City of London Orienteering Race

What an event. If you haven't seen it I recommend starting by looking at the map and courses in Routegadget and then seeing gg's video. Then there are the results plus lots of pictures, discussion and comments from officials on the official event web site.

The map, produced by Ollie O'Brien, is a pure work of art. There laid out in front of you is the whole City of London, from the remains of the Roman walls (in the olive green just north of control 135) to St Paul's Cathedral (control 151) to modern skyscrapers such as the Gherkin (control 137).

This was a chance to orienteer around the streets of London, which on its own would have made a great day out. The street network is not particularly complex, but it is good enough to make the navigation interesting, and around every corner you find a view of some well-known building to distract you. The start and finish were in Broadgate Arena next to Livepool Street Station (as shown in the photo of prizegiving on the left). The majority of the 400 competitors arrived by public transport and could sit in the warm sunshine while they waited to start or to discuss route choices after they had finished.

But the added element on top of all that was the final few controls spread around the Barbican Centre. The is spread over multiple levels, and proved a real challenge to map. Never before have so many people been so confused by so few controls.

It's also worth looking at Ollie's web site where he explains some of the technology behind the race.

Don't Miss This

I spent last Saturday checking control sites for the City of London Orienteering Race on October 11th. All the photos in the mosaic on the left were taken from somewhere on one of the courses. Despite having lived and worked in London for over 25 years I still visited places I had never been to. At one point I was in a deserted maze of narrow alleyways behind the Bank of England when a lone runner came round the corner at high speed. It was Brooner, the Event Organiser, out test-running the long course. I said these alleyways were just like Venice. He thought it was like Istanbul. In future you can say that other places are just like the City of London. Ten minutes later I met him again in a deserted churchyard. The map is a true work of art on its own.

Don't miss it. This will be something special.

Click here for an enlarged version of the picture.

Oxford City Race: The first of many?

Last Saturday nearly 300 orienteers experienced the delights of the Oxford City Race. In perfect weather we got a chance to run round all the tourist sights, scattering tourists as we went, and even managed to run through some of the colleges. As you can see, running under the Bridge of Sighs in Oxford is a bit drier than it would be if you tried it next week in Venice. The race demanded constant map reading and decision making, especially in working out how to get in and out of the colleges. There are a few more photos here.

Everybody who took part came back demanding more races like this, as you can see from the discussion on nopesport after the event. Oxford University Orienteering Club are going to be under great pressure to stage another such race, or even make it an annual event. Cambridge are likely to feel they have to do something similar. There is already an annual York City Race. People are beginning to see the attraction of sprint races in urban parks and university campuses. Perhaps Oxford will be the race that starts British orienteering off in a slightly new direction.

And finally... Whenever people start talking about annual events I always remember going to APOC 1990, based in Kamloops in Canada. After a race in the morning we went to the nearby town, which had decided to put on some suitable entertainment. This was advertised, in supremely optimistic fashion, as the "first annual Savonah Beach Festival". Many of us have often wondered if there was ever a second annual event.