PARKS & STREETS

from The Australian Orienteer – March 2007

ORIENTEERING DEVELOPMENT

more thinking than you think

Debbie Dodd

Certain members of the orienteering community believe that Park & Street orienteering is “Orienteering for Dummies”, that it’s not “real” orienteering, or that it’s just a means of keeping fit between bush events. But talk to some of Melbourne’s top Park & Street orienteers, and you’ll find there’s plenty of brain power involved, and a range of “traditional” orienteering skills applied. For those wanting a full mental workout as well as a physical one, Park & Street orienteering offers a high level, rapid-fire problem-solving challenge. And just like any other form of orienteering, it’s not necessarily the fastest who wins. Tactics and strategy play a major role.

Turning over a map when the starter says “GO” and seeing 20 or more controls presents hundreds of options. Add to that the pressure of a mass start where your rivals may be already off and running, where planning time is virtually non-existent, where the smallest error or distraction can be very costly, and the first decision you make is critical – that’s a lot of information to process. In any given minute, it’s possible, in fact quite common, for me to have many of the following thoughts (in no particular order):

Am I going the shortest/simplest/flattest way?

How many streets before I turn?

How long will this leg take me?

Am I going fast enough? Can I keep up this pace?

How many more controls will I get?

Should I drop that 2-pointer even though it’s quite close?

Have I looked far enough ahead?

What are my rivals doing?

Why is no-one else going the same way as me?

That roast dinner smells great, I’m hungry!

Did I check my watch against the master clock?

Is that fence really uncrossable or is there a gap?

Should I take a short cut across that rough ground or would the footpath be faster?

Should I slow down up this steep hill and read the map, or should I push on and overtake that person ahead?

Is it worth the risk of being late to get that last control?

Which side of the road should I be on?

Why does the course setter hate me?

Have I still got my control card? That’s a lot of brain activity! OK, I admit not all of it is necessarily productive or focussed, but the mind is certainly working as hard as the body. Many Park & Street orienteers have translated their skills successfully into other forms of orienteering, most notably the park sprint format (in which Australia holds a world championship gold medal!). Adam Scammell is an elite orienteer whose results at national level had been unremarkable until the 2006 Australian Sprint Championships in York, WA. His 7th placing amongst many more highly credentialed and experienced orienteers caught most by surprise, except for those who have seen Adam race regularly in the Melbourne suburbs. Tim Hatley and John Sheahan put their years of Park & Street experience to good use in becoming Australian age-group Sprint champions. Park & Street orienteering gives the tactically-minded competitor endless opportunities to outsmart their rivals and/or the course setter. After listening to many of the lively discussions that inevitably follow an event, I decided to find out what all that strategic thinking is about. I gathered the ideas of eight of Melbourne’s top competitors in various course categories. None of them are necessarily the fastest, but all are “park-street wise” and love to outthink their rivals. Of course, being able to compete strategically is highly dependent on having a good course set – but that’s a topic for another time. “A” course is the longest and the easiest to plan, as competitors usually must find most or all of the controls with fewer choices. The competition is more about tactics to throw off rivals. “B” course has fewer controls so more decisions to make. “C” and “D” courses, although the shortest, are the hardest to plan because there are so many options available. They are less subject to pack running, and seem to generate the most post-event comparisons. Power Walkers are given 60 minutes to get as many points as they can on a Score course, with route choice strongly influenced by the value assigned to each control, and time management becoming critical. Here are my respondents and the courses they typically compete on: • Andrew Baker (BKV)* and Blair Trewin (MFR) -

“A” course (10 km scatter-O, 18-19 of 20 controls) • Marta Salek (DRV) and Bruce Paterson (BKV) -

“B” course (8 km scatter-O, 14-16 controls) • Ian Dodd (DRV) and Darian Panter (ARDF junior) - “C” and

“D” course (6 and 4 km scatter-O, 10-12 or 7-8 controls) • Tina Smith (DRV) and John Sheahan (BKV) - Power Walkers 60min Score-O (typically cover 7.5-8 km and 12-14 controls) *Andrew’s comments were taken from his article “A guide to street orienteering”, O-Vic Magazine, Summer 2006.

Do you spend time planning your route at the start, or do you just go?

