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[wrh51]

ORIENTEERING THIS WEEK
This Saturday we're off to Slievenagore. It's a NI Series so a full range of courses are available - including Long Orange which is ideal if you want a longer run without full-on navigation. Perfect for adventure racers! We'll be parking in the main Silent Valley car park, with registration from 11 and starts from 11.30 till 1. Silent Valley is well signposted from the Newcastle to Kilkeel A2 road.
As this is exposed mountain for the longer courses, remember your cagoule and whistle as they may be compulsory.
Note there are TWO STARTS and TWO FINISHES. The high start is 1.2km / 90m climb from the car park and passes the high finish on the way (0.6km from the car park). The low start & low finish are very close to the car park. Brown, blue, green & light green courses go from the high start to the high finish so you can leave warm clothing at the high finish if you like. Orange, yellow and white use the low start & low finish. Long Orange uses the high start & low finish.
If you're using the high start, remember to arrive & register early to allow time for the walk to the start. Starts close 1pm & courses close at 3.30pm. Remember to report back to the MOO (non-chip van) even if you don't finish your course.
We have managed to get a reduced car parking rate of £3.50 per vehicle. Tell the man at the gate you're orienteering, and then pay at the MOO. Why not car share to save some £££?
See you there and please give me a call if you have any questions.

[LandyLiam]

Planning on doing this with a few scouts, was thinking of taking it slowly to teach them some navigation, bit confused by all these courses, can you recommend which one we should do, we don't mind being on the hills for a few hours as we'll probably bring our lunch with us, or maybe we should just do a few short courses, or can you only do 1 course? do the colours indicate levels of difficulty or length?

[Samm]

Planning on doing this with a few scouts, was thinking of taking it slowly to teach them some navigation, bit confused by all these courses, can you recommend which one we should do, we don't mind being on the hills for a few hours as we'll probably bring our lunch with us, or maybe we should just do a few short courses, or can you only do 1 course? do the colours indicate levels of difficulty or length?

That all confused me when I started too. You shouldn't need a lunch as a course doesn't normally take more than an hour.  I'm not sure about doing lots of short courses. Ask when you arrive, they're a friendly bunch.  The colour system works like this -

White Courses (XS) are very easy with all controls on paths.  They are mainly used by 6-10 year olds and family groups.

Yellow Courses (XS-S) use simple linear features like paths, walls and streams.  They are mainly used by under 12’s and family groups.
 
Orange Courses (S-M) progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters. Long Orange courses are used mainly by novice adults wanting a longer run.
 
Light Green Courses (S) are ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses simple contours and ‘point’ features.
 
Green Courses (S) are used mostly by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course with a very hard navigational difficulty.
 
Blue Courses (M) are a longer, more physically demanding course in comparison to the green. The distances are more varied between controls and the course attracts experienced orienteers.
 
Brown (L) and Black Courses (XL) are very physically demanding and have a very hard navigational difficulty. They are for experienced orienteers only.

As an adult, it was suggested that I start with Orange but found it gave me no navigational difficulty, so I now do either a light green or green course. My only reason for not going any higher is cause the people get much faster the higher up you go! If you want to show them easy navigation using paths and really obvious features then go yellow, but for something just a little more off path then go with long orange.

The other thing I would recommend you doing is having a look at http://orienteering.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Control-Descriptions-2004-symbols-only1.pdf as you get this sheet telling you where to go and the symbols make no sense to a non-orienteer!  There's also a free coaching session, open to all, on before the event, starting at 10 if you want to go along to that one. There's also a free pre-O as well, which is no distance, just a decision making challenge.

Enjoy!

[LandyLiam]

excellent info (karma time  ) looks like we'll have a go at long orange if we stay as one group, other option is to split into smaller groups and do some shorter courses, don't really want to lose any of them though 

i wonder what the class D on the MMM would be classed as, be cool if it was black as that was my first orienteering event 

[wrh51]

I think that the orange course would probably be most suitable. After you complete that I am sure the organisers will give you another map with a more difficult course. You would then be free to do some controls on this course. In terms of MM, orienteering controls are much more precice but then so is the map. Do ask for advice - Helen Baxter is a development officer and will be only too happy to assist. I hope to be there so will keep an eye out and hope we meet up.

[LandyLiam]

We had a great day out today, turned up and the the control wagon/chip van /MOO, spoke to a couple of very officious looking lads stuck behind their laptops, once i mentioned we were beginners the advice was flowing, very friendly bunch who were more than glad to help some newbies.

We started off at the free coaching session, met Joe and Allan, more friendly people. Got the hang of that bit then went off to tackle a yellow course. The kids had no bother with that (maybe they were well taught by their leaders  ) and completed it in 30mins (2.4km). Quick stop for lunch (and met up with wrh51, another friendly young lad) and then back to the MOO for another course, we asked for something a bit more taxing just so we could try out some real  navigation, they suggested we go orange, so we went for the light green course (next level up) with a plan to do a few flags then head home. However we managed to do the full course (2 hrs, 4.4km), and came 2nd out of 8 in that colour group (the 6 below us didn't manage to find all the flags). Then off to the cafe for some ice creams.

We did about 12km in total today (i did have my gps on in my pocket, purely for measurement purposes  ) so a great wee workout, and i must say i really enjoy this sort of navigating, we will be back. Well done to LVO for such a great well organised event.

p.s. a very cost effective day too, we split into 2 groups so paid 2 entry fees + car parking and i think it only cost about £12 in total, bargain day out.

here's a rough outline of the light green and yellow courses, didn't turn the gps of between courses so there's a bit of extra walking about there

 

the MOO with wrh51 dashing off



on the yellow course, easy going round the paths at silent valley



then onto the light green course, open hillside of slievenagore









our group just after finishing



back at the moo checking our position



within seconds of checking in our scores are displayed on the screen

[Samm]

Really glad ye had a great day and are thinking of doing it again. Congrats on the light green 2nd place! Hopefully see you at an event soon once my physio let's me go out and have fun again!

[wrh51]

Great to meet up yesterday and glad you all enjoyed the event. Your report above makes interesting reading and the GPS output is very useful. Mine would have had a few wiggles in a couple of places! Look forward to seeing you at future events. Take a look at the LVO website for info. Results from yesterday are up along with a report on the event and I see your group gets a mention.

[LandyLiam]

so we did

Also I need to mention the scout troup who headed off on the yellow course but decided that wasn't enough, and then successfully made it round the light green as well. No mean feat on open mountain terrain!

thanks susan   

the GPS output is very useful. Mine would have had a few wiggles in a couple of places!

well that was only my route, on some of the trickier finds i sent the young scouts out ahead, well they are called scouts aren't they    while i sat on a rock watching them until they found the flags 

[Samm]

on some of the trickier finds i sent the young scouts out ahead, well they are called scouts aren't they    while i sat on a rock watching them until they found the flags 

I need some of them!  At the minute I'm trying to figure out if I can do an orienteering event this Wednesday evening on crutches!  A few scouts that I could send in search of the flags would be a great help!!  And then they could help carry me home :-)

[Rusty Madra]

Heading to the LVO event this Wednesday in Botanic Gardens... my navigational abilities are pretty non-existant. Thought this would be a fun and good way to get some!

[LandyLiam]

or get totally lost and die of hypothermia 

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