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Orienteering Bloopers

Show Profile  Claire Paterson Posted: 2 August 2008, 3:00 PM  
Hi... I am interested in hearing some Orienteering "blooper" stories - what I mean by this is things that may be funny or painful to the orienteer that, if caught on tape, would be funny to an audience...

So far I can think of the following:
- stuck in an electric fence
- miss judging jumping over a log, clipping foot, going flying head over heals
- running through pine forest and foot sinking into soft hole, falling over
- running down steep hill and end up rolling down out of control
- doing a 180 out of a control site
- sinking into a swamp
- slipping over in mud
...
Please help me out with ideas here - personal stories would be great too...

Show Profile  ML Posted: 2 August 2008, 3:46 PM  
The best one I can think of is the video of Paul Frith coming down carnage hill and face planting at the bottom. Someone must have a copy of that somewhere

Show Profile  Marquita G Posted: 2 August 2008, 6:53 PM  
Something which happened to me in Sweden, and to Erin Roberts, my rogaine partner in the recent NZ Rogaine; running along and completely disappearing into a very large, man-sized hole. It was a swamp that I vanished into and a fortunately extinct thermal thing that Erin fell victim to. Would have looked very funny on tape.

Show Profile  mick finn Posted: 3 August 2008, 4:00 PM  
Mistook a dashed line for a track in a 12 hour rogaine. Turned out that there was no track - it was the "Great Dividing Range" of eastern australia and after several hours trying to descend through rainforest, losing both maps in the lawyer vines, we crashed on a patch of rock for 40 minutes. Woke up with about 50 leeches attached to my lower legs. Had to put newspaper down at home to catch the blood. Cured my rare blood disease though.

Show Profile  Chris Posted: 5 August 2008, 3:57 PM  
An orienteer who shall not be named slipped backwards down a steep gully at Te Awanga and landed more or less upside down in a patch of blackberry. Unable to extricate themselves from the firm grasp of the brambles, they had to wait for a rescue team to pull them out.

Show Profile  Dave Barr Posted: 6 August 2008, 5:36 AM  
After dropping the field myself and Matt Backler were involved in a tight tussle on the first leg of an NZSS relay one year - 1996 I think - at Ngapuketurua in Woodhill. I hit the second to last control about half a second before him and BOOM! I was gone. He followed straight after me and after a balls out sprint we came across a track where no track should have been. Not surprising as neither of us had looked at our maps or our compasses. Both of us were looking up and down the track and trying to orientate ourselves and I started jogging up the track when I saw the start triangle and realised we had both overshot the last control, the finish, the event centre, and the car park. We both took off and while Matt was a little more circumspect I ran right up the start channel into the transition area, leaped the tape into the finish shoot and ran up the markings back to the last control. As we were the first finishers on the day everybody was suitably confused as we raced each other to the last control, clipped, turned around again with me extending to about a 10m lead by the finish.

That's right. I thrashed Matt Backler in a finishing sprint.

Oh Yeah.

Show Profile  Neil K Posted: 6 August 2008, 6:07 AM  
Dave thats not a blooper, that sounds like pure glory, extended for the crowd to witness your immense skill and speed.

Show Profile  SimonB Posted: 8 August 2008, 6:00 AM  
that was an awesome story

Show Profile  mick finn Posted: 17 September 2008, 8:08 AM  
Hey, cool - any more amazing tales like that out there - the ones that got way? Send em to me and I'll try and preserve them for all posterity in A4 format in the mag.
mickosfinn@gmail.com (has lots of space for associated pictures)

Show Profile  HeadHoncho Posted: 19 September 2008, 4:00 AM  
My personal favourites in a blooper-filled career:

1. Running into a road barrier nearly slicing my thumb off whilst reading the map - felt pretty stupid until a guy came and sat next to me in A and E who had just run over his foot with a lawn mower

2. Not punching a manned control in a World Cup race due to the Norwegian lass manning the control sitting there in a bikini top

Show Profile  Claireabell Posted: 20 September 2008, 5:14 AM  
Hi guys, I am looking for a gorgeous blonde fit-looking scandinavian girl to use in some short orienteering videos. If you know anyone fitting this description in Auckland please let me know. Prefeably with a good running style but not essential...

Show Profile  Old Timer Posted: 20 September 2008, 9:26 AM  
Sounds like it will be a very realistic video, portraying O in NZ as it really is (!)

But then it might get the young blokes' attention, so not a bad idea.



Show Profile  Claire Paterson Posted: 21 September 2008, 2:00 PM  
The idea is not to portray a realistic version but to create something that gets people talking and changes the current perceptions of 'uncool' and 'geeky' - the sport originated in Sweden, so why not portray that... plus there is much more to the plan anyway...

Show Profile  Neil K Posted: 22 September 2008, 12:31 AM  
Damn she is building an army to take over the world with gorgeous blonde fit-looking scandinavian orienteering girls. We must stop her?

Show Profile  Claire Paterson Posted: 22 September 2008, 11:13 AM  
Mwaahahahaha.....(How did you guess!!??)

Show Profile  onemanfanclub Posted: 23 September 2008, 2:49 AM  
>We must stop her?

er.....why???


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