Question for Tony

"The Trailrunner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Tony, I know you do orienteering type stuff but have you ever done/heard
about a metrogaine? I've never done one as doing one in the woods never
appealed to me, but for some reason this peaked my interest
<http://www.nightanddaychallenge.com/details.asp> Any tips about what I
might want to learn before hand appreciated.

I've done ROGAINEs before (rugged outdoor group activity involving
navigation and endurance), and I've heard about metro orienteering events,
but wasn't aware of metro ROGAINEs.

Looking over the website, while it says you only need to know how to read a
common streetmap, it goes on to say the map being used won't have all street
names and might not be up to date, etc. It's a topo USGS map, so I would
approach it as a wilderness map with lots of roads on it -- AND I would
definitely bring my compass and know magnetic north (this is usually
overlaid on ROGAINE and orienteering maps) for the map.

The main thing with ROGAINE is to first decide how seriously you're going to
take it. Will it be a fun night out or do you want to run the whole thing.
The difference will be in your overall ambition to collect more (or all of
the checkpoints) or just some of them. Pick a partner who is matched to your
running ability and ambition for the event.

Next, get last year's map, and last year's "course" (all checkpoints shown
on the map), if possible. This will give you some idea of possible routes to
take, and let you study various paths through the checkpoints to minimize
both distance and elevation gain in order to bag the most in the least
amount of time (e.g. before the time limit is up). You normally get very
stiff penalties for being late, and DQed if you arrrive still later, so time
and course path management are important.

With many ROGAINES, you will be given a map study period of 30 minutes or
something before the official start, and you use that to plan your potential
route with your partner/team. The main thing is to watch for elevation
change, minimize distance, but also to look at a general direction of what
areas of the map you'll visit in what sequences -- giant loops with some
"S"ing in areas works pretty well. Decide what areas will be best to tackle
in daylight and either do those right away, or leave them for morning.

Also, avoid the closest checkpoint first, save it for last if possible, or
you'll be waiting in line there after the start. Note that if you don't
think you can get all the checkpoints within the given time, or if you
decide sometime during the course to not go for them all, bag the highest
point ones and skip the low point ones (obvious, but when you're planning
your general route keep that in mind too). In wilderness ROGAINEs sometimes
one or two teams get all the points, but most teams are wise to pick a
subset of the course to consider.

With a map that might be out of date, keep the map oriented to the terrain
at all times, and mentally check distances as you run so that you'll be
aware if a corner has come too soon and might be a new street not on the
map. I'm suggesting that you read the map terrain and contours first, and
match the streets secondarily. As you go, you'll get much more used to
matching distance on the map with real distance, but focus heavily on
reading map contours and matching the map to the terrain early on while it's
light. That way when it gets dark you'll be much more able to keep going
strong.

If you do get lost street names and contours will help you immensely - being
out in the woods somewhere in the fog at night is very different - but don't
immediately start running to find a street junction. Orient the map, look at
the map contours try to match that to the terrain, and think. You can waste
a lot of time running around freaking out. ROGAINE is really fun - it's like
a treasure hunt running race. In ROGAINE and orienteering, you have a score
sheet that you punch to verify that you found the checkpoints (now
electronic in orienteering). In this one, you have to write down answers -
sounds like teams could collaborate and cheat. (Oh don't forget your
hydration, food, and flashlight to read the map).

Lastly, right after you finish, sit down with your partner and trace your
route on the maps with a highlighter. A big part of the fun is reliving the
whole thing in your visual memory and retracing the course with the help of
the highlighted course map.

-Tony

Interesting, sounds like an "Urban Adventure Race". Would be fun to
imagine race sections requiring special skills such as: Skyscraper
Rappeling, Storm Drain Kayaking, Overpass Bungi Jumping etc. If I were
blissfully idle I could probably think of a few more. Seriously though,
sounds like fun. Could be a money maker for local (or regional) clubs.
Checkpoint sponsorship, Celebrity participation, ad nauseum. I'm sure
though that many participants would take things a bit more seriously.

Tony S. wrote:

Snip

Quoted message said:

I've done ROGAINEs before (rugged outdoor group activity involving
navigation and endurance), and I've heard about metro orienteering events,
but wasn't aware of metro ROGAINEs.

--
Quality is a function of design, materials, and craftsmanship.
Inspection can only confirm quality or reveal deficiencies.
In no case, can quality be inspected into anything.

"Wayne Conway" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Interesting, sounds like an "Urban Adventure Race". Would be fun to
imagine race sections requiring special skills such as: Skyscraper
Rappeling, Storm Drain Kayaking, Overpass Bungi Jumping etc.

Imagine if held in NYC. Cop some Coke in Manhattan, a baseball in the
Bronx, a tennis ball in Queens, some Zebra Muscles in Staten Island and
a poor person in the Hampton's on Long Island. 🙂

-DF

"Doug Freese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"Wayne Conway" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:SjPGf.100141$0G.8213@dukeread10...

Quoted message said:

Interesting, sounds like an "Urban Adventure Race". Would be fun to
imagine race sections requiring special skills such as: Skyscraper
Rappeling, Storm Drain Kayaking, Overpass Bungi Jumping etc.

Imagine if held in NYC. Cop some Coke in Manhattan, a baseball in the
Bronx, a tennis ball in Queens, some Zebra Muscles in Staten Island and
a poor person in the Hampton's on Long Island. 🙂

This metrogaine type of thing wouldn't be my idea of fun - pavement and all
that. OTOH, they've had regular orienteering meets in central park before.
In fact there's supposed to be one there on March 19th. Might be fun; I've
never gone to meets there.

-Tony

Tony,

Thanks for the tips! We're going to do it as a fun night on the "town"
so are't even thinking of being competitive. In fact the hardest part
might be keeping a couple of team members out out the clubs :-) We
decided to do the 7 hour this time and if we like it, maybe get
competitive with the 16 hour next year.

--
- The Trailrunner

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