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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
| > Home > Newsletter > Orienteering > Orienteering at Catterick Garrison |
Orienteering at Catterick GarrisonLiz Copsey of SOC was the organiser of an orienteering event on Sunday 02 December, with the first ever use of a new map covering part of Catterick Garrison. Although the event was officially a CLOK (Cleveland Orienteering Club) event, it was really another chance for SOC to have a try at orienteering. The event was based from Wavell School in the Garrison, and was a Score Event; that is where a series of controls is set out around the event area and there is a maximum time in which one must try to visit as many controls as possible before returning to the start/finish point. Each control is allocated a number of points in advance (between 5 and 30 in this case), with the nearest controls only being worth 5 points and the furthest controls having the most points. The aim of the event is to collect as many points as possible within the time (60 minutes for this event) but there is a catch; points are lost for every minute that a person finishes over the allotted time. For example, I finished in around 58 minutes with a score of 210 from 17 controls, which I think was an average score. The person in the lead when I left the event had visited all 29 controls for a score of 425 (the maximum) in a time of 40 minutes!!! There were lots of different levels of ability present. with some seriously fit orienteering types around as well as complete novices. The thing about orienteering is that you can choose how easy or difficult you want the event to be; there were loads of families simply using the map as an excuse to go for a walk in a different venue, and several children did the nearest 3 controls and decided it would be fun to play in the stream nearby for the rest of their 60 mins. That's the sales pitch almost done but, seriously, have a go at one of the events. It's a fun way to get fit but it's the navigation aspect makes it a challenge for even the fastest whippet. Neil 'Bomber' Harold |