Discussion: Ah, those masters...
in: Ben Brady; Ben Brady > 2022-01-15
Jan 19, 2022 1:47 AM
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...it's always a struggle of speed (juniors) with experience (masters). Being around the likes of Vadim Masalkov and Wyatt Riley isn't a bad thing at all. I wonder what you might learn from their routes, if they post them?
Looks like you had some good races this weekend, way to go!
Looks like you had some good races this weekend, way to go!
Jan 20, 2022 3:36 AM
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Haha...yeah, the Rileys are O-Royalty. I suppose there is always something to take away when it is all over. It was fun regardless of the inevitable mistakes.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17BKjd6hE2Qe3wzsv5...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17BKjd6hE2Qe3wzsv5...
Jan 20, 2022 9:48 PM
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Story time.
I didn't discover orienteering as a sport until April 2003 (the spring of my senior year in college). While I was generally active and in decent shape, I wasn't a serious runner, but I could probably run a mile in under 7 minutes.
My 4th event ever (and only 3rd race) was the Kansas O' Champs in December 2003. It was a mass start event, I was pretty pleased with myself, and I finished mid-pack. Then I realized that there was already an old lady (60+) at the finish line, who must have finished ahead of me. Hmm. Weird. I was still new, so I really didn't give it much thought.
Fast forward to Kansas O' Champs in December 2004, which would have been my 7th race ever. Another mass start, another race that I thought was pretty decent, and another mid-pack finish. But then again at the finish line, I saw that old lady again, the same one who had beaten me the year before!
At this point, I was sort of incredulous. I'm a guy in my early 20's! I'm in decent shape! I like maps! How can this old lady keep beating me!
One of the locals asked me about my race, and I said I was frustrated that I got beat two years in a row by this old lady.
"Don't you know who that is?" they asked me. "That's Sharon Crawford, one of the best ever."
The next day was the annual Possom Trot, the midwest's big annual goat race (and this would have been my first-ever advanced course). Again, it was a mass start. Halfway through the race, I noticed that, hey, there's Sharon Crawford.
As I'm repeatedly getting ahead and behind her over the second half of the course, I learned two things about her orienteering that gave me that "a-ha!" moment of clarity about how she beat me at those earlier races.
1) She literally never stopped moving. I'm going fast, then slow, then stopped, then fast again, then slow, etc.
2) Her every step, literally every step, was going in the right direction. I'm wobbling all over the place. I'm certainly not getting lost, or really even making mistakes as I would define them at the time.
Taken together, she was just taking me to school on efficiency. I realized just how important efficiency is. Age will take away your speed, but it can't take away experience and efficiency!
(Also, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that right now in 2022, I've aged roughly halfway from my age then to Sharon's age then)
I didn't discover orienteering as a sport until April 2003 (the spring of my senior year in college). While I was generally active and in decent shape, I wasn't a serious runner, but I could probably run a mile in under 7 minutes.
My 4th event ever (and only 3rd race) was the Kansas O' Champs in December 2003. It was a mass start event, I was pretty pleased with myself, and I finished mid-pack. Then I realized that there was already an old lady (60+) at the finish line, who must have finished ahead of me. Hmm. Weird. I was still new, so I really didn't give it much thought.
Fast forward to Kansas O' Champs in December 2004, which would have been my 7th race ever. Another mass start, another race that I thought was pretty decent, and another mid-pack finish. But then again at the finish line, I saw that old lady again, the same one who had beaten me the year before!
At this point, I was sort of incredulous. I'm a guy in my early 20's! I'm in decent shape! I like maps! How can this old lady keep beating me!
One of the locals asked me about my race, and I said I was frustrated that I got beat two years in a row by this old lady.
"Don't you know who that is?" they asked me. "That's Sharon Crawford, one of the best ever."
The next day was the annual Possom Trot, the midwest's big annual goat race (and this would have been my first-ever advanced course). Again, it was a mass start. Halfway through the race, I noticed that, hey, there's Sharon Crawford.
As I'm repeatedly getting ahead and behind her over the second half of the course, I learned two things about her orienteering that gave me that "a-ha!" moment of clarity about how she beat me at those earlier races.
1) She literally never stopped moving. I'm going fast, then slow, then stopped, then fast again, then slow, etc.
2) Her every step, literally every step, was going in the right direction. I'm wobbling all over the place. I'm certainly not getting lost, or really even making mistakes as I would define them at the time.
Taken together, she was just taking me to school on efficiency. I realized just how important efficiency is. Age will take away your speed, but it can't take away experience and efficiency!
(Also, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that right now in 2022, I've aged roughly halfway from my age then to Sharon's age then)
Jan 20, 2022 9:52 PM
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I've tucked in behind Sharon on a mass start race before. She not only never stops moving, she moves that fast through solid mountain laurel.
This discussion thread is closed.