22/08/05, Middle Race by Allan Bogle, best brit and superstar
WRE: CnoptnBHE opiEHTyBaHHR (or something like that) Relevance to WOC: Middle
This was day 2 of the competition, however it was my first day as I was recovering from the strange food/ radiation poisoning the day before.
Being a World ranking event the pressure was on, with us guys all wanting to beat Dan M as he had the most World ranking points. With relatively pleasant forest surrounding us in the assembly are the stage was set for a great race!!
And in fact none of us were disappointed after we picked up our maps and got down to business! That was until we left the 12th control!! I will come back to that infamous 12th control later in the report.
This was a well-mapped area and a decently planned course (some might argue that after 12 the planning went down hill – I would say the planner just put another challenge in our way). From the ‘triangle’ to 12 we were running through some very nice moraine terrain with varying degrees of runnability as there where areas of bracken, however this never really seemed a problem. I found that good direction out off controls was essential in this area as it was possible lose direction in areas of negative terrain. Although this area is sandy in places (especially on tracks) it was never a problem.
OK, now on to the fun part!! Up until half way between 12 and 13 the area had been really good fun and pleasant to orienteer through, there had been nothing to prepare us from what lay ahead! And that was killer nettles!! Forget about taping the front of your o-bottoms I would concentrate on taping your heads!! We have all orienteered in areas where nettles have been a problem, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer height of them and that amongst them was very thick bracken, making keeping your direction very difficult indeed, because you are so busy bashing through! (at WOC I think if we were faced with undergrowth like this it probably would not be such a problem because either it will have bashed down already or that adrenalin would get us through it). Where I think the planner of this race was clever was that most of the worst of the undergrowth was avoidable, in one instance (13-14) it was possible to go out of the control backwards onto a path that would take you around setting up a perfect place to attack the control from. So it is important in areas like this not to be narrow sighted, as there are often ways to ‘out smart’ the terrain.
Relevant Techniques: running on compass; knowing when to go around
Physically: an area like this requires fast running in the typical moraine areas, and it requires a lot of aggression through the undergrowth (whilst keeping a steady head at the same time).
NOTE: Allan Bogle was the best Brit in this race and Dan Marston was the last Brit so we were all able to capitalise on his World Ranking points, even ‘coach’ Jon Musgrave.
21/08/05 - Long Distance Race by Dan H
A really nice area for the race, very little underfoot meant fast running, although the sandy base was sapping (especially when out for over 90 minutes!!). However the map wasn’t really up to the standard that we come to expect. A map was printed badly with the contours too thick, contours that stopped and some that even crossed meant that the fine navigation was difficult with everyone making some mistakes. As Mark put it, “It looked like the mapper was having an epileptic fit when drawing it”. However it helped in realising some of the techniques that should be used for maps that might not be spot on.
- Look at a wide corridor, if not all of the features are right it is easier if you try and look for bigger features slightly off the line than try to navigate with smaller, more dubious features.
- Have different systems all working at once, don’t just rely on one. I.e. use vegetation, compass and contours on a leg that you might usually think you could do only using contours.
- Look-up and scan ahead, in an area that is basically flat, some of the slightly larger contour features make good navigational aides.
This days race also highlighted the need for a good plan to number one. Bilbo managed a whopping 23mins to his number one. You should over-navigate and assess the map, losing 10 seconds through caution is better than blowing the whole race.
Ukraine Training Camp – Day 4 (20/08/05) by Aislinn
AM: CNOPTNBHE OPIEHTYBAHHR - 4.8km (1:10000, 5m contours) Relevance to WOC: Classic and Sprint
This area featured very steep spur/gully terrain with a well mapped track network throughout. As Bilbo mentioned, the gully sides are cliffs of earth in places and very difficult to climb. It’s easier to stay on top of the spurs than running down the deep gullies. The forest is generally very fast with high visibility. Where it is marked as green there is some undergrowth, which is slow but ok to get through. Veg boundaries were marked reasonably well. Like many of the other areas there was a fine littering of glass, cans, rubbish and sunbathing Ukrainians in various places throughout the map.
Relevant Techniques: From this training we found that no serious route choice was available but the key was to chose a sensible option and execute it well. Also we found that going straight seemed to generally be the safer and fastest option. Planning ahead is essential and parallel errors are easy to make as the spurs/gullies can be numerous and very similar in size.
