London City Race

[PorkyFatBoy]

now - what shall I wear?

It is the City Mrs H, so surely a pure wool chalk-stripe suit with red braces Brown O suits will be sent home, as was an old friend of mine when he wore a brown suit on his first day at a large accountancy firm, and told to come back wearing something more professional.

are there shops and things round the Arena where the Misses H.- one using wheelchair/crutches - can desport themselves during the event

Sort of...there's a Monsoon/Accessorise at Liverpool St, but they probably won't be open on Saturday (cos no-one is at work). Why can't one of them push the other round the junior course? there are lifts and ramps that would make interesting route choices.

Mind I bet a lot has changed,

It changes daily as Angry Haggis keeps finding out and having to remap it!

[rocky]

Brown is best, and anyone who disagrees is an elitist ponce.

Great to see so many non-orienteers on the start lists (at least 56 if my counting is correct).

Did you count me in that? I'm only going down because there is a good road race on the next day.....

[El]

Not exactly much in the way of shopping around the arena. The City generally doesn't get much activity on the weekend so a lot of things will be shut.
Really looking forward to Saturday - it's great to have an event that doesn't involve a trek out of London

[T5]

Looking back, I used to really look forward to some races - Nationals, JKs, specific favourite areas, etc. I find myself looking forward to the London City Race more than anything in a long while. I'm certainly not orienteering as much as I used to (pressures of work and multiple weddings filling my weekends) but this sounds something special.

I only hope I do it justice and don't screw up at the 7th control for 15 minutes....

[Angry Haggis]

I only hope I do it justice and don't screw up at the 7th control for 15 minutes....

Ah, you know about the evil 7th control *evil laugh*.

By the way, everyone who can't make it can watch the event arena live, on four webcams. See http://vs1-73418.highspeedoffice.net/in ... style=Quad

Both the start and the finish are visible on the webcams, which update every couple of seconds. (Link works ok in Firefox but not Safari.)

If you look carefully now (Thursday evening), you can see the finishers' refreshment tent, in the centre of the arena.

[Wayward-O]

Link doesn't appear to work in IE

[distracted]

If you look carefully now (Thursday evening), you can see the finishers' refreshment tent, in the centre of the arena.

I don't see them listed as sponsors on the website, Angry Haggis!

[roadrunner]

Link doesn't seem to work for me in IE or FireFox

[Angry Haggis]

Link doesn't seem to work for me in IE or FireFox

It does seem to work quite intermittently.

The direct links may work better:
http://vs1-73418.highspeedoffice.net/cg ... 1&motion=0
http://vs1-73418.highspeedoffice.net/cg ... 2&motion=0
http://vs1-73418.highspeedoffice.net/cg ... 3&motion=0
http://vs1-73418.highspeedoffice.net/cg ... 4&motion=0

[SIman]

Working for me in IE7 although I suspect I might have problems on the A9 driving north tomorrow
I see that you haven't managed to come to a sponsorship deal and they are packing up in a huff
Hope it all goes well, I am now wishing I was there although Speyside is looking as if it will be good in the autumn sunshine.

[Wayward-O]

Wouldn't work on IE7 last night, but no probs on Firefox 3.0.3 .

Today I can't get a picture on anything: IE7 , Firefox or Safari 3.1.2 for Windows

Must be all the other people overloading the system.

[epocian]

No problems this morning but oh it was like watching grass grow!

[NeilC]

Excellent race this morning. On course 2 the first 13 controls were pretty straightforward for me due largely to the fact that the map was so detailed and accurate that I could navigate my chosen route cleanly. Whether it was the best route is less clear.

From 14 onwards we entered the Barbican complex and the nature of the race changed completely. Many parts of the map were at different levels and you had to be so careful that you were on the right level. Once I ran down a flight of steps only to turn round and run back up having realised my mistake. I gather that the mapper offered several different options as to how to map these different levels. I suspect that there is no perfect solution given current mapping specifications and there were some parts on the map where it was impossible to work out what level it was at. However I was always able to work out a valid route between the controls.

[Tatty]

Fantastic race today. as Neil said an easy few controls at the beginning until you hit the Barbican. i spent 10 minutes trying to get the way into number 7!! Two attempts at the wrong level, infurinating to find myself at the open area just below where I needed to be, watching others going in. t was then a further 3 or so minutes to eventaully get there. Then followed a W21 down some steps meaning i was on the wrong level for number 8.
A real technical challenge, really fired up the enthusiasim. Must get to Venice one day soon.
Many thanks SLOW, especially to Oli O'Brien who did the map and planned the courses.

[Knee Deep Mud!]

Great race. Perfect sunny weather. Good choice for the start / finish area in the ampitheatre just outside Liverpool Street Station. Nice pub for afterwards too. Pity I can't run faster!

The first few controls had the added complication of lots of building work. The straight line route to control two was just being completely blocked off by workmen putting up safety fencing as I came through. Then there was a huge crane blocking the route to number three. A bit of extra running involved there. There seems to be building work going on everywhere. A wedding party was blocking the route into the control at St. Pauls. I din't think they would appreciate me diving in front of the photographer, so went the slightly longer way round! However, I know others were impeded in locations I got through ok. I suppose its one of the things you have to accept with urban orienteering, that there will always be changing obstructions around the course.

Agree that you had to be very careful getting on the right level as you went into the barbican, and whilst you couldn't easily tell which level was which, with a bit of care it was fairly easy to see what was on the same level as you were (if you had got onto the main level in the first place!).

Thanks to all those involved in the organisation of this event. Will certainly go down as one of the events I will remember 2008 for.