X-Treme X-Country - The Fall 2003 Thomass Kickoff


Tools of the trade - Map, compass and whistle
Don't Get Lost - Spring 2003 RAID

Ever do something that, at the start, you are wondering why the heck you were there? I seem to do this a lot. The Fall 2003 Thomass Kickoff orienteering race was like that.

I regularly receive email from the Golden Horseshoe Orienteering Club with a list of upcoming club and regional events. There was a race on November 23, 2003 that I thought might be interesting, especially as I missed the Fall 2003 - RAID The Hammer race three weeks before.

The Thomass Kickoff had a 10:00 AM start and at $10.00 CDN, it was cheap. I was tempted to do an orienteering race and see if I still had legs and mind together. Besides, the other alternative was doing one of the Sunday morning runs with the Burlington Runners Club - getting up for 8:00 AM for 12-16 miles with the fast guys or 8:30 AM for an easy 10-14 miles with the slower pack.

I love running the trails in Sulphur Springs Conservation Area in Dundas Ontario, so once again, mud won out over reason. The Thursday before the race, I sent an email to someone I didn't know, who is a member of an orienteering club I didn't know existed, to participate in a race that I had a minimal idea of what I was supposed to do.

For those that don't know, Orienteering is basically point-to-point trail racing without the course laid out for you. As a runner, you get to decide how to get from the start line to the finish, within certain rules and limits. You make your own route, navigating to predetermined locations on a map, using a combination of roads, trails and bushwhacking. Some of the checkpoints (AKA CP's) are at the top of hills, in ravines (also known as re-entrants), hidden in gullies or stuck in the middle of nowhere. The terrain can cover anything from roads and single track to mud, marsh, streams, bush, woods, briars and hills (usually lots of hills) to get from point A to point B. The object is to collect the requisite checkpoints in the indicated order in the shortest time. It involves map reading, compass work and good route selection. Think of it as an introduction to adventure racing (eco-challenge for example) for the less adventurous.

I have orienteer'ed before; I participated in a few races while I was in high school. I have done the 25k team races in the spring and fall over the last three years, and I do ok with a compass and map.

However, this was a solo event and I didn't know anyone else there. There wasn't a single familiar face in the crowd. On top of that, it was a Thomass format race, whatever the heck that was.

As it turns out, Thomass is a way of handicapping an orienteering race based on your age and sex. Within certain areas marked on your map (boxes), you navigate to the total number of CP's in the box, minus your handicap. It's usually your choice as to which CP's you have to collect and which ones you ignore. This way the fast, young guys don't always win. Sometimes it's the fast and accurate older women.

Where road racers have the Championchip for timing, Orienteer'ers have the SPORTident (SI) system that allows them to not only check their total time but the splits between CPs. It's an orange plastic encased bit of electronics that looks like half a Popsicle stick with an elastic bit that you can wear on your finger. To me it felt like I was wearing the Green Lantern's ring (or in this case, should that be the Orange Lantern?) You find the checkpoint and you stuff the end of the ring in the hole of a plastic box, wait for the beep and your time is recorded on your SI chip. At the finish line, you stuff the business end in another box and your times are printed out or read by a computer. Neat technology.

I really felt out-classed while standing in the registration line. I heard people chatting about their latest race or what they did at this years RAID the North or any of a handful of other adventure races. Me? I had a lot of road races under my belt but minimal orienteering. What was I getting myself into? There I was, standing in my usual running gear, while most others looked like they were geared out for a daylong trek. It's said that clothes make the man and I felt like I had shown up to the office in my jeans and sneakers on a suit and tie day. Even my cross-country spikes were out of place; almost everyone else was wearing knobby trail running shoes.

At the pre-race instruction session, it turned out that a few of the experienced hands were just as confused as I was by the Thomass rules and symbols on the map indicating what the terrain a given CP was on. I didn't feel so dumb after all. I even got to drop a CP in the first "box", as this was my first Thomass. I think I'm starting to like this Thomass thing.

As with most of these types of events, it's a mass start and with that, mass confusion at the first CP. The course designers had made the first three CPs a "box", so I skipped the first check point, ran to the second CP, then ran back to the first, avoiding the line up of people trying to poke their ring into the timer.

The rest of the race was lots of fun. First I check the map, figuring out where to go next, then set my compass in the general direction and head off to the next CP. Up ski hills, through open bush, along roads and through a tunnel I ran (ok, so I walked up the ski hill). This was more open than I had expected but lots of fun trying to think on the run and adjusting plans once I saw what the terrain really looked like.

There were only two things that put a damper on a great days running.

First, I entirely missed a checkpoint; I swear that it wasn't on the map until after I keyed in at the finish. Darn, I figure that I DQ'ed this race. However, it was my fault and I should have taken more care planning my route and consulting the map. Note to self: Spend a few minutes consulting the map before starting and write your planned route down on the map and double check boxed zones for all check points before leaving the area.

The second is that it was just too short! With the course being approximately four miles, and with me just recovered from my second marathon this fall, I was just getting warmed up and into my stride when I hit the last two CPs. If I do any more of the Thomass series this winter, I'll be using them for my speed work, rather than my long run of the week.

With that being said, I can hardly wait for the rest of the series. Maybe I'll have to look into the cost of a pair of racing snowshoes for the January races.

By Mark G. Collis

Revised: May 16, 2004.