Rhein Main City Race, Part 1

We began our second weekend of orienteering last night. Proceedings kicked off with a prologue, with choose your own start times from 6pm. The courses had been altered at the last minute due to a big soccer match, so we missed out on the campus section, and just used a park and adjacent residential streets.

My first handful of controls were very straightforward – across the park, over two bridges onto an artificial island, dodge the sunbaking locals, who must have wondered what on earth was going on. Back over the bridge, around a building – 5 controls down, easy peasy. Ran to what I thought was my no 6, checked the number – 61. What? I thought I was looking for 81. Maybe I misread the small font. No – definitely not 61. Realised I was in fact at no 9. Muttered grumpily about poor course setting, and pressed on to my real no 6, just a few dozen metres away.

Out into the streets. This should be even simpler. Down this road and swing right into no 7, under that canopya and across the small courtyard – oh, wait! There’s no connection, can’t get through. Damn! Back out and around to approach from the opposite side. On to no 8 – the obvious route choice along the southern road is out of bounds. But is the footpath OK? Nothing in the notes. Better go the long way just in case. Bet I am the only one who does that (I was).

On to no 10, confusion at a 5-way junction. Faffed for a minute before figuring it out. The last couple nice and simple, a longish run past the spectators, and in. Surprised not to be last after so many errors. Ian was a much more respectable 5^th.

Ian’s prologue course

Deb’s prologue course

Today was the DoppelSprint (double sprint) – same arena, one race in the morning, the second in the afternoon, times added for overall result. This is a German Park Tour race so a much bigger deal than yesterday. We could tell, because the cake stall was bigger and sold waffles. They set up a stage out of a truck, and the O shop did a roaring trade (new O pants for me and a new control description holder for Ian). We found a shady spot and settled in.

We were in a residential suburb north of Darmstadt – single storey detached bungalows with small neat gardens, with quiet streets and lots of lanes and paths separating the properties. Plenty of cycle paths and parks too. I was one of the first starters. Like yesterday, this was really an urban race rather than a pure sprint, and the controls were easy to spot and not technical. Having said that, there was plenty of route choice to keep you thinking. I trotted around picking off controls and all went well until no 8. Philippa, who started 2 minutes behind me, had just passed me. We both set off across a rough field with long grass, following a fence line to reach our control. Problem was the very small but very thick vegetation which blocked our path. We both backtracked out and around, adding 1-2 minutes to our times. Others made the same error. From there it was pretty much smooth sailing round the rest of the course.

Ian’s morning map

Deb’s morning map

The boys had a much more technical course, but nothing too tricky. Ian blitzed around it in under 12 minutes to come third – it was too short. Stephen also had a good run. Afterwards we sat at a table and chatted with some other competitors, indulging in cake and excellent waffles. The time passed by quickly and before long it was time for race 2. The temperature had soared up to 30 degrees and lethargy had set in.

More of the same, except for a large sand dune that they made us scramble up (or down). This time we girls had the tricky stuff at the end, with the final 5 controls very close together. I had another clean but slow run, and there was quite a bit of stopping towards the end as I had to study the map closely, and I still cant read it and run at the same time. My cumulative time of 49 minutes was well off the winner’s pace, but I finished 8^th of 11 and happy with two more events under my belt.

Ian’s afternoon map

Deb’s afternoon map

Ian had a shot at a podium finish, and he ran all out. Although making a 30 second error, he kept his third place. This meant changing our sightseeing plans, so we could stay for the presentations. It’s not every day you get overseas bling (well not for us anyway). He was duly called up onto the stage – “Ian Dodd, who’s come all the way from AUSTRALIA!” He received a nice certificate, in German, and a gluten riddled chocolate bar, which is now the property of the Support Crew and Chief Photographer.