BASOC at events, Summer 2024
Credit: Jane Chisholm
BASOC members have been at WOC (including volunteering and competing in WOC Tour), Coast and Islands, Croeso. Three contrasting events following on from one anotehr in July 2024. Read on for reports on these events! Some have also been at O-Ringen (Sweden) and WMOC (World Masters, Finland), as yet no reports from these events.
WOC and WOC Tour, Edinburgh
Jane, Rebecca, Janette, Kat, Paul and Lynne were in Edinburgh for WOC - helping at the events and then also competing in WOC Tour.
Lynne summarises her week
When I volunteered to help at WOC / WOC Tour I was not sure just what I would be doing. After standing in the queue with Jane & Kat for registration and getting kit (hoodie, T shirt, bucket hat, accreditation passes) I was still not sure what I would be doing! I went out on the Holyrood Park / Arthur's Seat race (note to self, avoid this area next time!) and I then went back and said I'd just turn up the next day at the Sprint qualification.
Jane & I were sent to a very select area of Leith to marshall around gateways. It was quite sociable, a few locals were curious as to what was going on, some were a little bit less impressed as they had had to leave their cars outwith the area and walk. Many of the British athletes came through our area. After marshalling we had a short break and then went out on our WOC Tour courses. Jane helped at the Sprint Final later in the day.
I think the highlight of my WOC Tour races was the Indoor race at the Nucleus Building on Kings Building Campus as it was so different to anything I had ever done before - and it was very wet outside so being indoors was positive! There were several barriers in place so you could not run the 'direct' route between controls. Finding #1 was relatively easy but then to get to #2! I think I stood in one place for over 5 minutes before I worked out that I had to go up I to Ground floor, up A to First floor, down E to Ground floor, down G to Lower Ground floor. Once you had that sorted, it all flowed - except I missed #7.
My next volunteering stint was at the WOC Tour Middle distance race at Riccarton / Heriot Watt campus. I was helping at the Start and 5 minutes before the first start time we had to move the whole set up! I really liked the way the Start was run - especially the competitor picking up their map at -1, checking it was their course and holding it then against their leg so they did not look at it until they started. A day later, the Start team had to content with a very large skip being delivered just before the starts opened! Life was never dull! Paul and I took advantage of being in Edinburgh and sampled a few refuelling spots - this cafe was definitely a hit with the French Toast and fruit.
On the final day in Edinburgh it was a 5:30am get up to catch a couple of buses to help at the Knock Out Sprint Qualification race at Wester Hailes. Again I seemed to be in a 'Trainspotting' type area. The locals were all friendly and again curious as to what was happening.
Travelling around Edinburgh was easy; we were staying at a campsite in the north of the city; a 15 minute walk and we were able to get buses anywhere we wanted to go. Google maps was very helpful, there was a travel app we could use and having a bus pass meant everything was at zero cost to us.
Janette put several posts up on Facebook
Here is a summary of her reports:
Fantastic first day of the World Orienteering Championships 2024 in Edinburgh. Even the sun came out. Club members are volunteering at the championship and competing in the spectator races. More championship racing on Sunday and Tuesday.
The fantastic racing at #woc2024 continued yesterday with the relays at Riccarton campus. Lots more BASOC volunteering including Jane 'being a hedge' at a green barrier and Janette control guarding at the cow in maze. The volunteering has been great fun and a brilliant way to see the racing. After the elite races there were some spectator races to challenge everyone around the complex campus.
Today - Monday - was a rest day for the elites. The spectator races headed to the city centre starting in the meadows and racing through the old town, through wee closes, and up and down the steps in the sunshine. A bit hit and miss for team BASOC with some great runs and some folks missing out controls. All great fun. And lovely to have some sun. Map below - if you know the city see if you can work out where we were weaving through the tourists.
One more day of racing tomorrow with the knock out sprints for the elites and a urban sprint for the spectators. Find out more about what knock out sprint is.
Kat helped at WOC and then headed to Coast and Islands
The World Orienteering Championships finally took place this July after being postponed due to the pandemic. As a student at Edinburgh University and member of the student club EUOC, we faced a number of restrictions for several years due to the embargo in place - this essentially bans any orienteering in designated areas throughout Edinburgh. Our “Big Weekend” of races in January doubled as a training camp for international athletes, but excitement properly started to build when two of our members (Joe Hudd & Frank Townley) were invited to plan some of the WOC races!
I was helping during the Individual Sprint & Knock-Out Sprint races, arranging barriers & directing the public out of the athlete’s way. It was amazing to see the efforts of all the volunteers getting stuck in to help the races run very smoothly. Very few events I have helped at in Edinburgh have run without problems such as stolen controls or unexpected closed gates, so I’m sure everyone breathed a big sigh of relief afterwards! For anyone who didn’t watch the races, the coverage was excellent & still available to watch I believe.
