Сourse planning #1

I would like to introduce a new rubric where I will evaluate various courses based on the quality of their planning. I believe that such discussions will help someone improve their course planning skills.

Yesterday in the group Orienteering Technical trainings, I asked subscribers to guess the country from this part of the map.

Many of you, of course, recognised it as Norway.

There were other guesses, though.

Let's go into a little more detail.

This is a map from the event on 28 June. a traditional mid-summer multi-day event for the southern regions of Norway.

Sørlandsgaloppen 2024, dag 2 Norway

6/28/2024

According to information on Livelox, these competitions are organised by three clubs: Bø OL, Porsgrunn OL, Skien OK,

We can see on the presented map section some rocky ground and boulder clusters. This is unlikely to be typical of the Baltic countries.

However the most important thing is the structure of the terrain with marshes at different levels. This is certainly rare in continental countries. This is due to the fact that in Scandinavia the base of the surface is rocky ground, which does not allow water to pass through and it collects at any height.
Of course, there may be similar rocky terrain on other continents. For example, in North America.

(in the picture adjacent contours are marked with different colours and marsh levels are marked with numbers 1-4. main marshes marked with orange colour)

I chose this map for the Guess the Country challenge for a reason. i really liked the design of the middle distances. below the map with D21 cource

To get a not bad Middle, you need to fulfil 3 points:

1. Change direction frequently (try to change direction at least 60 degrees on each leg).

2. Different lengths of the legs

3. Change of terrain types.

We've seen all of that on this course.

Look at the different terrain zones and the course is constantly changing. It starts on a big slope, then goes into micro-relief, goes to a stepped slope, then back to micro-relief and back to a stepped slope.

The change of terrain types requires specialised navigation techniques. This makes it challenging for the athletes and tests their technical skills.

My score for that course is 10 out of 10. Super work by the course makker(s)!!!

Source: livelox

Aleksandr Alekseyonok, June 30, 2024

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