This Wednesday there will be a chance to try out Street Orienteering (Street-O) as an alternative to long run.
Street-O is a very informal urban orienteering race. You will be given a special map of the local area showing roads as lines and little other detail. The map will show specific locations you need to find (“controls”). You will also be given a clue sheet, which will ask a question for each control. The controls and clues will be very easy to spot when you are in the correct location.
Each control is assigned a point value (10, 20, 30 or 40 points). Generally the ones further away are worth more points. The aim is to score as many points as possible, within the given time limit, by visiting as many controls as you can. You do not need to visit the controls in a specific order. You chose your own route based on how far you think you can run in the time available.
The time limit is 60 minutes – try to keep within this limit, as you will be penalised points if you are late getting back! If you don’t want to run for a full 60 minutes you can always come back earlier.
Please bring a pen and a stop watch with you. The pen will be required to write down the answers to clues when you arrive at a control. The stop watch is required to ensure you stay with in the 60 minute time limit.
We will be allowing people to go out in small groups (1, 2 or 3). This will allow people to help each other with the map reading. If you have not already organised a group to run with, come along on the night and we can match people together.
While there are 60 minutes available to visit controls, it is unlikely that you will spend the whole time running. There will be time taken reading the map and answering clues. You will most likely find yourself running harder between controls and then getting rest while you find the exact location for the control or decide on your next path. How far you run will be decided by your own pace and map reading ability.
The controls are all around Berrylands, Surbiton and Tolworth in areas where club frequently runs. As such it will be difficult to get totally lost and you should always be able to find your way back to the running club.
Hopefully this will be a fun event for everyone to try out. If you have any further questions please let me know and I will try to answer them.
See you all Wednesday!
Rich
Sample Street-O Map – the control locations shown here are where we do hill sessions.
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