Seeing the behind-the-scenes effort for such a high-stakes event was really inspiring. The logistics for the knock-out sprint was particularly impressive - I was part of a team running round in the 9 minute gap between semi-final & final races to ensure that all the controls were in place & the other changes were correct. If anyone is interested to hear more of the work that went behind planning some of the races, Frank has written a (very very long) report about his experience. (Editor: this is very well worth a read, the amount of work involved and the 'all night' sessions during the event are just incredible). I am absolutely in awe of the boys & other members of the core team, who did several “all-nighters” throughout the event to get the final touches done.
It was quite the contrast heading the following day to the Coasts & Islands event, which was a far more relaxed affair. A group of 9 of us from EUOC headed West for 3 days of top-quality orienteering on brand-new maps. The areas were tough & technical, and the courses kept us all on our toes. The low-key nature of the event really matched everyone’s summer holiday feels which was just lovely.
Coast and Islands
Steve, Rebecca, Ray, Kat and Lynne all took part in Coast and Islands in Knapdale, near Lochgilphead. As this was straight after WOC / WOC Tour the contrast between the streets of Edinburgh and the forest of the west coast was dramatic.
Steve took part in Days 1 and 2
C&I is an annual low-key multi-day summer event organised and planned by Masterplan Adventure – an orienteering club set up by a small group of elite orienteers. This year the events were in Knapdale near Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute. The event invitation beguiled us with one-liners such as: “This terrain has remained untouched since planting and has a dark, primeval feel” and “Don’t miss this opportunity to be the first to orienteer in Scotland’s last great forest”. Sign me up!
There were 3 days, comprising two middle distance and a long distance. The courses were Long, Medium, Short or Orange. No parking was available, you either cycled there or you boarded the event bus.
Off the bus and a nice walk along the shoreline and up into the forest to get to the start. The lone start official was Martin Bagness (orienteering legend and mapper and course planner for these events). Nice course. The low visibility and abundant low branches tempted me towards path routes rather too often. It’s quite daunting to pick up a map at the start and be faced with this particular leg 1 and all its complex detail, particularly as the event details had suggested long sleeved tops and eye-protection. Many of us headed back down the path for a safe start to the race. On reflection, I should have stayed in the terrain. Not my finest hour (or in this case, 1hr 47mins). A pleasant wait by the water’s edge in the sun waiting for the return bus.
Day 2 - Off the bus and straight into the Achnamara village hall. An impressive facility for such a small village. It had been raining since the early hours so this was great forward planning by the organisers. I really enjoyed this day despite the rain (1hr 27mins). There was a bit more visibility than the previous day and barely any path options to lure me away from proper map reading. The distinct lines of crags and ridges added a strong NE-SW trend to the map. About half of the legs on my course followed this direction so there was some handrailing to be had here. Back at the village hall, the tea and impressive variety of cakes went down very well with the tired and wet finishers. Hopefully the profit made on this, more than made up for the mess left behind (Editor: they made £500 over D2 and D3 so we helped the local area a lot).
Due to a foot injury, Steve was unable to take part on D3.
Ray experienced his first multi-day event
On 16 July Rebecca and I headed off to Lochgilphead to the Coast and Islands 3 day ‘O’ event. In happy holiday mood we routed via Fort William to Oban then down the coast to Lochgilphead. One highlight of the road trip was seeing the Round the World Clipper Racing Yachts. We are both Ex Blue Water sailors and from personal experience we know how tough the going is for crews on these yachts-it’s easier to survive the constant battering, cold and being wet for days when you’re young— early retirement from ocean racing is strongly recommended! The highlight of Oban was excellent fish and chips while avoiding the wind and greedy gulls on the seafront. Sadly the ice-cream shop was closed and thus the full holiday culinary experience was only partly achieved.
Next day we started with a morning warm up run from Lochgilphead to Ardrishaig along the Crinan Canal. Later we headed off on the bus to Crinan village to start the event. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that this was a very well organised event with buses laid on from Lochgilphead and lots of friendly organisers and competitors. Knapdale Forest was billed as a special place with areas of mature plantation untouched since planting, generally fast and clean underfoot. Quote The area has a dark primeval feel, visibility is not high, plenty of contour detail including steep chunky ridges Unquote. Well they were not kidding.
