Planning at Akbara
Friday, 9. October 2009, 19:36:57
I've just finished drawing the courses for our first national event of the season, which will be held in two weeks at Akbara, the site of last year's Israeli Championships, which I mapped and organised.
Planning the championships there was a major effort, given the small size of the map (about 1.6 km2), and I used a large number of controls while trying to create the best possible courses. This time I'm using less controls and less distance, and the courses won't be of the same quality - all the best legs were "burnt" by the previous event - but they should still be technically and physically demanding.
One of the challenges last year was planning the start and the finish for six competitive courses. All of them started onto a hilltop at the northern end of the map, from which they had to descend westwards due to a large cliff to the south-east. The first few controls for all the courses can be seen below:
The finish held a similar challenge - plan a final loop for all six courses from the spectator control (south-east of the finish), with only one possible direction to go: west and then back east. This is what it looked like:
I have to use the same assembly area and finish again, because there's no other option, but I don't have a spectator control this time, and the start is in a different direction. And, by coincidence, I'm flying out again on business on the night after the event.
Planning the championships there was a major effort, given the small size of the map (about 1.6 km2), and I used a large number of controls while trying to create the best possible courses. This time I'm using less controls and less distance, and the courses won't be of the same quality - all the best legs were "burnt" by the previous event - but they should still be technically and physically demanding.
One of the challenges last year was planning the start and the finish for six competitive courses. All of them started onto a hilltop at the northern end of the map, from which they had to descend westwards due to a large cliff to the south-east. The first few controls for all the courses can be seen below:
The finish held a similar challenge - plan a final loop for all six courses from the spectator control (south-east of the finish), with only one possible direction to go: west and then back east. This is what it looked like:
I have to use the same assembly area and finish again, because there's no other option, but I don't have a spectator control this time, and the start is in a different direction. And, by coincidence, I'm flying out again on business on the night after the event.
WIDGETIZE