Andrew: study the pre-event map and look for the closest map edge to the start triangle, which allows a fast start Marta: generally don’t plan, may look for one or two difficult controls and get those first. Look at the preevent map to see if there are any steep areas that can Andrew hopefully be avoided Bruce: a very short planning time to get a general gist of direction, may be influenced by direction the A runners went off Ian: draw a mental “wedge” from the start triangle towards the map edge, covering the largest area that contains no controls. The closest controls on each side of the wedge then become the first and last controls, and the wedge itself is not crossed Darian: spend some time planning the route first Ian Tina: look to see where the highest value controls are positioned

John: 15secs glance to see if there are any clusters of controls

What is your strategy for choosing the first few controls?

Blair: look for a first control that is close to the start, and make sure it doesn’t have poor access to a neighbouring control Andrew: run to the perimeter of the map as quickly as possible, head for areas with less route choice first, and leave my options open for as long as possible Marta: look for difficult controls first, otherwise look for a control that opens up a large loop around the outside of the map. I might head for a steep part of the map and try to have a downhill finish Bruce: choose a first control that minimises the distance between the start triangle and the edge of the map. Look for a control that requires little concentration so that you can plan your route Ian: look for an uncomplicated route to a control that is obviously going to be part of the loop Tina: look for higher scoring controls that lead into a good loop

How and when do you decide on your route? Do you change your mind as you go?

Blair: have a base plan in place before the first control but may refine as I go Andrew: plan on the way to the first control, but leave the decision of which controls to drop until as late as possible Marta: it takes about 3 controls before I settle on which ones to drop; as I plan I might decide to go to an area further away but with a nice flowing cluster, and leave out controls in the middle instead Bruce: usually have my course mapped out by the 3rd control, but last minute variations are still possible. Occasionally I’ll make a complete departure from the original plan after more careful analysis Ian: between 2nd and 4th control but always look for improvements. I’m wary of changing my mind, often my first idea turns out to be the best Darian: as “D” course is short, I choose which controls to go to rather than which ones to drop. Mostly I plan my route at the start, sometimes I change my mind halfway through Tina: always plan an escape route if it’s taking longer than expected; conversely try not to run myself out of controls with too much time left John: plan very intently between the first two controls, but I change my mind as I go

Do you let the actions of others influence your decisionmaking?

Blair: if it settles into a pack race I may take different options on purpose to break things up, as I can’t win in a sprint finish Marta: sometimes I change my mind if a group all goes a different way to my planned route. This works in my favour only about half the time! Other people influence me less now than when I first started Bruce: in some cases I’ll deliberately go a different way from the pack, either because I really think it’s better (or at least no worse) or simply just to be perverse Ian: if I’m not 100% confident I will follow certain others John: if I’m not competing seriously I often go the reverse way around the course

John Blair Tina

Marta

Do you have any patterns, eg always running clockwise?

Andrew: I run 90% of my courses clockwise so if all else fails I go with what I feel comfortable with (except at Camberwell and Gardiners Bend where I always run anti-clockwise – maybe the earth rotates differently along the Alamein railway line!)

