Report by Ben Bardsley (Hertfordshire Orienteering Club)
Hertfordshire Orienteering Club (HH) were delighted to run its first face-to-face, on-the-night Street-O event since 2019.
Pre-lockdown, HH ran weekly Street-O events throughout Summer but when this became impossible in 2020, the Club started using the MapRun app to provide new Street-O events to members (if they could run locally): “DIY Street-O”. These were very successful with thirty one new courses provided all around the county to cater for the desire to navigate whilst running.
The recent easing of lockdown gave us the opportunity to try an on-the-night event with all runners completing the same course on the same evening. The big advantage of on-the-night orienteering (as well as the chance to catch up with friends) was the ability to withhold the map until timing start, as opposed to DIY Street-O where the map is printed at home and pre-planning the optimum route is possible. By protecting the map in MapRun with a PIN, competitors didn’t see the map until they received the physical map from the Organiser meaning they had to plan their route with the clock running, re-introducing the skill of planning on-the-run back into the event.
For this first event, in Harpenden South, we had eighteen competitors – a good first turnout at short notice – and a nice dry evening made for an enjoyable run, along with an opportunity for some welcome post-race route comparison and conversation.
Future events are already arranged for the upcoming weeks and an (almost) normal, very welcome Summer of Tuesday evening Street-O beckons.
What worked well?
Were there any downsides?
What might we do differently?
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