I have put together the text below based on AMH's laws of sprint and some other bits from various O Blogs including contributions from Becks and a few others - plagiarism being the most sincere form of flattery
2 questions:
1. How can I improve the text?
2. Does the lamp post head butter (a frequent and eloquent poster on this forum) mind if I quote his experience?
Steady Early: Read everything you can from the map en-route to the first control, i.e. take it a bit and I stress a bit steadier and make sure you pick up as much detail as possible- it will help you get into the map scale (often 1:4000 or 1:5000). This care will also give you a sense of the mapping style and will help you get ready for the challenging route choices that planners will inevitably set later in the course. You can’t win a sprint/urban race on the first leg but you can lose it.
Simplify: Look ahead as far as you can, make sure you identify prominent buildings and other significant features along your route. Simplifying and ticking off these important features should give you confidence to go fast for most of the leg before slowing to micro-navigate through the control and I stress through not to the control.
Run Smooth Lines: Maintain a higher speed by running the smoothest lines rather than constantly twisting and turning. Some of the better leg times in urban areas are recorded by going wider but straighter and smoother thereby staying at top speed.
Plan the Leg Backwards: As with classic orienteering, look at the whole leg and plot your attack point and route in/out of the control early. Plan you leg using the Control, Attack point, Route-to-attack point (CAR) acronym and don't forget to read the control description first to ensure you don't end up the wrong side of an uncrossable feature. Remember many cunning planners will use the "dead-end" to catch you out if you are not reading the map carefully. You can also be caught out by different levels. 3 dimensions are not always easy to interpret on a 2-D map. Many very good orienteers have been caught out by multi-level challenges and there is nothing more frustrating than being 5 m from a control horizontally but 20m vertically. Stairs can be a good key to deciphering the levels.
Stay in Control – Just: Brain explosions are all too common in Sprint O. You must get the balance right. Run too fast and brain explodes versus run slow and therefore be slow. You need to strike a delicate balance. The best analogy for this challenge is downhill sking where the world class skier is only just in control of his skis and millimetres from total wipe out! Likewise the good orienteer is only just in control of his technique – for many orienteers it is easy to outrun your technique and lose control with the inevitable significant and frustrating time loss following. You've also got to maintain max speed and be fit enough to hold your brain together for that crucial 12-15mins for the elite athletes or 18-30 minutes for the mortals.
A Very Wise Man Does Not Make Same Mistake Once: And finally to learn about urban orienteering it is always best to benefit from someone else’s experience:
“One minute I was planning a route, the next lying on pavement with a sore head. Must have been a good comedy moment for spectators”
Moving cars, busses and even pedestrians will most often attempt to keep out of your way. Lampposts are hard b*st*rds who just don’t care. Don’t trust them.
Edit: the newly created sport of downhill skinning removed and controls decriptions added as per Mrs H and Snail's comments below.
