News from KFO
FVO SOL 2 Trossachs on 02-Apr-2017
Trossachs SOL2 event - absolute mandatory attendance required for this Grade A area that requires good map reading, absolute surety on location and not a little physical fitness. Anti-slip shoes for the downhill bog runs should be an optional extra.
SOL2 from FVO lived up to the promise and excellent weather provided a great day out.
The Pre-O was a good test as the markers were difficult to see due to the trees springing into leaf in the last two weeks, so I do not know if I even spotted all the control flags to work out the definition of the one I thought was on the right feature - or not at all. If you have not tried this Pre-O challenge, then do have a go on the way to the start of a SOL. Add about 15 mins to your travel to the Start so you can take the time without stress.
As for the event - well, the only handrails in the area are one path, one overhead power line on one side and streams. There are thousands of bogs and marshes so parallel errors are just waiting for the unwary. From the start today, it was straight into the terrain with contour reading the prime requirement. Assimilating the crags and re-entrants to the map was essential and compass a must to keep direction. One re-entrant looks much like another, so keeping the line very important. being able to run anywhere is a rare plus and deep heather and very slippy slopes tended to slow progress. Ignoring what others were doing was an essential tool in the bag as well. Contouring was a challenge due to steep slopes and underfoot ground sometimes rare in the birch woods as fallen trees covered with heather and deep moss caught out the unwary with unseen holes. All this does not seem a very good advert for the not so confident, but the courses were excellent and measured very well against the technical difficulty required. Short legs and long legs abounded and along with the parallel marshes keeping half an eye on the compass all the time was good technique. It was never so important to spot that tree in the distance to aim for whilst assessing distance against the next turning point.
All too difficult - not a bit of it. This area is what true orienteering is all about - navigation without strong line features and route choice all the time, something that does not usually test for a whole course, but it does here. That's why this area is so demanding and enjoyable at the same time.
My time today of 82.43 for 3.9k and 300m climb appears not to be all that great, but looking back to 2010, 4.8k took me 82.23, so I am slowing down just a bit. Errors were made in today's run - parallel errors and lack of concentration, but what a joy is this area. Whilst I would go back tomorrow for another run, we cannot be using this area too frequently otherwise it will lose its challenge and attraction.
Phil
FVO SOL 2 Trossachs on 02-Apr-2017
Short Brown | 5.6k | 465m | 68:04 | |||
Jari Pekkarinen | M50 | 21/32 | 96:47 | |||
Short Blue | 3.8k | 300m | 66:29 | |||
Phil Smithard | M70 | 16/45 | 82:43 | |||
Green | 2.8k | 240m | 37:42 | |||
Rab Philp | M70 | 10/68 | 49:58 | |||
Short Green | 2.2k | 180m | 41:25 | |||
Les Smithard | M65 | 11/38 | 60:58 | |||
Heather Smithard | W65 | rtd | ||||
Orange | 1.8k | 130m | 24:11 | |||
Megan Pekkarinen | W12 | 8/21 | 35:44 |
Full results for the 396 competitors are on FVO website