Discussion: What is the Most Unique Way Anyone Has Arrived at an Orienteering Event?

I think it is fair to say that the most common form of transportation in orienteering is for us to drive by car to the arena and walk to the start. Next would be groups coming by bus or van, caravan and the like.
Learning that we are going to be taking a ski lift to the start of the Long event at the Canadians this weekend got me thinking about different experiences I’ve had. I’ve already taken a ski lift to a start – HKF Ontario Champs about 10 years ago and lots have done that at various O’Ringen and Swiss days.
It is far superior to walking up the ski hill right under the lift (Wentworth Nova Scotia, 1977).
Hitchhiking is fairly common even when unintentional as happened to a group from Sweden when their bus driver couldn’t make it up the narrow road to the Canadians start at Williams Lake, BC.
Lots of people bike to events and there’s one guy in Canada who has shown he will ride his motorcycle across the country to go orienteering.
My personal favorite trips to orienteering events were 1) a train ride out of Grand Central Station in New York City, one change and the next train delivered me right to the edge of the map in Connecticut.
2) A car trip starting with getting on a ten lane highway just outside of Washington DC and ending on what seemed like a ¾ lane rutted vehicle track on a mountain top in Pennsylvania
3) Canoeing to an event from Nanaimo BC to Newcastle Island (where I learned salal is not really the name of a plant; it’s an acronym for SALAL – slash and lacerate all legs.
Anyone else have any unique ‘getting to event’s’ experiences?

Trying to remember the details, but it seems to me that someone (maybe John Rogers) arrived to the start of the 1986 Billygoat by hot air balloon. Or I could be imagining it.

Good imagination. It was John, but in black helicopter.

I know the Leonards (Ann and Charlie) had their son Matt who is a pilot fly them to the rogaine held on the ranch in Washington since there was an airstrip on the property. Can't remember the year but it was a while ago.

Didn't people arrive at billygoat one year in a limo?
Fraser wright would commonly arrive at races in southern Ontario on roller skis in the late 80's

MeanGene biked from Kansas to Ottawa (roughly 1400 miles, I think) for an event back in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I think he took the train home.

I have to take a ferry to most events. I have also ridden my bike on the ferry to get to an event in the past. Sometimes it's car, ferry, light-rail, plane, car to get to an event.

Baltero and Vladimir regularly arrive via irregular methods.

An old friend of mine - living in Stockholm at the time - biked to Oringen in Luleå (1981). Today´s Google Maps has the distance at 950 km and around 51 hrs of biking.

On top of that he also took his bike out to all the competitions and as far as I know rode the bike home again...

I'm sure the several hundred Swedes who participated in Quebec's O'Ring 5-days would have stories about trips from Lachute, QC to Ottawa and elsewhere in yellow school busses with their uncomfortable seats and lack of ventilation. Oh no. It was the North Americans who complained about the lack of ventilation and wanted the windows open in the 90 F degree heat. For some reason the Swedes wanted the windows closed. Battles (mostly verbal) ensued.

Does arriving *with* Baltero or Vladimir count as a unique way to arrive? I have arrived with the latter and look forward to doing so with the former. And while I may not be unique in the experience, I would think that all who have had similar would say that is a unique event, no matter how many times it is repeated.

If this event ever took place it would certainly require what we would consider an unusual way of arriving.

...and if this actually ever was a real course (?) the competitors maybe wouldn´t have a unique way of arriving - but certainly a very long walk to the start (and no ski lifts in sight).

Witnessed Baltero and NYC crew arrive in an ambulance, and witnessed John Rogers' helicopter drop off.

It was John, but in black helicopter.

The helicopter wasn't black, it was an ordinary helcopter, but Racer XX was dressed all in black.

(If I could get permission to launch off of Sugarloaf -- fat chance -- I'd love to arrive at Mike's Maze for the corn maze O by hang glider...)

Here's a different one: Two-day event in Guangzou before APOC Hong Kong, I guess it would have been 1996; as far as I know China's first international competition. The organizing committee is a list of generals. The package for foreigners included transport from Hong Kong, hotel, meals, buses to the event, etc. Bus heads off for the Day 1 meet site. We start to hear police sirens: The police are stopping traffic so the bus to the orienteering event can go through the red light! The people on the bus break out laughing - I don't expect anyone had experienced that one.

Nobody told us about that bus. We had to take a train to nearby school/uni and there was no O transport there either. So we persuaded a taxi to take us up the mountain. Got there 2 hours late for our starts which amused the start officials no end. Plus they refused to record my actual start time. It would have been useless arguing the point later I know. Anyway I still didn't finish last as far as I remember.

