Guildford City Race

[gg]

Has now appeared on the British Orienteering fixtures list, Saturday 10th July. I am currently just finishing drawing the map, and I think it will be really interesting. I am also co-planning, so keep the date free and watch for entries to open.

Some things that might appear in the terrain description -
Mixture of urban, forest, park, suburbs and landscaped bits with underpasses, bridges, islands, narrow alleys, tunnels, castles, multi-storey car-parks - a very intricate urban city centre - but also very hilly! There will be some complex route choices and some really interesting navigation.

[Tatty]

Sounds great. Can't wait

[Scott]

Entries are now open on Fabian4, and close on Sunday 4th July. There's a PDF flyer with course details etc on the GO website.

[youngladdie]

When it says 'tunnels' - are we venturing into the 'War Bunker' tunnels, (or does it mean underpasses!)??
Sounds interesting tho.

[gg]

There are many underpasses and at least one 'tunnel', but no wartime connotations! It just goes under some of the shops

[ange]

Just a reminder that entries (http://www.fabian4.co.uk) for this close on Sunday 4th July. Final details are available at http://www.guildfordorienteers.co.uk

[DJM]

Looking forward to this too, especially as we nearly used the town for the World Cup Sprint race in 2005. Tim Pugh and I spent an afternoon walking the streets the year before, seeing just how good and varied the terrain was. In the end, we selected the University campus (truly a World class sprint area) for the World Cup, recognising that the campus provided the more suitable Sprint terrain, whilst the town would be fantastic for Urban racing.

I feel an excellent event coming on ...

[Knee Deep Mud!]

Enjoyable event, but way too hot for running!

Some very non-urban terrain near the start (O-shoes with some grip would have been very useful on the vertical bit out of control 2), long legs with route choice, and some intricate bits around the castle, which caught me out.

The lack of water at the finish was probably a mistake, given the weather conditions.

The non-standard 'runability' screen on the map was a useful aid to route choice, though the 'busy road' screen was too similar to the OOB screen when you've got your map folded and turned through 90° to match the direction you're running.

[mike g]

The car park caught me out. I thought I was taking a cunning short cut, and it was only when I was inside it that I realised the little numbers on the map meant that I'd entered on level 11 and the exit I wanted was on level 6!

[DJM]

The lack of water at the finish was probably a mistake

Plenty of water at the Finish when I was there - under the gazebo by the Finish flag, but not in the car park. But Tom's burger van was there instead!

[RCB]

A very good event - thanks to all involved. One observation on the course 1 planning - perhaps it would have been better to use the area to the SSW and on the other side of the river (not shown by the competition map) rather than the residential area used to the SE.
I was impressed with Tessa Hill's result on course 2, a minute clear of Sarah Rollins (dsq for missing a control) and over three minutes clear of the 40+ men.

[Tatty]

Super event with lots of route choice. Careful map reading, and description reading necessary. I ended up wrong side of wall at my number 7 as I'd misread the description! The loop around the river/bridge/underpass kept you on your toes. Would be great to have route gadget up to see what route people took.
Thanks GO.

[Knee Deep Mud!]

There will be no water at the finish.

As we'd been told there wasn't going to be any, I didn't go looking for it. Didn't see any anyway.

The car park caught me out.

Me too, although I didn't work out what the map was trying to say until I was back at home studying the map. Where the map stated 'Car Park Exit Level' I interpreted it as being that it was the 'exit level' that had been mapped, and not that there were multiple exit levels. Ended up coming out at several different points to check if I could get out. If I'd understood the mapping I would probably have gone round rather than through.

[IanD]

Me too, although I didn't work out what the map was trying to say until I was back at home studying the map. Where the map stated 'Car Park Exit Level' I interpreted it as being that it was the 'exit level' that had been mapped, and not that there were multiple exit levels. Ended up coming out at several different points to check if I could get out. If I'd understood the mapping I would probably have gone round rather than through.

I don't think people expect text on an orienteering map to be relevant to route choice.

On this occasion, I think the text/numbers indicating the car park levels linking to the outside world was a great idea, but people needed to be told in the final details and/or the map legend display in the assembly area. So a good idea, let down by poor communication. (If there was some advance information which I missed, my apologies).

There were some other innovative ideas which were communicated well, for example the blue overprint for busy pedestrian streets, which I felt worked well.

Looking forwards to next years event, when hopefully I shall make less of a mess of the castle!

[madmike]

Great event really enjoyed it. Thanks GO

I didn't even notice the car park levels bit on the map as I saw a multi-story car park on the ground and ran round it on the smooth line - I didn't even contemplate going in to it even at my incredibly slow limp. Was there time to be saved by entering car park?

The bit after the compulsory underpass was really well planned, late in the course, complex maping and a simple route choice if you were aware enough to spot it (missed it myself ).

Even finished early enough to get some water