Threatening orienteering areas

[brooner]

Maybe to liven up the dull sport of orienteering (if it really is a sport), we need to have some orienteering on more interesting, dangerous areas. However, for those of you who think this is a silly idea, BOF can offer assistance in promoting your community orienteering events, as long as they are "in a non threatening environment".

I hope that the wording used is not their own, and it is the silly string that has been used to tie up the funding they've sourced, but either way I really do wonder...

So, what threatening orienteering areas have you been to recently?

[Mrs H]

Breakneck Bank

[AndyC]

I have been in a couple of urban areas orienteering where I've been glad I'm 6ft 3 and 18 plus stone - that is a "threatening environment"

[EddieH]

Bogendriep might be threatening to aquaphobes

Glen Dye may be terminal for dyslexics

[SeanC]

You could come to Shooters Hill on Saturday.

[graeme]

I taped a building corner control site at Craigmillar a week ahead of the event. Some time midweek, some guys came and blew the building to smithereens. Eeek!

And on the first event I organised on this area...
http://www.dvoa.org/cgi/gadget/reitti.c ... 131&kieli=
... the local ROTC amused themselves by smokebombing the competitors. And the local police came out to shoot the rabid raccoon.

[AlanB]

I don't think I've ever been threatened by an orienteering area.

I've been assaulted plenty of times: rugby-tackled at head height by a low branch, tripped by a tree root, scratched, poked, stung, bitten, frozen, roasted...

[RJ]

About fifteen years ago we used to have street events in the winter on fairly good quality maps. As the maps got used year after year the planners started to use every bit of the area. It came as a shock then when we had a couple of controls in a housing estate, known to the police as Bangladesh! It became obvious why.... when the locals were busy rubbing the lamp post numbers off, just so we couldn't record the final digit of the number!!

[Scott]

I think using a non-threatening area is a small price to pay for a free paraphernalium.

[Knee Deep Mud!]

I seem to remember one of our night events where a couple of competitors were temporarily 'detained' at gunpoint by the group of squaddies who weren't supposed to be there that night, all to a soundtrack of gunfire from their exercise...

[Gross]

Big Jon got bottled in Paisley some years agbo

[RJ]

.......agbo

that would be an.... anti giant behaviour order then!

[ifititches]

well, the fixtures e mail I got from Runners World yesterday for W.Mids had the following on it (note these are not O events, though at least one is on a mapped area used by local O club)
"SUICIDE SIX , Dudley West Midlands, tackle the muddy terrain of Baggeridge Country Park in this popular cross country extravaganza which includes a T shirt"
(that one's on Nov 21st and already has 111 RW members registered)
"HALLOWEEN HORROR 4 Morton Morrell, Warwickshire, Thrill yourself with a moonlit race through the woods with costumed race marshals amongst the trees just waiting to spook you"
(that one's only attracted 26 RW members so far, so was perhaps "too threatening"

There's lots more in that vein, and I expectmore of you have opened similar RW e mails recently around the country..

[EddieH]

[quote]I seem to remember one of our night events where a couple of competitors were temporarily 'detained' at gunpoint by the group of squaddies who weren't supposed to be there that night, all to a soundtrack of gunfire from their exercise...[/quote]

I remember a JK at Long Valley. The starts had been delayed about half an hour so there were several hundred orienteers at the pre-start. An armed group of squaddies were on a stalking exercise and their leader crept into the minus 3 box, looked all around then waved his squad forward - he then repeated the action in the minus 2 box etc. It appeared that all the brightly dressed competitors were trees as far as they were concerned - quite surreal

[andypat]

Maybe to liven up the dull sport of orienteering (if it really is a sport), we need to have some orienteering on more interesting, dangerous areas. However, for those of you who think this is a silly idea, BOF can offer assistance in promoting your community orienteering events, as long as they are "in a non threatening environment".

I hope that the wording used is not their own, and it is the silly string that has been used to tie up the funding they've sourced, but either way I really do wonder...

So, what threatening orienteering areas have you been to recently?

That'll rule out most of the Glasgow parks then........