... The taxi driver was not happy about where he ended up, despite declaring beforehand that he knew exactly where we wanted to go.

To me getting a ride to/from start in military tracks was unique experience at West Point going along with lodging at army barracks.

Using the worlds longest trolleybus-line was a quite convenient way to arrive to one of the Crimean autumn races in 2005.

I could feasibly arrive at a DVOA meet on horseback from my barn (roughly three miles of trails between, though there'd be one harrowing road bridge crossing of the turnpike) although I'm not sure what I'd do with my horse then.

Over the years a couple of our Alaskan orienteering friends have flown by personal helicopter from Anchorage to attend our races.

One of the options for getting from the car park to a qualifying race at the WMOC in Germany 2 years ago was via a tourist steam train.

An event on Mynedd Llangatwg in South Wales around 10 years ago was bussing competitors up the mountain to the start from the car park in the valley, and back down again after their runs. An alternative option was to pay about £20 or so for a helicopter ride up/down, or for £50 the pilot would fly you over the area so that you could retrace your course from the air!

"Witnessed Baltero and NYC crew arrive in an ambulance.."

yes, I remember the ambulance... was that the time the brakes faltered and the ambulance and its stouthearted driver and passengers coasted north for hours to reach an orienteering meet, via small roads?

Nicole and I cycled to the SOW - 6 weeks from Calais to Zermatt

Fin5 o week and day 4. Unusual at least.

Canoed over Loch Etive at Scottish 6 day, 2011 I think. From one side to the other, a few miles down. Beached up at the car park.

Someone else arrived by yatch, moored up, and took the dinghy to the beach

In 1990 every team at the World Juniors in Sweden met in Stockholm. We all boarded a train and then were all taken up to the arctic circle for the races. When we arrived in early morning, we were met by a whole group of organizers with a breakfast buffet right at the station.

Maybe not the most original but certainly the most eventful for me. Heading to the Aus nights champs c1981 up in Muswellbrook NSW, took a Cessna single engine out of Canberra with 2 Red Kangaroo team mates (Terry O'H being one). Operating with VFR, deteriorating conditions (low cloud ceiling and t storms) over the Blue Mts meant we had to divert to Lithgow. Unperturbed, but grateful to land in one piece, we grabbed a rental car and hit the Putty Rd through Wollemi. A really tortuous drive in the dark back then. Anyhow things were looking promising......until a motor cyclist passes us at speed and a few seconds later we see his tail lights going A over T. Nasty crash, head injury etc. Provided medical care, got an ambulance.. Several hours in the hole now by the time we made sure we had done our duty, but we made it to the event. Past the start time, but allowed to go out anyhow non-competitively (third fastest and if I recall correctly beat one Martin Bagness :) winner was one of the usual cast of suspects- Steve Key likely)
That piece of NSW road is still etched in my memory even after 30+ years!

At a park-O in Boston, Feet arrived on foot, having run about 5 miles from Cambridge. Following a short break to sign in, he was out on the orienteering course.

That isn't that unusual. I ran 11 miles from home to run a yellow course at Skunk Hollow (near Aronomink), although I didn't run back.

One year when I took entries for the November Classic I had a request for a late start as the guy was swimming over from the Isle of Wight as practice for some challenge he was doing! I guess its quite a few miles plus avoiding all the ferries, boats, lines, catamarans etc!

1993 Swiss 6 Day, took 2 buses to the start. Now, taking buses isn't that special, except in this case the first one caught fire and burnt to the ground with us standing there watching it. Incredible display of flames, some 20-30 m in the air. The road was closed a while and I believe the event delayed somewhat.

PG was on the same bus, I think. At least, I remember that story from him, but I thought it was more recent than that. Surely it couldn't have happened twice!

I recall a bus incident in South Australia where the 60 odd orienteers on the bus were awoken by a scream at the back yelling "THE WHEEL HAS FALLEN OFF" after a period of convincing the bus driver to stop this was proved to be true. What followed was about 45min of orienteers searching for the missing wheel. We abandoned that bus and we all managed to get to the event - except the bus.

