[ARDF] [Adam's RadiO Diary]Day 16 – Equipment testing and Opening Ceremony + weblinks

[Adam Scammell]

Day 17 – HF competition.
We woke up at 5.30am (yawn) and headed down to breakfast. It was a very
still crisp morning, as usual everyone was quiet and kept to
themselves. The 7-8 busses that transported us all departed just after
7am for the 1-hour trip. Police escort / roadblocks in the city here
provided for a quick get away. We traveled out of town and through
mostly farming area before climbing up to Boskovice then through the
pine like forest to more farmland and a town called Nemcise. We had
been previously advised that competition would be on a relative
plateau, and that the finish line would be a sporting complex at the
bottom of a steep decline. The start was a soccer field and we set up
camp in the shade. (We were soon forced out into the sun to get warm).
We were called up in order of country to have our receivers impounded,
this was near the start some 500M walk. This impounding is standard and
is to stop people taking bearings prior to their start time. The first
start was due at 9am however it was delayed by 30 minutes. Bryan was
due to start at 10am, Bruce at 10:30 and I had the longest wait
starting at 11.10am. The wait didn’t so much bother me, after Bruce
left I wondered over the US camp and waited with Bob C, Casaba, Vadim
and Gyuri. I soon got changed and prepared my self and applied heaps of
tick repellant. I warmed up and stretched and made use of the large
area to jog in. The nerves present in previous competitions were
somewhat absent. During the jog to the prep area (and receiver impound)
I had time to prepare myself mentally. I set my usual plan, head away
from the finish, for 4 minutes, if there are no transmitters, turn
around and re-assess. I collected my equipment then headed down to the
next tent where I received my map. I had a few problems fitting the
1:15,000 scale A3 map to my A4 map board but somehow managed. The
5-minute warning beep went off and I walked up to the start and watched
the other competitors disappearing down the corridor. I took this time
to study the map, it was big, there were several deep gullies running
across the map and in the north the plateau dropped off very abruptly
as suggested. The start was in the east and the finish Northwest. My
plan remained, head South West and collect any controls down there, and
then loop back.
A few notes: 8-9 competitors all leave at once, one from each age/sex
category with 2 exceptions, two M21 and 2 M40 (due to big number of
entries). This start coincides with the beginning of Tx 1, and thus
every 5 minutes competitors start. On the beep I was off, leading the
pack I soon found that Tx 1 was as anticipated in the direction as
expected thus galvanising my plan. When Tx 2 came on it was roughly
north and reasonably strong but I dismissed it as something for the way
home. Three came on and was west and quite strong, 4 west and weak then
5 which was very weak and towards the finish. I seemed to leapfrog the
other M21, a German who also started with me, although the third
bearing for Tx 1 that I took contradicted one of his and we parted
company about 500M from the Tx. I headed around a thick pine area only
to find that he had made the right decision and I the wrong. I found Tx
1 on its next cycle (distance 3.2Km), and then headed off or Tx 3 (it
was next strongest after all) I hadn’t looked at my map or the
bearings at this stage. I lost contact with the map at this stage but
didn’t waste anytime collecting Tx 3 just after it turned off in a
little over 13 minutes. Next was Tx 4 I was a bit quicker on this one
again not really knowing where I was although I did find it in 10
minutes just before it turned off (I later discovered this to be the
wrong order). Soon after this I located myself on the map using some
good paths and big open areas. Not having many good bearing’s for Tx
2 or Tx 5 and thinking that Tx 5 then Tx 2 was the correct order I
headed off for Tx 5, losing map contact mid-way, it was much further
than expected and I found it in 26 minutes. I then headed Southeast for
Tx 2 and again found it with very little wasted time in 17 minutes. Now
the big slog back to the finish. Not knowing where on the map I was I
used the homing beacon and made good time. This however was hampered by
a few thick pine plantations. Halfway back I was very surprised when I
stumbled on Tx 5, a very raw realization that I had really stuffed it
up. I pushed on, finding a not so ideal route to the finish (which I
later discovered to be the way many traveled). I avoided the
embarrassing of running past the finish area by staying on a track high
on the hillside and thus remaining out of view. Punching the finish
beacon (a new rule included for spectating / media purposes) I
plummeted down and into the 20cm deep river crossing, then almost
crawled up the steep slope on the other side (I did overtake someone
though). (photo of Bryan here:
http://www.wch2004ardf.com/admin/img/galerie/25.jpg) This was followed
by a drop down the seating then a run most of the way around the
sporting complex to the finish line. On finishing I found that I was in
39th place or something in just less than 2 hours. Bruce was first for
the Aussies in 106minutes, 7 minutes ahead of me, Bryan was about 20
minutes behind me. The finish area was quite impressive with 2 large
video monitors (the larger of them about 4M across was suspended by a
crane). These showed video feeds from the creek crossing, as well as
the finish line, and included the finish time and position of
competitors as they finished. Each control had a radio link to the
finish providing officials with split times of competitors as they find
each control. A flower ceremony followed which was really just a media
stunt as the real medals were handed out later at the Uni. Dinner was
uneventful and was followed by the medal ceremony at 8pm. I checked
email during the break and had a look at the age website, I was
saddened and shocked to read of the Australian Embassy bombing in
Indonesia, Thanks Johnny W Howard your doing a great job… The medal
giving became monotonous after awhile, Czech, Ukraine and Russia traded
places for medals and every now and then shared them with Germany or
Slovakia. Each category was followed by the national anthem of the
respective country. I retired to bed mid way. Bryan tells me the team
medals were similar affair although Kazakhstan was allowed into the mix
receiving bronze in the junior female category.

Official website: http://www.wch2004ardf.com
Photo Gallery: http://www.wch2004ardf.com/galerie.php?flag=us&what=3
Streamed video (live): http://www.livebox.cz/orientacni-beh/
Live results: http://online.wch2004ardf.com
My reports and photos: http://www.ardf.org.au/wc/adam.htm (emailed
latest files home to be updated by Steve as I can't FTP from here)

Please note competiton begins Tomorow at 5.30am and will finish about
11:30am.
(Times stated in Melbourne time)
Bryan starts at 5.50pm, Bruce at 7pm and I start at 8.05pm (I think)
Finish line webcam and results available live during this time
The flower ceremony (awards) will be about midnight
The awards will be at 4am-6am (4-5 individual 5-6 teams)

Now I am off to the park (non competitive) event on 80M..


	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail 

_______________________________________________
Wc mailing list
Wc at ardf.org.au
http://ardf.org.au/mailman/listinfo/wc_ardf.org.au