MDOC Street League 2013-14 - Event 4 - Glossop

Last night saw the coming together of 40-odd fluorescent clad runners in Glossop.  It was the 4th event for the Manchester District Orienteering Club (MDOC) in their Street League and being on my doorstep it was perfectly located. Ten Glossopdale Harriers were in the event so it was going to be a good test of local knowledge. I was taking part for fun with no expectation of getting a good rank, but as it turned out I was first Glossopdale in the Handicap results. I'm very happy with that, especially after a slight disappointment of losing 50 points - three incorrect check points to blame for there!.

Starting from Norfolk Square the event was very friendly and relaxed. No mass start, just each person dibbing in turn at the start, being handed a map and setting of in a direction of their choosing. I left just before Tim and decided to head onto very much home turf...up onto Shirebrook. I was initially confused by the scale of the map (1:12500) - twice as big as I'm used to looking at. The map also doesn't have street names, or major landmarks like churches so even for locals there is some element of challenge.

Then came the route choice decisions to get the best point values, remembering what some of the clues meant, such as 'H on TP', and occasionally getting slightly (but temporarily) displaced. So much for local knowledge helping! I think the pressure of 'racing', even though I wasn't, and the clock ticking caused a few not-so-intelligent route choices. I didn't make any major errors, but could have definitely been slicker in places.

Anyway, I cleared all of the check points on Shirebrook, took a couple near Pye Grove then over the very muddy fields to Old Glossop. I cleared all but one in that area then got a couple more around High Street East (should have got those on the way up to Shirebrook). I kept a watchful eye on the clock, still enough time to grab some more. I do find it hard to judge distance and approximate travel time whilst on the move...that's the pressure of racing that must surely get easier with more practice.

I then worked my way around the cricket ground, finding a path I've never been down before, under the railway to the football ground then grabbed a couple more CPs off High Street West before heading back to the finish. A very welcome mince pie was awarded to all finishers, Tim coming in just a few minutes after me and looking like he was going the win the prize for muddiest runner of the night.

Looking at the map afterwards I could have got more points by going that little bit further (the beauty of slow deliberation over a pint!). Again, more experience gives you the confidence to make those decisions. But, I only had 4 minutes spare so I'm pleased with what I did. Totting up my score afterwards I had a healthy 990 points...reduced to 940 for the incorrect three CPs.

Provisional results are on the MDOC website here. I hadn't realised that the final positions would be based on points per hour...so the guy who came first only went out for 45 minutes. Good to see a few youngsters out with parents, and several familiar faces from Pennine, Stockport and Goyt. Many thanks to Grahame (organiser) and his band of helpers, superb event - can we have another in Glossop soon?

Here's a link to Tim's blog about this event.