difference has much to do with running speed but rather, the route taken.  In talking with other racers (who each got 27) I noticed that they ran a much more direct loop than my zig-zag pattern.  

Finally, a few quick notes about my gear.  My Icebreaker gear rocked, of course.  I got to use my new Moscow thumb compass and I loved it.  The needle is fast when turning and stable even when running.  I ran the race in my snowshoes and was one of the few who did.  They were really helpful off-trail but may have slowed me down overall.  If I hadn’t been wearing them I probably would have changed my route a bit.

Overall, I had a great day and got some great experience.