okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Forest Park relay
A few quick notes about the Forest Park relay race (see parts of my course below):
1. The park was full of people. It was a blast to run through people hanging out in the park, sunbathing, and playing softball or frisbee. On the way to the second control I huffed and puffed past a bride and groom having their photo taken.
2. The park was also full of cars. Crossing the roads was scary. You had to be careful, look for places where you'd be seen and where you could get through the traffic safely. I was hit by a car when I was about 22 years old. It hurt. I took care getting across the streets. The organizers had people on the course with flags they'd wave, stopping traffic so runners could cross. That certainly helped.
3. The courses were forked. Most relays in the U.S. don't use forked courses. This caused more than a few DQs. It also spread the teams out a lot -- more than I'd have guessed given the straightforward orienteering and good visibility.
4. I had a good run. I was essentially alone, though it turned out a passed several teams without noticing. Unfortunately, our team was DQ'd for a mispunch on the first leg. Bummer, but the race was still a lot of fun.
5. You can see a quick time video of the start (not quite as impressive as a Jukola start) over at ourmedia.org/node/7293.
posted by Michael |
7:27 PM