Physically: This day was definitely the toughest physically for me. The hills are extremely steep and serious hill sessions will need to be done before WOC!
PM: IIEPETNH – 6.4km (1:7500, 5m contours)
Relevance to WOC: Classic and Sprint
This map was quite similar to the AM training. It featured the steep spur/gully terrain but the map was greener. Again the green was penetrable but had some nettles and undergrowth. The veg boundaries were fairly distinct and the map had a good path network.
As we had our first race the next day everyone took this session a little easier by doing the exercise in pairs to compare route choices. The course was planned as a series of long legs so before leaving each control different route choices were decided. Although Allan and Dan found ‘going left’ to be a good option, the girls found it best to go straight unless there was a serious amount of green in the way.
Relevant techniques: You need to be aggressive in this terrain. It’s really steep and green in places so you need to push yourself hard through the terrain and remember it’s the same for everyone else. Again planning ahead is essential and simplifying a leg if possible.
Note: Don’t be surprised by what you see in the terrain. Expect anything from horrendous amounts of litter; to picnicking Ukrainians in the most unlikely spots in the forest to army men in camouflage trouping round the forest with guns.
Day 3 by Helen
I have the pleasure of writing a short report about the 3rd day of training during our Kyiv training camp. This was the first day we encountered some really nice, fast, runnable terrain, almost entirely bramble free! Both of today’s maps were 1:10000 and 2,5m contours. am
The morning session on “KBJMHUUMBO” was a middle distance course, 5.8km. This had been cut short by Bilbo in order to avoid some large green areas but in fact the green on this map was fine and a much faster pace was possible than on some of the previous training areas. The area has gentle contours, some negative, but nothing very detailed. The extensive path network and vegetation were generally mapped well, but veg. boundries were indistinct. On the eastern edge of the map is a strip of open, sandy ground with thick bushes mapped as light green. This had some contour features (gullies, knolls, depressions) and provided a contrast/change of pace. Generally this is a nice training area, relevant to flatter bits of the middle/relay terrain. Good for practicing fast running on a compass bearing, reading subtle contours. We termed this terrain type, light-moraine or moraine-liteâ.
pm
The afternoon session was a middle distance race with emit timing on detailed, runnable, moraine. The name has been cut off my map but this area is a ten minute walk from the end of the metro line (three stops along from the hotel metro station). Therefore this area is highly recommended for training, being very accessible and also WOC- middle/relay relevant -Mhairi and I visited it again later in the week.
The southern half of the map is very flat with small ridges and depressions, also some “bingo” pits. There is an extensive path network, sometimes unreliable. The northern half of the map is much more detailed. There was nothing on the ground, apart from some litter here and there. Therefore this is a good place to practice running extremely fast on an accurate compass bearing whilst staying in touch with the contours in order to read your way into the control. High visibility, runnability and enjoyability.
KYIV by Jon M
“Kyiv, Kyiv, it’s a hell of a town” - or is the song about some other place?
Anyway, Kyiv will be a shock for anyone expecting a normal, nice quiet WOC in a small provincial town in the woods.
My notes here cover O aspects and domestic aspects as I feel both are vitally important for a successful WOC.
Orienteering
After visiting a couple of fairly revolting areas we found the right stuff – fast running and interesting navigation. Although each terrain type will demand slightly different techniques or blends of technique (see Bilbo’s exposee) there are some challenges that will be the same in all races.
The terrain is FAST (sub 5’s in parts of relay/middle areas) and the technical challenge, though straight forward, will occasionally throw up a tricky leg.
I see three essential aspects: The ability to run very straight, very confidently, very fast on a compass. The ability to pick out the tricky controls (before missing them and wasting time!) and plan accordingly. The ability to keep running flat out for long periods of a race without losing concentration.
Route choice will be important for the long race, but given modern planning there are unlikely to be any “get-it-right-and-win-the-race“ type options. Mostly a case of choosing a sensible option and executing it well.
I see cross country races as good preparation Hard terrain runs (with others and no quarter asked or given!). Technically - learn to love your compass and trust it with your life (well, your orienteering life anyway!). Run races in similar terrain – how about a visit to Ukraine next year to run some races?