The running 11 miles comment reminded me of the earliest and original Killamunda challenge in Perth, WA in the mid eighties. The challenge was to run a 1/2 marathon (an out and back course), grab your bike (no one had a mountain bike in those days) and find your own way across a (by Perth standards) fairly steep and rugged valley (long road or a shorter cross country route) so you could then run the longest course on the day. I remember carrying my road bike across most of the valley only to arrive at the orienteering too tired to complete (or even start?) the orienteering course. I know there were some fitter types who did it or took the more sensible longer road route with the bike. Good fun. :-)

MrR - were you soft and did not run the H1 course at Kalamunda National Park on that famous day :-)

After a fine 3rd place in W35 at the World Masters in BC, 2005 Karen Staudte entered the 2006 WM in Austria hoping to go a couple better. However she had her final Masters degree exam in Vet Surgery in Perth (which is a 20hr flight from Vienna) just 36 hours before the first qualifying race. Her flight was delayed, and her luggage was temporarily lost at Vienna airport, but finally found with less than 3 hours to her start time. She changed into her orienteering clothes and shoes on the train to Wiener Neustadt, then took a taxi to the race and arrived at the start about 2 minutes before her start time. Jet-lagged and stressed, Karen ran a magnificent race to finish 6th, only 2 minutes off the pace.

I wasn't soft - I was probably the only sane person there at the time! :-)

No Mr R, the sane person was me.

I got a flat tyre in my car when I was about to leave for our state club relays a few years ago so got Juffy to divert from his home and pick me up. Of course that cost us time that was meant to be for him getting fuel so on the way home, he ran out and we had to be rescued by a passing orienteer who drove us to the servo and back.

NTOA's A-meet in 1990 started on a peninsula in Lake Texoma. I seem to recall that you could either walk a long ways or take a ride on a pontoon boat to reach the start. (If I am remembering correctly.)

A boat was also used to arrive at the start at a meet at Texoma in 2002.

COC 2014 relay: Across the Rockies by toad.



Disclaimer: No toads were harmed for transportation purposes in the making of this event, and yes, I do know it's not in the Rockies either.

At the purple thistle a few years ago the race was on an island and we got sailed across - I don't think anyone did but it was pretty tempting to swim (if chilly). It'd probably be possible to swim or kayak to the start of the Cockatoo Island race in Sydney this Christmas.

I'd not take the swim option!

In 1999 sailed to Oban, Scotland from Portsmouth, NH. Then continued thru the Caledonian Canal to Inverness in time for the Highland ’99/WOC events there. Was able to walk to the event center from nearby Caley marina.

Re the Scottish 2011 6 day (mrmoosehead) comment above, here is a picture I took of that boat.

That's a good long taper.

@bl our canoes are down there somewhere. :)

winkepp and I arrived at the first race of the Sprint the Golden Gate series on Friday (at Fort Mason, San Francisco) by San Francisco Cable Car. Just a few blocks walk from the end of the cable car line to the start.

"most unique"?
"unique" should never be modified.
something is unique, or it ain't.
maybe "most unusual"?

If you want to be pedantic, there are modifiers that are perfectly fine to use with "unique". Such as "verifiably" or "formerly" or "undeniably" or "possibly" or "not".

You were probably referring to modifiers of degree.

If you want to be pedantic

You are speaking to a bunch of orienteers. It's what we do :-) I would't read this as a proper sentence though:

What is the Unique Way Anyone Has Arrived at an Orienteering Event?

Summer 1990 Was in the meet course-setting crew. In the passenger seat of a military police jeep, leading a column of trucks with runners, showed the way to start to the driver, who drove with flashers on staying on the median of two-lane highway, so incoming traffic had to pull to the margin to avoid head-on collision—and this suicide, as I was thinking, continued for about half hour, till we arrived.

I've heard that every fingerprint is unique, but I've also heard that some twins are still identical. Somewhere in there you'll find a sliding scale for uniqueness.

Apparently it's "identical" that falls down on that one.

My personal "best" is probably the time I took my old white water cayak from Kirkøy to Røsholmen in the Hvaler archipelago in order to run a (very) local event:

http://tmsw.no/qr/show_map.php?user=terjem&map...
and
http://tmsw.no/qr/show_map.php?user=terjem&map...

The main problem was that this cayak has absolutely no storage space so I had to paddle with a fairly substantial backpack, something which made for a very precarious crossing in the windy conditions!

New York City subway ride to a Central Park meet.

Would have been more impressive if it was the London tube arriving at Central Park.

Would a Boris bike be unique?

I can see at least a dozen in that shot, so no.

@tRicky are you planning to swim to Cockatoo Island? I could always organise an arrival party for you!

With balloons???

What colour?

Pink & grey.

Ok, we'll see what we can do. Are you happy with normal ones or do you want helium filled ones?

Whatever helps me get around the course faster (than O-ing).

But O-ing's running Men's B

But I will be faster!

Looks like an ice cream challenge brewing here

Whoever doesn't mispunch, intentional or otherwise, across the five days takes the prize.