Training Log Archive: Alibongo

Day 6 - Plo de las Conquas

Extremely early start at 7.58, the sunrise was blinding as I ran into it, stupid shiny maps didn't help either. Was doing well until I spent far too long looking in the wrong place for #12 before emerging from the rocky grot and finding something more reliable like a re-entrant to relocate on. A poke in the eye with a sharp stick at #13 made me wake up a bit and a good run to the end to finish off the weeks competition. Finished in 11th place overall out of 38, not too bad considering the catalogue of disasters over the week I suppose.

Overall it was a great week of very testing and trying orienteering on quality areas, great area for a holiday too.

Day 6 - Le Jalonne

Shadowing Erica - she has the hang of this O thing and has some speed today. Map reading to take shortcuts as well. Next up going alone...

Day 5 - Les Bouzigasses

New venue, new scale, new gaffs. It's easy to get excited at #1 and spend 11.23 minutes on a 200m leg when the scale is 1:5,000! I found #2 first, took a bearing back to #1 and still could't find it, too many low, thick trees in the way. Round and round I went in a blind panic, I tripped on a rock and fell over and felt like crying... pulled myself together and how I found my control, I'll never know. Next gaff was much later when I had to go on a major detour to avoid a very large amount of rock and grot. I arrived at my control totally lost and promptly went off trying to find a fence to relocate on and straight back to the control I had just been at - if I had checked the code it would have helped, of course!

Proper indoor pool in Saint Affrique with Rona, Mum and the kids. Flumes and jacuzzi as well.

Day 4 - le Patus

Kept calm, drank more and kept much more in touch with the map. I decided only to run when I knew I would end up knowing where I was when I got there. I played safe and the plan worked well until I threw a wobbly near the end and lost a few minutes, my time was slower as a result but it meant I was back in time for lunch.

Puncture wound sustained to my thigh was pretty painful - caused by low flying snapped off branch hiding in the undergrowth. Ouch! The bruise that accompanied it certainly outclassed the other 28 multi-coloured ones gathered this week.

Day 3 - Le Jalonne

Shadowing. Far far far too far with too many prickles, one child bounding ahead and the other like Dobbin - the horse that wouldn't go! Hot and bothered and I wish I hadn't.

Day 3 - les Rocs de Louradou

Well you can keep your Rocs de Louradou, they drove me into such a delirious state that I couldn't orienteer to save myself. At one point I couldn't find anything to relocate on and I was really lost and so was Rona when she ran up beside me, she ran off and found her control but I had to go further into the abyss to get to my control, a very kind man showed me where I was at his control and I stood there for ages staring at the map and how it related to where I was, wondering how to get to where I wanted to be and work out how to get out of the maze of rock and grot. I guess I was affected by the heat and despite drinking loads, perhaps wasn't enough.

Day 2 - la Tour des Aiguillon

Another late start and it felt hotter than Day 1, the area was quite different and there was more green to run around, the controls were harder to find on rock features in thick green and no obvious attack points close enough to the controls. A lot more people looked lost and were going around in packs trying to find controls. There were lots of conrols together too, which made it all the more frustrating as there were so many distractions. A bit disappointed with the result but enjoyed the course.

Day 1 - La Salvetat

Left the house at 6am and it was still dark, what a stupid idea to go orienteering at this time in the morning! We drove through a mountain and past some large rocks and exited l'autoroute to join in the Whacky Races, let's find an orienteering event game. Pulled in at an appropriate stopping place until Penelope Pitstop arrived - a Scandi looking D21 complete with headscarf and sunglasses - she was as puzzled as we were. A few shrugs later, we were off followed by a few bemused looking foreign orienteers, it got a bit comical as we kept passing the same cars and campervans going the other way and Dad was having kittens - he had first start at 7.34. We turned off onto another road and eventually found what was to be the drinks control and further on an actual orienteering sign.

The sun rose and I headed with E & A to the toilets, oooh what lovely toilets... Les Gandousiers were the providers of composting toilets: green canvas tents with throne like constructions within, a loo on a stage built of wood, a bucket of sawdust to cover up your doings and a wee brush to sweep up the sawdust if you missed! Another waste bin provided for toilet paper - not quite so lovely.

Four hours passed and it was my turn to run, by jings it was hot. I shaded in the trees at the start, I had decided to keep my cap on to run in and so glad that I did. The map was weird looking - yellow with lots of splodges of dark green and black. The scale was 1:7500 but it was still pretty hard to see the detail. Tried out the green on the way to #1 and quickly realised that this was to be avoided, got out alive but slightly lascerated and found #1 via a detour. #2 was a re-entrant and I was standing at the top of the correct re-entrant and the control wasn't there, did a sweep of the area and came back to the same spot, must have looked lost as a lady said 46 is just there, and sure enough it was hidden behind a rock to the left of the re-entrant three paces further on... steamed ahead on the rest of the course uneventfully and cruised into 5th place.

Event: 6 Days of Aveyron, France