Using two local orienteers to hang controls for us in the training forests was a great success – it freed the coaches to shadow athletes, run courses etc and still have time and energy to discuss the orienteering with the athletes rather than running ragged hanging and collecting markers. A definite plus and one that should be used in future camps (not just in the Ukraine). They also helped provide a couple of extra training areas that we had not previously been told about.
Domestic
Bus worked very well- after our day 1 excursion round the city! The drivers were friendly, took the bus into the forests, literally, and it gave the team a chance to relax and chat about training during the journeys. Traffic in Kyiv seemed to obey no rules other than “might is right” so driving hire cars might possibly appear cheaper initially but would be risky from the aspect of insurance and overnight parking. The metro provides an cheap, easy and quick way to visit several training maps and also to “escape” to the city centre.
Hotel Tourist was adequate but the lack of airconditioning meant sleeping was troubled and less than adequate. Using the airconditioned floors of the hotel would be essential for WOC (it was possible to cool the rooms by opening the windows but this also lets in the noise of traffic, trains, dogs barking etc).
Food was adequate with plenty available and supermarkets and stalls selling pretty much all types of western convenience food but was bland in the hotel buffet restaurant and eating out, though better, took a long time to get the team served. I think at a WOC week the type of food and the slow service would cause some problems with the team. Either finding a local restaurant and doing a private arrangement to eat at a set time every day or putting pressure on the UOF/Hotel to improve their set up will be necessary.
Water – we drank bottled water but still most tour members came down with some sort of stomach problems, 3 seriously enough to miss training or races. Possibly some bottled water was poor or topped up with tap water (one batch we got tasted much more minerally than others) or possibly eating fruit and veg that had not been washed in bottled water led to the illness. I don’t reckon much to the idea of radiation sickness! Being paranoid may work so try brushing teeth with bottled water, avoiding all food that could be contaminated (no veg, unpeeled fruit, diluted fruit juice etc), cleaning hands before eating (sterile wipes for when eating in the forest after training), taking low a low dose of antibiotics each day (as in Estonia and Ukraine in 1988 & 200). I suggest the squad doctors be asked for advice and a set of guidelines be drawn up for future tours.
Translator – having one was essential, we called on Indre to help with everything from directing the bus driver to the correct place in the forest, to sorting out the cleaners on our floor of the hotel, to sorting food at every meal and finally to helping to buy dioralyte for ill athletes. She was very helpful and I reckon a “full time” translator is well worth it for future camps (ie don’t try to economise by using an athlete who speaks Russian).
THOUGHTS on KYIV by TM Gross
My thoughts are more related to the non-orienteering side but I guess are just as important as you are only orienteering for 3 or 4 hours a day…
Firstly I think WOC 2007 / Kyiv might be a bit of a shock to a few people as it’s the first WOC to be held almost entirely within the City Limits & almost possible to reach all events by public transport. The arrival at Kyiv Airport sets the place up…. Stand in line for 20 minutes thinking you have the correct bit of paper then get told by the grumpy guard that it’s not printed on bog roll so go back & start again… then struggle through the masses of people parting like the Red Sea, past the taxi hustlers and into the steaming heat of the day….
So lots of people, bureaucracy, hassle & hot humid weather.
Arriving at the Hotel Tourist doesn’t improve things for the unaware too much… 25 floors of adequate accommodation but no air conditioning, no English TV, no WIFI, hot water coming from the cold tap and it could take 20 mins to go to reception and back by lift… but the ladies in charge will look after you & do your washing – eventuallyJ We were lucky in having our very own Russian speaker to smooth thing over. Actually I wouldn’t want to travel with a group to Kyiv without a translator as English is not so common & majority of street names and so on are in Russian alphabet. If a crisis occurred a translator would be a mustJ There will be a lack of social / meeting places during WOC.
Eating is difficult… why? Well the foods pretty much the same as rest of Europe, meat, rice, chicken etc etc but the cafeteria at the hotel didn’t serve the hottest of meals & vegetarians were left a bit wanting as were pasta lovers. Eating in restaurants is not only expensive but also takes ages. Breakfast in the morning wasn’t suitable for sportsmen but I discussed this with UOF people & I think for WOC it will be a more sports friendly offering. The local market & shop offered plenty of fresh fruit & lunch stuff…. And bottled water which is a mustJ
People preparing for WOC will generally be surprised at the cost of living in Kyiv… it isn’t cheap!!!
