VODÁK sport | speciálka na lodě a běžky

Paddler in a forest or: Orienteering – is that a good idea? What kind of idea is that anyway? When a friend told me that there is a regional orienteering race in Damborice near Brno, I didn’t even think about taking part in it. Actually, I used to do orienteering, but ten years ago I took part in my last race. Since then I have only paddled. When a friend told me: “Let’s go for a run”, I thought of possible excuses... but there wasn’t any good paddling opportunity, so I at least promised to discuss the matter with my wife hoping she would reject it. But she didn’t... she decided to go to a family trip... so we went to Damborice. I rummaged out my old outfit, shoes, a chip, but not a compass. I borrowed two compasses at my mum’s, to choose the better one, and we set out. The wine area to the south of Brno didn’t frighten me. It should have been flat... but... it wasn’t. Steep valleys, high hills... and what’s more, I decided not to be a chicken and entered for the most difficult race. So I had to run 10.5 kilometres (as the crow flies) and 500 vertical metres. Fearing the worst we arrived to Damborice. Surprisingly I knew many people there, who also remembered me... Evidently most of the people who used to run races ten years ago still run. Filling in the application form I had asked to start early... seeing the starting list I was astounded. Starting time 120 minutes put me right to the third half :-) of the field. That meant I would remain alone in the forest and be late for finish. So I had plenty of time before the start, which was about one kilometre away. In the meanwhile I accompanied my children, who were getting off to the forest along ribbons. Having fifty more minutes to the start I was warming up my body and running around to kill time. I found a small meadow with ripe strawberries. Honestly! Now in October! Some were in bloom, some white and some red, so I pretty refreshed before the start. Oh Marouckla, strawberries are common in winter even without the Twelve Months :-) Two minutes to the start I was looking at descriptions of checkpoints. Some pictograms (pictures describing position of the checkpoints in the forest) had slightly changed since I had done orienteering. I was looking... southwest corner of dense wood...which one was that in reality...ah, I missed my compass...I had left both compasses in my car. So after an hour of waiting, when I could have run for the compass dozen times, I would run without it. That was a good one! I hadn’t seen a map for ten years and I wouldn’t even know where the north was. Fortunately, it was noon and the Sun was exactly in the south. That calmed me down a bit. I got off to the forest a bit confused, but running. The first checkpoint was right in a hillside, so I was at the end of my tether before I reached it. There were only twenty-seven more of them... :-) Checkpoint three was at the bottom of a hole. Some runner overtook me while I was looking for it... The race went quite well. I had to watch the way carefully... without the compass :o), so not to get lost very often. I tripped over from time to time... I forgot to tread from height which is necessary for running in forests. From time to time I slogged my way through thick wood, which should have been passable, or crawled up a hill on all fours. Somewhere in the middle of the track I felt great, running quite fast and finding one checkpoint after another... I thought I had limbered up already and remembered how to read the map correctly... At that moment I got to a small plateau covered by tall open deciduous forest – shedded. A maze of footpaths and forest aisles that should have stopped me and helped me to find the next checkpoint was covered by fallen leaves. So, I got lost at last. I roamed through the area where I had expected to find the checkpoint. I found only a small plastic bottle with some water. I was so thirsty that I opened it and examined its content... hopefully it was drinking water :-) It was mineral water... I didn’t know where it had come form, but it gave me strength... and I even found the checkpoint that was only few steps away. I got quite close to it without the compass, so I wasn’t much lost. I was hardly able to move... checkpoint fourteen... half of the track... great!!! time - forty minutes... I was quite satisfied. I had set out to run under one hundred... it could come out well... I continued. I followed a rule in hills... don’t stop or you never reach the finish :-) At last, I was approaching the place I had been looking for during the whole race - the refreshing point. If only it had been there... I still couldn’t see it although I was nearly there. Perhaps I was last in the forest and the refreshing point had already been cleared away... how terrible... But suddenly... I saw a table with cups behind a bush. I took two cups at once :-) Super. Running merrily down a hill to checkpoint nineteen... I wasn’t sure about its sign in the description. A cross in a circle could be either a fallen or distinctive tree. A green cross in the map... I knew only a brown cross meaning a fallen tree... perhaps it’s a distinctive tree... I ran through the forest hoping I would bump into the checkpoint... I couldn’t se it. I could see only a couple of thick trees, perhaps that was it... it wasn’t... and behold a fallen tree and the checkpoint at it... excellent... Other checkpoints were quite easy to find. At checkpoint twenty-five I met first runners since the third checkpoint... a group of three runners passed me quickly. It would have normally annoyed me, but I was pleased instead. I wasn’t the last in the forest, so there still would be the finish line... And there was :-)) Hooray!!! I survived with time 97 miin. My wife and children collected me there, if only they had already been stronger. They could have carried me to our car :-) I got a slip of paper with the result: 35th out of 48... very nice. I wasn’t last. Now, it’s time to decide whether it was a good idea. My legs will certainly still hurt in a week’s time, also a five-crown- coin-sized blister on my heel is anything but pleasant, I awfully laboured in the hills... on the other hand I didn’t get lost too much and running through the forest was quite pleasant. So, I would tend to say it was a good idea. But once in ten years it’s enough :-) Paddling is simply better!!!!!