Marta: no, the direction I run is determined usually by the hills. I Bruce: In “A” course I cannot hope to compete against my rivals on raw sometimes follow Ian Dodd’s “wedge” theory speed, so I have to rely on sneaky navigation. Therefore, a ‘nasty/sneaky’ Ian: I do have preconceived ideas for certain maps course can be to my advantage. Even if I come in after some of my rivals, Tina: seems to be mainly clockwise but not consciously it’s still good to know I might have picked a better route which they made up for in raw grunt. In “B” course the playing field is more level since How does your strategy differ if doing a longer/shorter route choice has more influence. It’s hard to admit sometimes, but a good course than normal, or a score rather than scatter course? course may be one where I did quite poorly. Ones where the course setter Andrew: assuming you will get all 20 controls and return to the finish, has lured me into a false sense of security are actually well set. there are 21 legs, 60 minutes, that’s one control every 3 minutes and 3 Ian: I compete against my rivals if I see them. I get minutes to make up for the additional leg. Keep checking the watch and annoyed by map errors and badly placed controls know when you should be at each control (and learn your 3-times table!) Darian: I compete against my rivals. A good course is Marta: on a score course, I roughly plan a route that gets all the high tricky but not too difficult points, but force myself to collect all the low points along the way, until John: to me the map is the means I use to compete there is about 20 minutes to go. Then I plan my remaining route to get 6 against myself. A good course does not have long more controls and return to the start. I also keep my watch about boring legs or use of dead ends 1 minute faster than the official time Bruce: start planning earlier for score. At about the 1/3 point I will “count-back” my estimated time from Which orienteering skills do you believe are beneficial for Park & Street events? the finish then work out whether to adjust my route. Blair: route selection, feature recognition, control flow, map contact, I know what time I need to be at control X, and if maintaining concentration, and pre-event preparation I’m late or early arriving there I know if I need to start Marta: route selection is of prime importance. Distance estimation missing controls on my return path, or pick up an (more for Score events), map orientation and contact, maintaining extra Bruce concentration. Relocation can be important even on a street map. Do you compete mainly against your rivals, or the course Bruce: route selection, control flow, distance/time estimation, map setter? What makes a well set course for you? contact, and maintaining concentration Blair: I compete mostly against my rivals and my own performance Ian: route selection is number 1, and map contact is vital. Distance benchmarks. A good course has multiple options as to which controls to estimation, control flow (I can gain seconds per control by punching drop, route choice within legs, and everything in the right place! cleanly and always knowing my exit direction before I punch), map Marta: I compete against both, there’s a lot of satisfaction in choosing a route with the minimal distance on a course with lots of options. But memory if racing fast, pre-event preparation, and post-event evaluation especially when you are learning there are certain people I always strive to beat, and seeing them gives you Darian: distance estimation, route selection, feature recognition, and motivation to run a smart course. A good course is one when you are map memory thinking and changing your mind the whole way through

Darian

For those who believe there is not much skill required in successful Park & Street orienteering, here’s a checklist – all of which should sound very familiar to any orienteer. Although the terrain is not as demanding, and the maps are not as complex or detailed as a bush map, in general you will be moving and thinking very rapidly, making countless decisions, and trying to avoid a multitude of distractions. Small mistakes can have big consequences. The more of these skills you can apply, in combination with good speed and fitness, the better your results will be. And you’ll be practicing and learning for when you do head into the bush. Route selection: this is what it’s all about – choosing a faster and/or smarter route than your competitors. Not so easy when you have to mentally “unbend” the linear features you are following and compare them on the run; and when the choice of which control to find next is entirely up to you. The best courses will have you still route-planning right up until the last control Distance estimation: know the map scale, visually estimate and compare distances (no time to measure routes), know how fast you are travelling between controls Map orientation: the most basic skill and just as important as in any other form of orienteering Map contact: essential as one street looks much the same as another and turns are easy to miss. Even the slightest hesitation means too much lost time Relocation: hopefully not required too often, but people do get confused sometimes and some have run off the map. Stay calm, and don’t let your mistakes distract you. Stay motivated and positive Feature recognition: time wasted hunting for a control is very costly. Read the control description! Contouring: can sway your choice between two otherwise similar routes; good hill runners can apply tactics to overtake rivals Control flow: know your approach and exit route; have your card ready; have a clean punching technique (many punch one-handed); keep up your momentum. A few seconds saved at each of 15 controls can save a minute overall and mean the difference between first and also-ran Maintaining focus: there are innumerable distractions in park/street events – fellow competitors, members of the public, traffic, weather, dogs, food smells, to name just a few. Thinking it’s too easy, letting your mind drift – all lead to mistakes. The challenges of the course should be enough to occupy your brain Map memory: helps with speed, and the streets are a perfect place to practice; Pre-event preparation: use this time to warm up and hydrate. Have the right gear. Look at the base map and check scale, contours, legend, unusual features or obstacles. Check all the routes in and out of the start/finish. Know where the final punch is. Be registered in plenty of time. Pay attention to the briefing and any map or course corrections. Know how many controls you need to find and the distance you can expect to cover, or what time you have to return Finish and post-event: finish strongly – seconds count! Warm down and hydrate. Talk to others and compare routes. Draw your route on your map and evaluate it afterwards. Measure your route and others to see which was shortest. Look at your good and bad decisions and why you made them. Check the results to see if your strategy paid off!