Unusually for an orienteering training camp we didn’t hire any cars but used a hire bus & the metro. It would be possible to train and only travel by metro & the metro will play an important part in WOC 2007 e.g. transport to prize givings etc. Again athletes will need to get used to travelling in very cramp, hot, smelly conditions. Our bus driver was great, taking us directly into the forest but again it wasn’t cheap (20€ per start & 25€ per hour) but driving safely isn’t really an option for the first couple of visits……..
I think that transport for WOC will be a great problem… seems there are two options, a shuttle bus service from the accommodation to the areas or metro to the end of the line & then a shuttle bus…. Given the traffic conditions in Kyiv I’d go for the metro / bus option but I guess it’s not the best way to prepare for a long final being crushed into a metro train (maybe the Japanese will feel at home). There is a new bridge being built – maybe that will help…
I found our hosts from UOF very helpful & keen to support us & other sportsmen visiting Kyiv. We got the same warm welcome as for the WC in Lviv in 2000 but I think that during a WOC the organisation will creak a little… if there are large numbers of supporters at the spectators races things might get a bit disorganised.
And finally… health. Almost everyone suffered from mild digestive problems. We tried to narrow this down to food, water, unusual germs etc but nothing seemed obvious. I mentioned this at a meeting before leaving and was advised it was also common among Kyiv locals who’d been away for sometime & was related to low level radiation in the cityJ Might be an urban myth but certainly worth getting some accurate medical thoughts on the matter….
Independence Day, Sprint Race by Daniel
An afternoon start gave a few people the chance to get a morning session in. The keenest checked out another map on one of the islands in the huge river which rolls through Kyiv.
The sprint race was on the edge of the long embargoed area. This means it was well within the city limits so has an extensive path network and involved some spur/gully terrain. Following narrow misses on our challenges the day before, today’s challenge was to beat 5 minutes per kilometre for the guys and 6 for the women.
The race was varied with some semi-technical forest orienteering and minor route choices as well as some very easy park orienteering. Despite several significant climbs, almost all the athletes beat the min/km challenge and we won champagne all round. Only some legendarily bad bottle opening skills could spoil the night now…
Key skills in this terrain are speed over a tough cross-country race, planning ahead so you always know where you are going and route choice.
For Independence Day, the main street in Kyiv is shut down and hundreds of thousands of people descend on the centre to see fireworks and to party. There was a great atmosphere and plenty of fun had by all.
INDEPENDECE CUP Day 3: БИКОВНЯ СхіД by Mhairi
The third day of the Independence Cup, a short race, was probably the best of the three races with a good map and good terrain. The WOC middle and relay will be held on generally flat sand dune terrain with areas of complex contour detail and a regular path network. Therefore this area compares well with what we might expect in the races and is highly relevant.
The map was generally of a high quality. Contours were mapped well despite the vague nature of parts of the terrain and the 2.5m contours were clear to read and see in the terrain. The vegetation was sometimes mapped interestingly particularly where there were green stripes. This seemed to be a common theme with all the maps we used. Any parts of the forest which had patches of green stripes were often entirely covered in brambles. Although this discrepancy could be a result of mapping early in the year before the brambles have grown up it is likely to be something we will have to deal with at WOC. This map was a good example of how it is likely to be for the middle and relay areas. Brambles grow in any area where it is flatter and less detailed and are slow and even difficult to run through at times.
The visibility was excellent and only reduced by slightly bushier trees in the light green areas although not significantly enough to slow you down. It was always possible to run at high speed with the guys running about 5min/km and the girls about 6min/km. In the areas of more complex contour detail the visibility was even better than excellent as there were no bushes and no undergrowth, hence the forest was lightning fast.
Good techniques for racing well in this terrain are fairly simple (in theory!). I think one of the most important areas is ensuring that all your orienteering is very smooth. In terrain as fast as this, saving small amounts of time will be vital and seconds will count. So running on a good line, excellent control flow and good use of compass is very important since generally the best route is straight. Using map to ground technique while running straight makes it easier to pick up the subtle features. Confidence running straight and distance judgment is also useful since often there are few catching features behind the control.
