Central Park Wednesday Evening Training
September 29th 2010 6:00pm
Organizers: Samantha Franks (Event Director), David Hodkinson (Event Director)
Map: Central Park
Starts from 18:00. Arrive early to avoid the dark. Weve kept the wooded sections towards the beginning of the courses, but we recommend bringing a headlamp if you think you might finish after 19:15. Courses will close around 19:30.
Meet at the car park off Boundary Road near the swimming pool. Map of meeting point or http://tinyurl.com/3ykm5kq
Two courses will be available: a standard course for beginners and a relocation exercise for those interested in improving their skills.
The session this week will focus one of the essential skills for any orienteer: relocation.
The purpose of this relocation exercise is to help reduce the amount of time lost during mistakes and provide the skills to make getting lost less daunting.
Central Park comprises lush verdant forest offering limited visibility with an intricate path network. Grassier sections feature scattered trees and copses with few distinct features making for some challenging relocation.
Please signup on the website by Tuesday evening to allow time for the maps to be printed.
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The session will be done in pairs (preferably someone of a similar speed and someone you dont know yet).
For the exercise there will be two different roles which will be switched at each control: the navigator and the follower. Navigators are allowed to look at their map to navigate to the drop-off point. Followers are not allowed to look at their map before reaching the drop-off point.
The role of the navigator is to take the follower to a drop-off point anywhere within about 50m (1cm on the map) of the control. At this point the follower may look at their map, relocate and navigate to the control.
Once the control has been located the roles are reversed. The original navigator stops looking at their map and becomes the follower. The new navigator then takes the new follower to the drop-off point for the next control.
To make the exercise more challenging try some of the following:
* The follower avoids looking at their compass on the way to the drop-off point
* The navigator distracts the follower with conversation
* The navigator takes a confusing route on the way to the drop-off point
* The follower stays at the drop-off point (or moves around as little as possible) until they have relocated and are ready to move to the control
Any questions about the format? Please ask us at the event.