Course one was something of a baptism of not fire in my case but peat bog and steep gullies Control one looked easy on the map. Along the path and up the river gully to a waterfall. However, the river gully was a very steep, overgrown boulder field, slow going and tough climbing. Control 2 was a lesson in precision low visibility navigation; although I was no more the 15 metres from the control it took ages to actually find it fighting through low dead branches and boggy terrain. Number 3 was where I came unstuck, well actually I became very stuck. The control description was “clearing edge” sure there was a clearing but alas no mention that the clearing edge was in a bog. I punched and tried to carefully pick my way out. I choose poorly and sunk thigh deep into the mud. It took me about 10 minutes to get out thanks to a couple of sturdy saplings which for once didn’t break. It was somewhat of a concerning and very muddy experience. The remainder of the course was ok, gnarly in places and fast in others. The sting in the tail was the final instruction “Navigate 200M to finish” no mention that this was a long way down a river gully, same one as going up to to control one, with the added complexity of fallen trees. Back in the Village Hall the download chap asked me if I had enjoyed the course - probably not the best question to ask someone who is covered in black mud from head to toe! (Editor: Ray fails to mention that he had the fastest time on the Orange course to the control before the Finish).
Day 2 started with a scenic bus ride to the village of Achnamara. A typical west coast drizzly day eased by the welcoming village hall team and post run hot drinks and cakes. A less demanding short course but truly primeval in parts and great features to navigate along. I carefully avoided the bog at control three - lesson learned from day 1. This time the “Navigate to Finish” had a route choice crags and cliffs and a river gully, or a longer path. I flew along the path like a greased whippet-one can be dream-through the finish for coffee and a cake in the village hall. Did I enjoy the run - YES. In the afternoon Rebecca and I had exceptionally good ice-cream in Lochgilphead, albeit in the rain but not enough to dampen our spirits.
For a number of reasons we had to leave after day two. Would I do Coast and Islands again? Probably not, it was a bit too hardcore for my level of orienteering skill and level of fitness. Nonetheless, a great experience with many lessons to learn from the unusual terrain, bogs, crags and cliffs. Thanks to lots of good tutoring from the BASOC Team I feel as though I’ve learned a lot since my first ever run at Nethybridge in September last year am pleased with the outcome which peaked with completion of the tricky challenges of Coast and Islands 2024
Lochgilphead has Incredible ice-cream, we would have had more but the shop closed.
Lynne summarises her Coast and Islands experience
Coast and Islands 2024 was some of the best orienteering I have experienced in the UK for a long time. It seemed less about competition with others and more about challenging yourself. There was tough terrain and tough route choices. Real, long route choices at that - so rare these days especially on a Short course. Low visibility vegetation, constantly undulating terrain, without steep long climbs, and often going against the grain of the land. There was an element of surprise when you actually met someone else since the choice of options and lack of visibility rendered that a rarity, except perhaps at a control, or on a path run, another rarity in itself. On D2 of C&I I think I encountered 3 people while I was out. Many did not bother to compare times after finishing - it was more a case of successful course completition (even if taking a long time) and shared experience with others.
It was interesting that the Short course on D1 had 26 competitors, 28 on D2 and by D3 there were 36 competitors as people 'dropped' down to shorter courses! I think that says something about the toughness of the terrain and courses - but there was nowhere for the Short course folks to drop down to!
Croeso 2024 - 6 days of orienteering in Wales
Jane, Pat and Rebecca headed to the Brecon Beacons for Croeso 2024
Pat took part in the W70S course - a real challenge for her which she rose to!
A week since we returned from the 6 days and my muscles are starting to forgive me. At the last minute I changed my entry from the Orange course to age group W70s. It was the correct decision but it was challenging.
Day 1 was among the sand dunes of Merthyr Mayr on the South coast. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed being by the sea. There were however, a variety of mini brambles and very spiky roses to contend with. The Orienteering was followed by a road navigation exercise to find a fabulous ice cream parlour that Jane had researched. It was well worth the trip.
Day 2 & 3, Cribarth & Carreg Goch, shared the same parking, with bussing to the assembly areas. Fortunately we were volunteering both days and helping with the road crossings, so we had car parking near the assembly and had open starts. The open starts were a godsend for me as the walk to the starts were brutal, day 2 being a climb of 160m and day 3 a climb of 220m. I really needed a rest before starting. The terrain was fantastic with lots of great features, not all of which I used to my best advantage. On Day 2 I made a couple of silly mistakes but really enjoyed myself. Day 3 I found more challenging and started a knitting project with my track, traveling about twice as far as necessary, however it was my best result. Both days again finished with ice cream, thanks to Jane’s brilliant research.
Next was a rest day and we went swimming.
