Having searched the BOF database before we left home, I knew there was an evening Street Sprint O in Keswick tonight and planned all along to give it a go. Having had a lovely day walking, our legs were probably a bit tired already, but we parked up near Fritz Park and found the Registration camper van.
The big difference here was it was all done on paper - there was no computer, we wrote our names, club and SI dibber numbers down (as visitors), paid our money, cleared our dibbers and read the instructions. It had got a bit chilly by now, so we went back to the cars and got ready then jogged up the road to the start. It was noticed we were a long way from home by some folks (we were both wearing our SO tops).
Maps were at the start and were printed on waterproof paper. The instructions were that at controls 2 & 3, there wouldn't be a control box, but we had to remember the last digit of the number on each lampost, then add the two together and at the penultimate control, punch the control with that number on. So if the two numbers were 3 and 4, we had to punch control no 7. To be honest there were only three controls to choose from, so a 1 in 3 chance of getting it right, if we didn't get the numbers from the lamposts !
Mike started first and having seen others start, it was interesting to see the route choices. The first few controls were around residential streets, so route choice was important, although there wasn't too much choice. From one to two, I think there was a route choice, both Mike and I missed, which could have saved some time. I then missed the lampost control so had no idea what number it was ! Control four took us up onto an old railway line I think, over the road and river, which was nice. On the other side there was a longer (much) route choice continuing along the old track, or there was a path dropping down almost straight after the river, which then meant we were running alongside the river, through what was almost back gardens !
I think we both took this route to control 5, then onto 6, we were now in Fritz Park itself and Mike didn't see an underpass so crossed the road by going up and over... Luckily, I was overtaken to control 9 by someone, who I then hung onto to see which control they punched at the end and punched the same one ! I'd got the number from control three as a 3 just didn't know what number from control 2... Thankfully, it was the right control.
For download, there was a splits printer (like the one we use with the schools kit) and after downloading, we then wrote down our times against our names on the original signing in sheet. I'd taken 23.01 and Mike 17 minutes something. It was good fun, I really enjoyed it. My legs felt a bit tired running, but I felt ok otherwise. Again we were spotted as being a long way from home by someone at download, and got talking to them about the course.
From the GPS I ran 3.44kms on a 2.67kms course and finished 31st out of 56, Mike was 11th. It was really good fun and looking at the results, all the runners were WCOC or no club, so probably local people, other than us.... we were the only runners from a different club !
Having had such an active day, we got changed and walked up into the main streets of Keswick and found a really nice pub for dinner. We walked, two summits in one day and then orienteered the same day... shame we have to go home tomorrow...