Thinking about Rock...

Thought I might gradually go through a few of my navigation lessons from the weekends events, which were among others things the final of New Zealand's Super Series for another year. The Super Series was dominated and won by Lizzie Ingham in the womens and Darren Ashmore in the men.

The first race of the weekend was on rolling farmland punctuated by outcrops of ignimbrite rock. Making for some fast running and some detailed technical navigation. The first six controls are on the map excerpt below...

No 1: My map is orientated, I am at the start triangle, jumping a fence (not marked on the map of course) and contouring down to the cliff. The obvious attackpoint is the white triangle of vegetation directly below the cliff.

No 2: When navigating in rocky areas the most important map features are the brown ones, the contours. I was stoked to see the control description for what looked like a potentially detailed circle read "gully". Attack from above and its easy.

No 3: The terrain was looking too fast to veer off to the track, and again reading the contours I could see the control was on the rock outcrops on a spur. Coming in slightly from the right, no worries.

No 4: Quick decision to the left, it looks faster on the ground. Make sure to go back up after the first patch of green.

No 5: Same as above but a water tank to give the control away. Sometimes people stop reading things like water tanks/tracks/fences etc. Your only goal is to get the control the fastest and safest way possible.

No 6: Bearing, track, second line of rocks (rocks often sit in lines or clusters that you can simplify to aid navigation)....and off on a longer leg...