Day 4, Pen Rhiw Wen was yet again a lovely mountain area with lots of features in the second half of my course, the first half being all pits, lots of them. It was a very misty day and both Rebecca and Jane were worried that my skill level was not up to launching off into it. Rebecca’s start time was close to mine but Jane had finished her run and she very kindly offered to shadow me. It was extremely kind of her but it did mean that she had to witness to all my silly mistakes. It was a really nice experience and thanks to Jane I was able to enjoy it. More volunteering road crossing duties then ice cream was my treat.
Days 5 & 6, Llangynidr & Merthyr Common used the same car parking area and although the areas were close, the challenges were quite different. Day 5 was a lovely area and made very special by all the Welsh Mountain ponies, who probably didn’t enjoy our presence as much as we enjoyed theirs. I took a very long time to identify the first control as I mixed up my 9s and 6s - a mistake I will not make again!!! Day 6 was a completely different story. Every control was a pit or a shallow depression. There were thousands of pits and hundreds of depressions. Any relevant paths were so indistinct that I never saw them and the contours were not talking to me. On a 1.8k course I managed to cover 5.25k and did enough knitting to complete a jumper. My worst leg took me 52mins - not my finest hour, however I completed the course with perseverance rather than useful navigation and I am delighted that I did it. I was not the only one with problems, I have never seen so many lost people in my life and at times it looked like a team sport with groups of lost individuals comparing maps trying to work out where on earth they were. A final ice cream before going back to start getting the tent ready to dismantle.
The Brecon Beacons is a beautiful place and we had a fantastic week. The entire event was extremely well organised and the weather was kind to us. My lasting memory will be wide open mountain areas with hundreds of people walking or running all over the place. Our camp site was perfect and probably the best I have ever stayed in. I will not miss the pits and am looking forward to running through trees again.
Jane tells us about her experiences at Croeso
Cracking week of running, marching and crawling around on fine Welsh hilltops looking for pits amongst endless shale holes and cliffs on parallel limestone pavements, with a day of huge dunes at the seaside to start the week. Running down a dune of almost 20m of elevation, bounding with huge strides was a course highlight on Day 1 - although may not have been the optimal route choice! Can you work out which leg and dune?
The open terrain made for fast navigation but not too fast or you lost track of which subtle contour you were using to help you into your cup depression. However, you could often look up and use bigger features in the distance to keep you in the right direction, especially on the big long legs or where you were contouring rather than sticking tight to a bearing. Then just as you were getting your speed up and hitting more runnable, sheep grazed areas the planner would throw in a couple of short “thinking” legs. The courses were very well planned, making excellent use of the areas and giving us all a proper challenge.
Then there was the complex old quarry terrain at the end of day 4 which, with the low cloud, had a spooky feel to it with old ruins and huge cliffs. Day 4 was a “cagoules compulsory” day, with the cloud base meeting us as we were bussed up to the arena at nearly 500m in the heart of Y Mynydd Du (The Black Mountain).
With slightly ropey legs 1 and 2, I took the decision that this would be a “drop day” and instead of trying to push the pace I would take my time and stick to Lynne’s adage, “move purposefully in the correct direction”. In the poor visibility - only 20-50m when I started - and with the possibility of getting monumentally lost, having a clear route with obvious tick features and big catch features became very important. For example the leg to 4 - this was quite possibly one of my most satisfying pieces of navigation! Have a look and see how you would have tackled it?
In general though we had good weather, even warm enough to need the mesh O tops on some days. And definitely warm enough to treat ourselves to some delicious gelato or ice cream on a few occasions!
The final 2 days of racing took us into the shadow of Pen y Fan at Mynydd Llangynidr, with a dramatic arena to finish the week in Trefil Quarry - filming location for a few Sci-Fi classics. The maps were absolutely littered with pits and depressions and trying to look through this and simplify features wasn’t easy. Leg 8 took us into a really tricky area, many of the contours mapped are form lines so very subtle and things could very quickly go wrong. I found this out the hard way, as I arrived features weren’t matching up with what I had hoped. I had run off my line. But the advantage of the open ground was that if I stood still and looked around long enough I spotted what I needed - a single boulder, on its own, on the hill side - phew!
After 6 days of racing - plus a “Rest Day” urban sprint - I had done some of my cleanest orienteering - not a single disaster and only a few frustrating errors, loads of very pleasing straight lines on the GPS and some extremely satisfying moments of looking down into a deep pit to see an O flag. I had been competitive against ladies I wouldn’t normally get close to, beating all but 1 of them at some point in the week to finish 6th in W40. I had also had a lovely time with Rebecca and Pat, traveling together each day from our delightful campsite, debriefing over dinner and seeing in the sunny evenings with a game of Dibber. A great way to spend a week, would highly recommend!