Navigation the MOMAR
by Christian Piller - Expedition Racer

Many of the sports included in adventure races have multiple disciplines or styles; Kayaking has ocean, river, and whitewater, while mountain biking has XC, downhill, and trials. Similarly, navigation has several styles: expedition racing, classic orienteering, and adventure racing. A MOMAR course, with its fast pace and middle distances, belongs to this last category. New for the 2004 season these races now involve totally unmarked courses, making your ability to navigate much more important and a deciding factor in the final race standings.

There are volumes of reading material available on the subject of navigation, and truly it is all good material. However, reading a book or pouring over maps at a table will never have the same benefits as getting out and physically walking a map. The key to building ones abilities with a map and compass is to "…practice, practice, practice". The following points should be considered while you are out on a map walk/run/bike preparing for your next MOMAR course:

· Take a moment: when you first receive a map, take a moment to picture the landscape and route to follow; especially true of MOMAR trekking sections that start and end in the same spot and controls can be visited in any order. Depending on your abilities to visualize, this moment can be as little as 20-30sec or as much as 5 minutes, but gives you the moment to plan the best route of attack to match your abilities, ie if you wish to take a conservative route or an aggressive one.

· Flow through a course: The top orienteerers in the world do not move faster than you or I. They are simply consistent and never stop moving. Their reasonable pace allows them to remain in contact with the map and never lose track of where they are. Most people are inclined to go too fast and they loose track of where they are on the map, forcing themselves to come to a stop and relocate. Instead, slowing the pace and reading the map at glances along safe terrain (roads, flat trails, steep uphills) will allow one to become more consistent and therefore faster.

· Pick a route and do it as fast as possible: Switching one's route direction while en-route can be very costly. A change in route on-the-fly will typically have a minimal benefit, but a tremendous risk of costing you time in dense bush or a difficult to find trail. By being decisive and sticking to your route, you can focus on getting through the leg as fast as possible, by running faster, biking harder, or paddling stronger; in the end having a net benefit.

· Gravity is your friend: Typically, in a MOMAR race there will be a major climb and everyone knows that what goes up must come down. For a loop course use the trail to climb and the bush to drop. At the Tzouhalem MOMAR this past May many people clambered up through the bush from CP#11 to the top of Mt Zoo; fighting bushes and expending great volumes of energy. The energy and time savings route would instead have been to leave CP#11 to last, opting to climb on the established and open trail, then let gravity aid you in getting through the bush as you drop down at the end of your loop. I spent less than six minutes travel from the top of Mt Zoo to the time I punched CP#11, traveling straight down through heavy bush.

· Trust your nav: The hardest thing to do in a race is too close out those around you and trust your own navigation. I've often been caught up in the moment as I watch my competition dive into the bush earlier than I think necessary, making me question my own abilities. Building on the previous point, they have their route planned and I have mine. You must simply close them out and trust that your choice is best and push a little harder. During the last MOMAR race in Sechelt I was racing head to head with several others in the final bike leg. I did not manage to close them out and got sucked into the bad decision making time, opting to following some of them down a wrong turn. However, a little "trust-your-own-nav" alarm was going off in the back of my mind. A split second glance at the map and I was back on course only costing me seconds, rather than potentially minutes lost by those I left behind.

· Practice, practice, practice: As mentioned earlier, the only way to feel confident in your navigational abilities is to practice, practice, practice. Hit local orienteering races and clinics. Head into the bush with a map and a compass and imaginary CP's marked on it (distinct ponds, ridges or trail/road intersections act as good CP's). If you are the lead navigator for a team, you do not necessarily need to assemble the whole team to practice. Get out on your own and your teammates will then recognize your confidence during the next race and not keep badgering you. It should be as much a part of your training as running, riding, and paddling.

Just remember… "any nav, is good nav!"

Christiaan Piller