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[11-Jul-03]
I've been psyched for the Scottish 6 days, well, since the Scottish
6 days 2 years ago. I think my favorite event so far, tho there is
still so much of the O world to experience.
Well before any race, I read as much as possible on the organizer's
web site to give myself time to think about it. Some things that
caught my eye from the 6 day
- From day 3 course setter's notes:
Four trains are due during the time of the competition and competitors affected
must adopt the following procedure. There is a control (No.100) just before the
crossing point which all
runners will have on their course. If there is a train due, an official will
close the crossing and runners must
wait after punching at this control. The trains are expected to take
approximately 1 minute to pass. After the
train has gone runners will be asked to punch at an extra control (No.99) held
by the official and then
proceed. The split time printout at download will include the time lost, but
the overall time in the displayed
results will be corrected. Competitors unaffected by passing trains should
continue in a normal fashion across
the level crossing.
This creates luck. On one hand, it has the potential for free map study
time/rest with
good luck. OTOH, it has the potential to create a mini mass start, and loss of
flyt
with the delay and distraction of an unfamiliar procedure. If I hit this, I
have to make
sure the delay is productive, not annoying and distracting. (I like the word
"flyt", by my
understanding I would probably translate it with the sports cliché "in a zone",
which
I often use, which I think loses the mystical connotations. I like it better
than using
the cliché, I think.
- Day 2 and Day 5 are the days to be concerned about. Both are on forested
sand dune
terrain, and have 25 controls over 8500m (340m/leg). All but the GO control on
day 2 are
on earth features, 45 of the 50 being contour features. The winning time will
be
6.5 min/k. 12 controls on day 2 are middle of 3 contour features. This stuff
is usually
a recipe for disaster for me -- it will be crucial to find strong attack points
and then
walk it in, basically. That will be an expensive strategy, given the number of
controls
and shortness of the legs. If I can run 6 per k collect to attack, and move in
at 10 per k,
I may be able to average 8, which would be fantastic. It will also be tough to
execute.
Changing speeds is not my long suit. I'll hopefully be able to put in some
sub 8s on the
other days. It will also be important to have a strong race on day 1, to build
up some
confidence. If I have 1 of 2 good races on the day 2/5 stuff, I'll be happy.
These have
to be looked at as get good in technical terrain training times, forget times
per k.
- On of the races has a control description I have never seen:
Its not a bridge, but a "narrow passage". A narrow passage thru what? I can
see why I've
never seen it before -- it seems that since control sites are supposed to be
point features,
a narrow passage thru anything could be described using the "between" symbol --
the point
the two anythings meet. It will be interesting to see what it is.
In looking this up, I stumbled on the final draft of the
IOF
Control
Descriptions 2003. I guess most people who read this are aware of these
changes, but
I'm a geek about this sort of stuff, and found some of the changes interesting.
Most useful is changing the "single tree" symbol to something that looks like a
tree,
and changing the "copse" symbol to something that looks like a copse. I also
like the
change of "deciduous" to "broad leafed" and "coniferous" to "needle leafed".
That seems
to cover the bases better -- I remember the O net discussion of how do you
describe saguaro
cacti and other exotic plants in the current framework. Yeah, I'm a geek about
this
stuff. I wonder how do you describe a palm tree?
They've also added some new features: Boulder cluster, water tank, tunnel,
crossing point,
paved area, pipeline, sculpture, lamp, bench, building pass thru, and stairs.
I guess the
latter are for park/sprint/urban O. They've also added new qualifiers "low"
and "beneath".
Finally we can hide bags beneath boulders ... Fortunately, they have kept
charcoal terrace
(I remember some debate about that), unfortunately they have kept rootstock and
hunter's
stand -- two features I'd personally like to disappear from the O landscape.
"Rib", "salt
lick", and "anthill" followed the dodo into oblivion -- can't say I've ever
seen them
on a control sheet, tho I know of one map with mapped anthills. Cairn/stone
pile,
seasonal watercourse,small marsh, felled area, and hedge are also gone. With
the
exception of cairn, which was replaced by the more common sensible cairn symbol
used on
maps, no great loss here.
I'd love to find a use of the new park O symbols on a normal forest map
course. I'm
aware of a couple of places with staircases in the middle of the woods, that
would be
cool-- what would really be cool is an old sculpture in the middle of the woods
as a
control feature. Perhaps a map in Maya country ...
Finally, if you're a control description geek, you can try this
control code quiz. Not too difficult -- I got thru it without any booms.
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