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Get Lost
....
or rather, don't!
All of TeamTGO have now attended an Adventure Race training course. Robyn liked it so much, she went
twice! Most of the team went in
March but I was injured and couldnŐt make it, so I switch to the May dates
and Robyn came along too. ItŐs
run by Joe Faulkner and is based in Bampton village hall, between Penrith and
Shap, in the Lake District National Park. This is what the weekend entailed.
FRIDAY
Friday night was an informal gather in the pub and a camp in the field next
to the hall, although I slept in my car.
SATURDAY
Saturday started with an up-sum of what lay ahead for seven would-be racers;
a discussion of what we individuals wanted to learn; then we were split into
two groups (one of three one of four) and we were off onto the hill for five
hours with our instructor Richard. Last time, Robyn said, the focus had been
on taking and running on compass bearings. This time we all but forgot the
compass and developed more sophisticated navigation skills, such as running
on contours.
I've always thought I'm a pretty good navigator. I'd learnt about
"fine" navigation to a certain extent during my summer MLTB training
at Plas y Brenin (a decade ago!) but when hill walking I'm rarely looking for
micro features. Now we were looking for VERY micro-features, and finding our
way to them without a compass. Having the techniques explained formalises
many of the things I do intuitively, sometimes without knowing why. Making
mistakes is good too. I learn most from them, and the different with kayaking
is that a mistake doesn't automatically mean a swim!
Saturday afternoon, John talked us through Adventure Race equipment - fitting
a towing system onto a bike and onto a rucksack. Marcus talked us through his
equipment choice for Elite mountain marathons. Mike Parsons of Karrimor told
us more than we really want to know about denier gradients (don't ask).
Saturday evening was meant to be night navigation, except it was really
twilight. After quickly marking maps Robyn and I raced around the course and
were at the pub in just over an hour, running all the way without
head-torches!
SUNDAY
Sunday was race day. A small score-course. We were given control grid
references which we ploted onto the map. Each control has a different value.
Usually the controls furthest away have a higher value. The idea on such a
"Score Course" is to visit as many controls, gaining as high a
value of points, as possible and arrive back at the finish within a certain
period of time. Arrive late, and suffer heavy point penalties.
I'll not talk you through our day, except to say I reckon we run/navigate at
3-4km per hour on the fell, and 5-6km per hour on downhill tracks and roads.
That timing was one of the key lessons of the weekend.
Robyn and I had a great day. We worked as a team, enjoyed each others
company, and I almost wish I was one of the land-based competitors in the
Hebridean Challenge rather than the sea kayaker. In fact, I've already
visited the KIMM website, and will try to persuade Liz to attempt it in
October.
UPSUM
Joe will tailor the course to individual needs. If you want to learn about
camp-cooking, you can (after five months under a tarp, my camp-craft is
pretty slick). The navigation element will help ANY hill-goer, not just
racers.
The "feel" of our course was more Mountain-Marathon than Adventure
Race, but there was a section on fitting out bikes for AR, and Joe can work
in more mountain biking in if required.
In short - Joe has a good team, who know their stuff which they teach
effortlessly. Highly recommended.
www.JoeFaulkner.com
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