Orienteering: Dukeshouse Wood score event

Scott Bakula can't quite believe it either.

Well, let's notch that one up to experience. I think it's fair to say that my first ever score event was a disaster. 🙁

With 60 minutes to get as many controls as I could and return to the finish, Google counted past the 5-minute intervals at an alarming rate. But let's rewind. I'd already slightly panicked at the start, fearing that I was taking too long to plan my route (even though I knew I'd feel this way). So I ended up running off, having only really looked at about a quarter of the map. 🤦‍♂️ And despite my preparation being better than ever — I'd actually memorized the map scale for once, calculating 2cm = 200m = 90s — I seemed to reach attack points faster than expected, which dented my confidence in my navigation and distance estimation. One thing led to another and, despite finding the first few controls with relative ease (despite the odd poor choice of route), it came to a head when I wasted almost 10 minutes on one control, refusing to give up but ultimately just eroding my own confidence. 😢

The next control was worse though. Much worse. Attempting to follow a very indistinct vegetation boundary, I actually got myself lost. Not just lost as in "unsure of the distance travelled", but lost in the sense of "you're pointing in completely the wrong direction" and also "what's that path doing there? I wasn't expecting a path". Thank god I actually took my compass; it finally saw some use, even if it was only to tell me where North was.

When I finally got to a proper path and rediscovered my location on the map, I realised I wasn't actually far from the control I'd been aiming for, but decided to cut my losses; I'd seen no sign of it. So, I gave up on that control and, at the same time, gave up on the event. From this point on, I felt I should prioritize getting more controls over getting home in time. I was frankly embarrassed by how few I'd bagged so far and needed to make amends. More than anything, I needed the practice. 🙁

When I finally made it to my next control — after backtracking when I realised my route was blocked by a wall 🤦 — the terrain didn't seem to match the map, which again threw me. What was marked as a marsh was in fact a full-blown pond/lake. And neither I nor the poor fella whom I'd help get himself unlost on the way could see the control. After a few minutes, he gave up and ran off... just at the moment I decided to have one last look and actually found it. It had been nearly 23 minutes since my last control. TWENTY-THREE. 😱 In a 60-minute event, that's just madness. Anyway, I tried to catch the guy who'd just left (to tell him where the control was), but couldn't see him anywhere. Sorry, whoever you were.

The next control was relatively easy, though the indistinct vegetation boundaries were in play again. But after that, I tried and failed to cut a corner through some brash, crossed unexpected paths and got myself lost AGAIN. This was becoming a nightmare. Out came the compass again, but this time I just decided to aim for the main track through the forest and eventually got there. I realised my understanding of map symbols needs some work. I'd followed a stone wall, but couldn't even tell where it was on the map. Fences, walls and earth banks homework it is for me!

Again, I gave up on the control I'd been chasing and started heading back to the finish, despondent. On the way, I was to pass a high-scoring control, just off the track. Unable to resist, I went for it — it should've been difficult, but I got it instantly; far more easily than the supposedly easy controls I'd struggled with. 😕

Emboldened, I called off the return to the finish, again feeling confident in my location, and hunted down a few more controls. The first of these was fine, but on the run to the second, I completely misread my place on the map AGAIN. Good grief. I got the control in the end, but the one after that, which was meant to be easy, was really difficult. Lots of small, parallel, indistinct paths near it meant I wasn't ever sure where I was on the map or which side of the path I should be looking. I wasted another 8 minutes refusing to be beaten before I got it. Deeply dissatisfying.

Heading back to the main track, I spotted 2 more "easy" controls nearby and started to go for them, only to check the control descriptions and see that they were both in pits. I'd had enough of things hidden in pits for one day, so turned back. More time wasted. I barely even jogged to the finish, 24 minutes late with an enormous penalty on me that was more than 3 times the number of points I'd earned. Result? An incredible score of -500. Yes, minus five hundred. And to round it off, I even got lost trying to get back to my car. You've gotta laugh. 😂

So, what can I learn from this?

• I need to learn map symbols better. Walls, fences, earth banks
• I need to learn control description symbols better (there were plenty I didn't know)
• I need to remember points are shown next to the control locations on the map itself, not just in the control descriptions
• At the start, reading the map to string things together is secondary; just focus on finding high-value areas and check them for gradients and impassable obstacles
• Prioritize controls near, or easily accessible from, major paths
• Feel free to go long distances on good paths; better that than getting lost on indistinct paths
• Don't rely on vegetation boundaries being obvious; even some open land wasn't clear
• If deciding to cut corners, always set off with a compass direction and keep checking it
• For pits and depressions, check whether they're surrounded by more-visible earth walls (many were)
• Remember to use attack points that will be very visible
• Having Google announce the 5-minute intervals was actually really helpful, even if I chose to go over the allowed time
• Don't go over the allowed time, no matter how few controls you've bagged; and no matter how fast you find more controls, the penalties will beat you and your score will drop

But, despite all this, I'm glad I did the event, even if it gets me nothing in the British Orienteering rankings. It's served me well for the next score event I do.