ADVENTURE RUNNING 101

While this page is still under construction it will be you and your team's first stop for navigation tips, examples of past Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Adventure Running Series maps and more. Come back and watch this site grow.

ADVENTURE RUNNING 101: THE RACE

Q) What can our team expect in a typical RAID course?

A) Lots of mud, lots of running, climbing, some fast road running sections, some gnarly rocky trail sections, navigation and more. Check out these two video slideshows to give you a better idea of what to expect.

Click  to launch the youtube video.

Click to load the MXRCanada web site. Then click play to see the Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Giant's Rib Raid video from the 2008 MXRCanada qualifiers.

ADVENTURE RUNNING 101: THE MAP

Q) What types of maps are used in the races?

A) We generally use maps that are a lot more detailed than a typical topo or trail map. Maps are generally 1:15,000 with 5m contour intervals and include all traills, major rivers, cliffs, and other features. Here is a copy of a map used in a recent Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Raid the Hammer. Shown on the map are red circles denoting the location of the checkpoints (CPs). CP M on this map is located in a small valley on a large hillside.

ADVENTURE RUNNING 101: THE PACE

Q) What pace do participants run at? oh yeah and how do people run while looking at their map?

A) Well the top teams can be expected to take about 3 hours to complete our ~25K RAID course. Running in the forest is a lot slower than road or trail running and our races usually have their fair share of rocky ground or calf killing climbs.... and remember you need to navigate too. Check out these 'Follow Me' YouTube videos of World Orienteering Champion Thierry Gueorgiou showing how fast some tough navigation can be executed in the forest (Follow Me Video I) and in the city (Follow Me Video II).

ADVENTURE RUNNING 101: NAVIGATION TIPS
We asked some of the past winners of our RAIDS for a few navigation tips and we've summarized them below. Golden Horseshoe Orienteering offers our Dontgetlost.ca Navigation Clinics and we also have additional navigation tips on this web site. Take a clinic, practice our nav tips and check out our training events and your team will save lots of time on the race course. Also check out this interview about navigation with Barb Campbell (2010 Dontgetlost.ca Athlete of the Year).

TIP #1 DIRECTION - ORIENTING THE MAP: The MOST IMPORTANT RULE for navigation is “Always keep your map oriented”. Hold your map so that the features on the map are aligned with the features in the terrain. You can use the terrain to orient your map, or your compass. Be careful not to orient your map to south (a.k.a. “Doing a 180”).

TIP #2 DIRECTION – TAKING A COMPASS BEARING: Place the compass on the map and align the base plate with the direction of the travel lines in the desired direction of travel (you are using the long edge of the compass to make a line between where you are and where you want to go). Turn the compass housing until the lines in the house align with the newly drawn magnetic north on the map. Make sure that the north end of the housing lines correspond to the north meridian lines. With the compass off the map and holding the compass at waist level directly in front of you, turn your body (not the map) until the compass needle aligns with the housing lines. Make sure that the red end of the needle lines up with the north end of the housing. Follow the direction of the travel arrow, straight ahead.

TIP #3 DISTANCE JUDGEMENT: How do you judge distance? Determine your pace count! To determine your pace count…. Find a section of woods and trail with a known distance. Walk, jog, or run this section of known distance. Count every second step (every second step is one pace). Calculate the number of paces per 100m. Use the MAP SCALE to determine distance between points. Convert the distance to your PACE COUNT.

TIP #4 CHOOSING A ROUTE: When choosing a route between checkpoints look for the following IMPORTANT features: HANDRAILS - A linear feature such as a trail, field edge, fence, ridge or long hill. You run along these features, which are parallel to your selected route. CATCHING FEATURES - These can act as a warning that you are near, or beyond what you are looking for. Examples: trails, large valleys, rivers etc. ATTACKPOINTS - Find a large feature that may be easier to locate near what you will be looking for. You can then use this feature to “attack” the checkpoint. CONTOURS - Close together = steep; far apart = flat. Top of hill is drawn as a circle or oval. Look for tops of the hills and water features at bottom of hills.

TIP #5 PLOTTING CHECKPOINTS: Checkpoints (also known as CP’s) are normally plotted on your map for you. These are red circles and the location of the feature that you are navigating to is at the middle of the red circle. You must visit checkpoints in order. The only exception to this rule is in the Axis Gear Matrix section of the race where CPs can be visited in any order. On the back of each map is a Race Description sheet that provides you information about the checkpoint. In some races teams will be required to plot the location of checkpoints. Teams will be given Grid Reference Points (GRP) for these CPs. GRPs use the UTM easting and northing system [example: GRP #561317] where the first three digits (561) are the EASTING (this means that the CP is located at an easting reading of 56.1). The second three digits (317) are the NORTHING (this means that the CP is located at a northing reading of 31.7). Putting the two together and you can locate where the CP is.