OSL: Improvements at Delta Park

Delta Park is a true emerald gem in the heart of Johannesburg – yet so many locals don’t even know it exists. As Delta is a lovely open park with big lawns and lots of trees, we were in for an event with lots of running and I was delighted to see many orienteers in full flight. OK, sometimes it wasn’t in the right direction but it was hearty running anyway.

I think that the most errors today were in distance judgement. I found a few orienteers looking for controls far from where they should have been. Try to use distance judgement to help you navigate. There’s a scale bar on the map so use it to see how what the distance on the map is between the control that you’re at and the one you’re going to. If it is only 50m away and you’re running more than 300m… you need to realise way before you even get to 100m that you’ve gone too far. And how do you do this?

Create a ‘story’ in your mind about where you’re going. For example… “I head along the trail, past the big tree on my left and before I get to the top of the embankment I’ll find the control. If I get to the road I’ve gone too far”. If you find yourself ascending the embankment, climbing over a low fence, crossing the road, climbing the next low fence, running down another embankment and then 200m across the lawn… yes, you’ve gone way, way too far. As you can see from this example (it’s almost exactly what I saw happen three times on Monday), the dots don’t line up. As soon as something in your story from the map doesn’t match what you’re seeing around you – STOP. Orientate your map. If necessary, go back to your last point of certainty (the previous control) and try again. You’ll probably waste far less time if you just go back and try again rather than wandering around like a headless chicken.

FYI – Great news is that there were even fewer disqualifications this week. You’ll notice on the results that there are two types of disqualifications.

1. Punching the wrong control. This means that you found a control from another course instead of the one for your course. As mentioned last week, remember that there may be more than one control in an area but they will be on different features. Look on your map to see what feature is in the middle of the control circle. If your control should be on a tree stump DON’T punch the one on the building corner! Also read the control description symbol to confirm the type of feature AND check the number on the EMIT block before punching.
2. Missing a control. This can happen to experienced orienteers too. A few years ago at a Championship event in Harrismith my orienteering friend went directly from Control 8 to Control 10. She skipped Control 9 completely by mistake! Keep your thumb on the map where you are currently and look for the line drawn on the map between controls. This line isn’t there to show you where to run (sometimes you can’t run straight like that because of obstacles – buildings, dams, fences – along the way) but rather to connect the controls so that it is easier to read the map and see where you have to go. If those lines weren’t there you’d be hunting around on your map for each control. Fold you map smaller so that it isn’t flapping around and keep your thumb on where you are, moving it on the map as you progress towards your next control.

The next OSL event is on Monday, 18 February at Summit College. I haven’t run here before (the map is relatively new) so I can’t even give you a heads-up about the terrain. But, being a school – on a hill – I’m sure there will be a bit of up and a bit of down…

In the results this week…

A great showing from Helpmekaar’s Henlo vd Westhuizen on the Junior Boys course. But, at only ONE SECOND behind last week’s winner, Jaya Curtis (St Davids), Henlo only just made the top of the podium. Phew! And, only 36 seconds separate the first three runners!

This week Junior Girls runner Kirsten Chambers (Bryandale) got booted from the rankings when she missed a control! Jureya Dildar (Fourways), who was third last week, took top honours. Her superb run saw her two minutes clear of second place Kirsten Hutcheson (Fourways). Good to see Surprise Kheswa (Fourways) finding her orienteering legs to place third.

Aside from the top slot, there’s a lot of chopping and changing each week in the top three Senior Boys. Timothy Chambers (Fourways) maintains his first place, comfortably clear of Dylan Eksteen (Fourways). Peter Carides (St Davids) takes third to see him back in the top three this week.

And in the Senior Girls… Christie Courtnage (Trinity) stays at the top and Cian Oldknow (Fourways) stays in second. But, where last week Christie was comfortably ahead by more than two minutes, this week Cian closed down the gap to finish less than a minute behind. Kelly Hutcheson (Fourways) makes her first podium appearance with a good, solid result.
Summary of Delta Park results

Junior boys (52 runners)

1. Henlo vd Westhuizen, Helpmekaar, 11:20
2. Jaya Curtis, St Davids, 12:20
3. Luke Coventry, Randpark, 11:56

Junior girls (53 runners)

1. Jureya Dildar, Fourways, 13:01
2. Kirstyn Hutcheson, Fourways, 15:00
3. Surprise Kheswa, Fourways, 16:22