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In The Right Direction – Good Advice For First-Time Adventure Racers
By Editor | September 12, 2008
Wilderness navigation is what puts the adventure in adventure racing. But it’s also what intimidates many neophyte racers the prospect of thrashing through the woods, increasingly lost, while your former friends lament your inability with a map and compass. A little training and thought, explains an adventure race veteran LAWRENCE, can improve your success at orientation, navigation and route-finding.
PLAN YOUR RACE
Sketch a plan before it begins by marking your intended route on the map with a key piece of gear: a highlighter.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Don’t design a twisty route. Identify “back stops” (such as rivers, ravines or roads) that will locate you instantly and can be followed.
TRUST YOUR EQUIPMENT
First-timers often tap their compasses and twist their maps in frustration. They’ve likely let the land “pull” them instead of following a true bearing. I’ve only encountered five maps out of thousands that didn’t present accurate information. And a compass is only as good as the person using it.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
If you change your route mid-race, establish yourwhereabouts before continuing. That might mean retracing your steps to your last confirmed spot.
DON’T TAG ALONG
You can collaborate with other teams but make your own decisions. Some experienced racers will lead you astray if they think they’re being followed.
TRAIN FOR THE TERRAIN
Constantly ask yourselves, “Can we have gone this far without reaching the checkpoint?” To answer that, you need to know how quickly your group travels a distance over different terrain. Train together and record your average speeds. Rely on these estimates, not anxious second-guessing, to gauge if you’ve travelled far enough.
SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY
Two or even three or four navigators are better than one, Time keepers, bearing takers, elevation estimators and map readers are all important roles, so everyone can take a navigational responsibility if they feel up to it. After all, the goal is to finish as a team.
LEARN FROM THE MASTERS
Orienteering clubs can help hone skills. David Seidman’s The Essential Wilderness Navigator provides the basics in a book.
Lawrence is the captain of Team Salomon Canada and the national training manager for Frontier Adventure Racing.
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