Ukraine training camp, day 1 by Rachael
The ground was perfectly flat, short grass and very fast. The venue, the Dynamo Kiev stadium, host of Poland vs. Israel for the night and also embargoed area for the WOC2007 sprint race. The stadium is cut into the hillside and would make a fine arena with many approaches from the park, although whether or not it remains embargoed and will be used is unknown.
Unfortunately the orienteering areas we visited weren’t quite as runnable. The mornings exercise was an introduction to Kyiv terrain on Pushcha-Vodytsya (Пуща-Вдиця). The bus driver gave us a magical mystery tour of Kyiv on the way there before we eventually rocked up at a nice little BBQ site in the middle of the wood. First impressions were of sand. The ground was sandy everywhere and some of the major tracks were quite deep sand making it faster to run in the woods. Some of the forest was gorgeous, open, lightning fast woodland with just moss on the floor. Some of it wasn’t quite as nice. In general light green equalled bushy with thick leaves, low visibility and much slower run. There was undergrowth with brambles in places but only fairly low level. Throughout the whole forest there were hundreds of spider webs and you couldn’t avoid running through them (the spiders were only small at least!). There were some strange veg boundarys marked on the map and in almost all cases they weren’t at all clear (maybe due to old map?). There are lots of pits everywhere and in general they were very big. Many had raised areas round the edges making them relatively easy to spot. A lot of the small pits weren’t marked at all.
Techniques required: Accurate compass bearings. Route choices are best if they can stick to the higher white areas to avoid the light green and bushes.
The afternoon session was on Gidropark (Гідропарк) (area south of the metro station), one of the large islands in the Dnipro river. Don’t be fooled by the nice looking map, the area was almost entirely covered in brambles and undergrowth. The southern part of the island was mostly well mapped although the vegetation changes were often difficult to spot and much of the white should actually have green stripes. The northern part of the area was considerably less runnable with very little difference between green and white, both being full of undergrowth. The green was slightly more bushy with lower visibility. Some of the undergrowth was ok to plough through, the big, dark green leaves aren’t prickly and its ok to run through them. There were also a lot of brambles and nettles in places. There are many small, unmarked paths as the area is full of people.
Techniques required: extra thick trousers, accurate bearings. Swimming stuff for visiting the beach after!
Thursday 18th, Long Distance Training, Пуща-Водиця by Mark Nixon
Terrain
The area was entirely pine plantation. The light green area, which covered most of the map, were areas of bushy undergrowth rather than thicker trees. In the white runability was good to excellent sub 5min/k’s. Visibility was ok. In light green areas runability was generally average, however there were patches of thick undergrowth which slowed the going. Visibility was very poor in these areas. There were literally some felled areas, these were very sandy, running was tough.
The geology of the area is sand deposits, giving very subtle and slight changes in relief. There are many large depressions and small hills. The hills aren’t very large (20m max), steep or detailed. They are obvious.
The area was 100% dry apart from the reservoir. This has been artificially created in a very steep sided river gorge, much like on the WOC Long final area.
As a plantation the area has a large overlying grid network of tracks and rides, these are often sandy. There are also many smaller paths throughout the area, but many of these disappear in the summer undergrowth.
There are many artificial pits in the area. Some of these are on the map.
Map, this was 4 years out of date and several new felled areas had appeared. The contours were well mapped. There were numerous pits not on the map despite being just as large and obvious as ones that were in the same area.
Orienteering
In the white open forest this was relatively simple, go straight, look up, use map-to-ground, and have an image of the control site.
In the green forest one has to adopt a far more cautious technique due to low visibility.
Attack points, get as close to the control as you can on a definable attack point, you can’t head into a block of wood hoping to pick your location up as you go.
Compass & Distance, its very important to be able to run very straight on a compass, keeping some form of distance judgement is also important so if you miss you know roughly when to stop and start searching.
Straight vs Round, even in the green the running wasn’t too slow, however the risk was high of getting pushed offline. We were unable to establish an accurate round to straight ratio.
WOC relevance
This area is quite similar to the flatter north/western part of the long final area.
