Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Friday, January 10, 2003 K is for Kansas CityKansas City isn't too bad a place for an orienteer.A few things that make KC a good place KC has some maps. I've got five decent maps within a 30 minute drive of my house. If I want to go another 15-30 minutes, I've got another dozen maps or so. KC has two O' clubs. PTOC is based in Kansas City and usually hosts two meets a month. OK is based in Lawrence. KC has people to train with. If I want company for a training session, I can usually find someone. KC is relatively convenient if you want to travel to meets around the country. You can travel to either coast for the weekend (the flights don't take too long and the time difference isn't a problem). KC isn't an airline hub -- that means we've got good air fares (though the flights aren't usually direct). A few things that could be better KC doesn't have good terrain. The terrain around here is nothing special. Navigation is simple and the woods are thick. There are enough thorns in the forest to make it a bit rough. KC doesn't have a lot of orienteers. I can usually find someone to train with, but it'd be nice if O' training sessions drew dozens of orienteers instead of a few. Travel to other parts of the country for O' means long drives or not-so-long flights. Having more clubs would be nice. DesMoines, Omaha, Manhattan and Columbia might be able to support small O' clubs. KC's climate could be better. The spring, fall and winter are ok. But, the summers are hot -- too hot for my taste. What makes for a good O' town? In general, what makes for a good O' town? As an orienteer, I've lived in four places: Kansas City, Lawrence, Linkoping and Stockholm. I've got a few ideas about what makes a place a great O' town. Obviously, you need some terrain and some maps. I think accessible maps are more important than good terrain. I'd rather be able to get to a map of so-so terrain quickly than get to a map with great terrain but have to go a long way to get there. An active O' club is important. Most important is some company -- people to train with. What do you think? What makes a great O' town? What is the best O' town in the U.S., North America, the world....? posted by Michael | 7:50 PM 
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