Report from Karen Parker
Last weekend ShUOC and SYO put on the the on the inaugural “Steel City Cup” . It started on Saturday with an indoor event at the Student Union building, followed by a 4-leg 2-person relay in a complex, multi-level housing estate SE of the city. Then on Sunday, there was regional event at Ramsley Moor near Baslow which came as a relief from so much thinking on Saturday. Complex calculations based on age class and course produced overall results for the weekend.
Having done an indoor event before (even if very badly) in Edinburgh, and studied the map of a Swedish event in the recent edition of Compass Sport, I thought I was ready for Saturday’s course. I couldn’t have been more wrong and had to give up halfway round (after an hour for 8 controls!) because I thought courses were closing (well it’s a good excuse). In addition to the the complexities of how the staircases linked the floors together, there were the extra complications of one-way passages, artificial boundaries and an outdoor section which you entered at one level and left at another. Some people coped well of course, but there were plenty of us standing still, or even sitting down on convenient sofas, muttering to ourselves as we frantically tried to work out a possible route to the next control. The key, apparently, is to work backwards, but you do have to remember that one-way passages are the other way round when you do that. On one control I went round the same loop of staircase three times in my attempt to solve the problem which, according to Einstein (allegedly), makes me official insane.
If you want to have a go at working out the best/only possible route between controls, look at the legend to see what the colours on the staircases mean. You also need to know that you can exit the building at Level 3 (just NE of number 2), run round the outside of the building and re-enter at point E on level 2. (This is only the first half of the course – there were another 8 controls on the other side)
The event was mapped and planned by my nephew Matthew (ShUOC). He did admit later that he had tried to make it as hard as possible; he is still on my Christmas present list though that was definitely in doubt as I failed to find the way to number 8.
Nearly 250 people took part including three BL members. I’ve already confessed to giving up, but Dan and Jane both managed to get round their courses, though neither threatened the winners.
Results from the indoor event can be seen here.
There are no relay results or Routegadget yet but they will probably appear on the same page.
Results and Routegadget from the Sunday event are here.
Border Liners Orienteering Club 