DUNDURN NAVIGATION MARATHON

April 22, 2005

Dundurn is a small community about 30km south of Saskatoon. About 5km NW of the town is an army base, Camp Dundurn. Associated with the camp is about 155 square kms. of land used for exercises. Mark Rosin is a Major in the Army cadet program and has seen competitions in Europe that he thought would be suited for the area. He took one aspect of a military competition and made his own, tailored for Camp Dundurn. The first year involved only Cadets and regular Army, for the last two years civilians have been invited to compete.

The competition involves navigating using 1/40000 scale maps in a Rogaine style, collect as many CPs as you can in the time allotted. It takes place over a 24 hr period and has 3 separate sessions. To add to the challenge, each team of two has to carry their shelter, food, cooking equipment, food and emergency gear. The strategy is to keep weight to a minimum and also stay comfortable and fed well enough to continue.

When Jen and I left Calgary it felt weird to be driving onto the prairies for an orienteering event. After Hanna the land gets very flat, very very flat. It wasn't until we came to Dundurn itself that we saw some bush and rolling hills. We climbed out of the car, late as usual and quickly went through the registration process in the base gymnasium. We chose larger packs because adventure racing gear didn't have the volume required and our camping equipment wasn't ultra-light. On the gym floor we spread out our stuff, went through the gear list and packed our bags.

The race started at noon with 5 hours of orienteering. Each session had its own map, so you had to get all you could, there would be no going back. The forecast was for warm weather and it was already over 20C. The teams left in 1 minute intervals, at two minutes before our time, we were called up to the hold area and weighed in our packs, amazingly, and depressingly both our packs came in at 11 kilos. The terrain turned out to be very interesting, lots of small hills and depressions, a mix of grass and bush, and under the thin topsoil, sand, lots of sand. There was a nice breeze out of the south, but it became very hot by mid-afternoon. We adjusted our pace to match our load, with the heavier packs it seemed impossible to run with any speed, the packs would bounce and chafe against our backs. We ended up with a shuffle like jog that created a 7min/km pace. My back still became rubbed raw. At 5 PM we had to adjust our route and skip a 20 point control and headed for the finish, crossing the line 10 minutes before the deadline. The competition is based on total points and total time, the penalty for being late is severe. The heat and sand had taken its toll, our feet were in bad shape, we were hungry and dehydrated. We set up camp, cooked up our food and drank and ate until we were stuffed. Our tents were all set up in a field with a big command center tent in the middle bustling with activity. By 7PM the results for the day were posted and at 8PM we were packing for the night session.

At 9:20 Jen and I were off into the dark. Unknowingly we picked probably the hardest CP of all to start with. We immediately started to get confused with the terrain and bush, then frustration set in. We both thought we were in different places, but rather than retreat and restart we chose to keep on our heading and picked out a check to catch us if we over shot. We knew this was going to catch up a lot of people, so we kept our headlamps off as much as possible. 3 minutes later we ran right into the CP and we were racing again. The rest of the course was relatively straight forward, however we had to run almost the entire distance. Our packs were light and the night was cool, running effortless compared to what we'd been through already.

In the prairies, clear nights mean cold nights, and this was no exception. We froze. We thought we would pass out when our heads hit the stuff sacks, not even close. The light gear meant no extra insulation and we survived, but not in comfort. At 6AM everybody was up, eating, packing and taping blistered, sore feet, we were getting to know each other and it was a great atmosphere. The night results were posted and everyone crowded around the command tent to see where they stood. At 8AM the first team was off again for 4 more hours. We ended up running with Lanny and Isabelle from the AR team "I'm With Stupid". We had got to know them over the w/e and it was a great way to finish the race. To our delight we collected all the controls and finished in 3 hours even, I was out of gas and my feet were killing me, good timing. After the race, I connected the dots and measured the distance. In 9 hours and 40 minutes we covered over 55km of terrain, getting all but 1 CP.

After a fantastic wrap-up with a great pasta feast and results in record time, the teams were acknowledged and volunteers thanked and in typical Major Mark, no wasted minute, style everything was wrapped up with no one left wanting anything. We were on the road at 2 PM and raving about a fantastically well run event.

The mix of people was interesting and refreshing. There were separate categories for the cadets and it was great to see and acknowledge their accomplishments. Mark and his troop of volunteers were amazing, the event couldn't have been better run. The maps were good, a work in progress, but the effort was obvious. Mark was always around, asking questions, and listening. I have no doubt that next years competition will be even better that this one. For AR navigating, this type of practice is invaluable. I highly recommend any AR person look into this next year. It's a great way to kick off the season.