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Occassional thoughts about orienteering


Sunday, April 21, 2002

5 thoughts while watching the Eco-challenge on TV

 

The Eco-challenge is on TV. Mary and I have watched the last few years' coverage. It is interesting. Five random thoughts about the event:

Why do they carry their maps around the neck? Carrying a map case on a string around your neck looks uncomfortable and inconvenient. Most importantly, it would make "thumbing" the map almost impossible. If I was doing an adventure race, I think I'd try to carry the map like an orienteer (I'd probably add a string to attach it to my wrist, though).

Based on the TV coverage, there seem to be two main personalities: relaxed, easy-going, fit-types...and flaming idiots. I realize, the TV coverage isn't giving you a cross section of the people competing. But, they include a lot of coverage of team's interacting with each other and after-the-race interview. Two personalities show up repeatedly. The easy-going (yet driven) type is probably drawn to this sort of event. The flaming idiot is probably a personality that is normally hidden, but brought out by the stress of the event. Or, is it just the TV producer's idea of what makes the best show?

Being on your feet for days at a time must be tough. There aren't many sports that don't offer competitors the chance to really recover. Even in races like the Marathon de Sable and the Tour de France, competitors spend a lot of time sitting and sleeping. But, in the Eco-challenge, they don't spend much time off their feet. Rich Ruid -- who's competed in a few of these races -- told me that spending so much time on your feet is really tough.

It looks like navigation plays a huge role in these races. "Booms" in adventure races cost hours, not minutes. The navigation doesn't really look very difficult, but the maps might be pretty bad.

I wonder why the teams rely on one navigator? Most teams seem to have one "navigator." One person who carries the map and makes most of the navigation decisions. I wonder if it'd make more sense to have a two or three navigators?

* The USA Network is showing the Eco-challenge for the next few nights. Here is the schedule.

posted by Michael | 8:05 PM

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