Orienteering 1:00:00 [3] 4.2 km (14:17 / km)
shoes: Inov8 X-Talon
QOC training event, organized by Ted Good. A multimedia classroom-style presentation on route choice, followed by a shadowing exercise. I was paired with Rick Oliver, a former U.S. Team member who has been away from orienteering for some time due to a combination of injuries and the requirements of a real life. Each of us took the lead on 3 controls, and followed 3 controls.
The first issue came in sorting out the direction to the first control. I was in the lead and he insisted I was making a 180-degree error. I can admit to a few of those, so I was willing to listen, but I was pretty sure I had it right. Then he showed me the proof, and sure enough, his compass was pointing the other way. Actually, after some experimentation, it appeared that his compass had no magnets whatsoever. It was like Captain Jack Sparrow's compass, pointing whichever way it wanted to. Like I said, out of orienteering for some time.
I navigated unevenly on my 3 controls, and it was good to have Rick along. When it came time to exchange leads, he figured he'd try the first control with no compass, and the results were not pleasant. The terrain was inordinately complex, and even following, I was unsure of where we were. After the first control disaster, I gave him my compass, and interestingly, I was more aware of the terrain when I was following, and was able to provide reasonable suggestions.
After talking with a number of the participants, I got the impression that information mostly flowed in one direction between the paired runners. That's good, but it only met half the goal. I think the benefit would probably have been maximized with a more-experienced orienteer shadowing a less-experienced one, rather than trying to pair us off equally. As a club, we need to do more of these exercises.