JK 2007
Over Easter was the 2007 JK International Festival of Orienteering. The weather was rather good all weekend, which provided a good backdrop to the event.
Sprint at UWE
Photo of me running from 12 to 13. My Route (on the JK2007 RouteGadget).
Friday was the sprint race, on the Frenchay campus of the University of the West of England. I had ended up with a reasonably late run, which meant that I had talked to several finishers before running and so had been given a good clue as to how technical an area it was - nearly as good as the University of Guildford.
My run was good. I started well and got into the map straight away and managed to keep concentrating. I ran fairly well and made only a few seconds of mistakes - which is noticeable in the splitsbrowser graph for my race shows being close to a straight line. Also, I was able to keep my pace to the end, though I could not have gone much further at that pace. Really enjoyed the event.
Friday night was spent at the Travelodge next to the Severn bridge. Also where several other orienteers were staying, including Ultrasport and Michael Napier.
Day 2 at Speech House West
Photo of me eating after my run. My Route.
An early start on this day - off on a helpers start before 10am. The first six controls were like a middle race - the controls were in a loop not far from the start. A really good section and one that I ran well.
From there my race went fairly downhill. I made a mess of the next two legs - getting lost in a section of slow walk forest. I lost about ten minutes on those two controls and never really got my concentration or pace back. I had a couple of other smaller mistakes. I really should have been around the eighty minute mark - fifteen minutes quicker than I was.
From here I went off and helped at the Trail-O for the afternoon. In the evening we had a club meal, at a local pub. Rather good food and a some good beer to go with it. Rather good combination.
Day 3 at Speech House East
Before the event I had decided that, due to a recent injury, that running four consecutive days would not be a good idea. This meant that I took this day off and instead just helped out at the second day of Trail-O, which was taking place near to the day 2 start area.
Later on I went across for the prize giving, as we were receiving our Clubmark award. From here it was off for dinner - this time in a Chinese restaurant, which also provided good food.
Relays at Caerwent
Photo of me going rather slowly from the changeover. My Route.
I spent the early part of the day around the start, changeover, and finish area taking photos.
I was running the long leg, as the last leg runner, in an Ad Hoc team. I started well, but could not get into a reasonable pace. It seemed as if I was never going fast enough and should have been going more quickly. The area was quite complicated and it was important to simplify the map and work out how to navigate off only some larger features. It was also very important to check control codes, as there were lots of controls - some of them very close together.
My run was mainly good and consistent. My worst leg was straight after the spectator control, when I lost touch with the map and had to spend a minute or so relocating. I struggled to keep my pace up over the last few controls.
Overall
Overall it was a good event. There were some problems, with the organisation, maps, and timing system, but overall I really enjoyed the weekend. Back to some work for a few weeks, before the British and, later, Sweden and Scotland.
