London City Race

[awk]

Fantastic race. Really glad I chose to run the open. It was as good as Venice: whilst the latter is more consistently technical (most like the area round Leadenhall Market/6-9 on the open), this had much more variety, with that fabulous sting in the tail. Superb map: all the way round and I only found one thing I disagreed with (position of staircase to drop down off the levels exiting the Barbican) - which is amazing in almost 8kms. Thank you to all concerned - a real contender for the highlight of the year.

[roadrunner]

I agree with the others, a great race, thanks to SLOW for putting it on. The section around the Barbican was certainly the hardest on my course (#3), though thankfully I saw what was coming on the leg from 9 to 10, and so managed not to get on the wrong level. That doesn't mean I could find the best route, though - I started running from 10 towards 15 before realising my mistake, then turned back when the best route was almost certainly to keep going. I'm looking forward to Venice, hope that's as good.

[Simon E]

A few photos now available.

What I will remember above all is seeing so many groups of people sitting around afterwards in the sunshine with their maps and discussing route choice. I hate to think how many hours Ollie put in to mapping, planning and even quite a bit of organising, but the resulting map and courses were superb.

[Scott]

Then there was a huge crane blocking the route to number three.

I'm glad somebody else encountered that - everyone I spoke to after the finish denied having seen it. I was beginning to think I'd hallucinated it...

A fantastic race, though: the most fun I've had with a map for a long time . The mapping was superb, the planning excellent, the Barbican even more bewildering that I'd hoped for, and the atmosphere in the arena afterwards - everyone relaxing in the sunshine - capped it all. Big thanks to all who helped put it on. I just wish I were fit enough for all this flat, fast running malarkey...

[Spookster]

Great map, great courses, great weather, thanks very much! As hard as Venice in parts, and even harder than Venice in the 3D Barbican section.

[Wendles]

Thanks to all concerned for an awesome race on Saturday (and Hampstead Heath rounded off the weekend very nicely too). I lost ground trying to go round the Barbican but was having too good a time to spoil the whole experience!

[rob f]

any chance of seeing a map of the open

[Simon]

Rob - it is on Routegadget.

A really good event - I keep looking at the map, and other peoples route choices, and seeing new options for some of the trickier legs.

[Mrs H]

Incredible ! it's not often we get a full whack of the most difficult stuff on my course but I think I got a fair share of the Barbican - particularly impressed by the orienteers sitting on the juvenile delinquent until the police arrived

Truly great event - I feel sorry for the people who missed - the route choice was harder than anything you will ever find in nature - this is the future of orienteering.

[RFM]

Truly great event - I feel sorry for the people who missed - the route choice was harder than anything you will ever find in nature - this is the future of orienteering.

Certainly 'a' but not 'the' future of orienteering - nothing will ever replace for me the challenge of an open hillside in thick mist or trying to work out the contours and vegetation in a forest, though we may encounter it less often. I want variety, which includes city races/street O as well as local woods, Scottish Forests and overseas events - I've never encountered anything more difficult than Sloveina this summer!

What a great weekend - the City Race and Hampstead Heath provided a real contrast - which is what it's all about. Thanks to all concerned, particularly for the weather after the October Odyssey last Saturday!

Ranald

[drobin]

Thanks for a great event - I gather it was also a SLOW member's wedding day.

I didn't see the crane but I did get stuck behind a slow moving lorry taking up the full width of a lane (its wing mirrors were touching the walls) between 12 and 13. Sprayed with water by the window cleaner at number 1, bumped into a walking tour near 7, ran round the monument at 18 to the amusement of a seated gentleman (or was it a marshall?) before spotting the control on the seat. I also visited 6 twice having read it upside down as '9'.

I take it there will a be 'next year'?

[awk]

(and Hampstead Heath rounded off the weekend very nicely too).

Absolutely! The whole family agreed this was really well planned, and the map was excellent too - no mean feat given how difficult this sort of area is to map. Given the recent thread on the new event structure, the quality of this was as good as almost any C3 I've been to this year, and was exactly what I at least envisaged when the Events review group proposed that most district events should be included at L2. This was no L3, even though there was a strong local element. Thank you to both LOK and SLOW for a superb weekend of orienteering, with 2 very complementary events.

Having chatted some time to a couple at Saturday's event who had tried the open but never orienteered before, I do hope that SLOW get some kickback on new members - keen runners (mostly 5k/10k, the occasional ACE by the sound of it)they certainly loved it and were keen for more.

Scott - I saw the crane too: barriers just allowed squeezing through at that stage, but still a wee bit delayed.

I hope there will be a 'next year' too, but also hope it's not the same weekend, as this is normally committed to work. Got a pass out this year, but won't normally be able to do so. Would be gutted to have to miss it.

[T5]

Great race, great weather, great arena! I really enjoyed the whole thing - thank you to all involved.

A few different sights and challenges from traditional O:-
Was it a tramp or a cunningly disguised control marshal sleeping on the grass near number 5 on Mens Open?!
Running past Canon St Station (11-12) and seeing a crane in the middle of the road, then recognising the Crane Supervisor as someone I used to work with!
Having difficult route choice decisions and even now not being sure what the best route was.

Somehow I managed to miss the fact I ran past the Gherkin It was a circle on the map and I never bothered to look up. I was busy checking if the walls were marked as crossable or not!

I came away with visions of a monthly London City Race (I'm not proposing to run before we can walk - maybe a few years away yet!), capturing those newcomers who saw something they liked on Saturday (Nike have been nabbing so many new runners with their regular 5 & 10k's). There's so much scope for courses on that one map, let alone the rest of London. The arena at the start was great and there's many more like it in London - eg: next door to Boris's office on the South Bank, or Sheldon Square (round the back of Paddington Station) which happens to have a running store there (ideal for sponsorship!).

Of the newcomers, how many of them coped with the Barbican? There were many experienced orienteers getting stuck there. I hope the newbies went away challenged, not demoralised...

Anyway, back to the grindstone tomorrow (annoyingly just off the map!)

[andy]

is 'The Barbican' where controls 20-27 (on the open) were?

shame I missed this event, looks ace!