By Susan DeWitt
On Sunday, May 18, WCOC will host the 25th annual Billygoat Run at Trout Brook Valley in Easton, CT. Hardcore orienteers are well-acquainted with this revered competition. For many, it’s one of those few events to seek out the date for at the beginning of the year, making sure they keep the date open, no matter where it’s being held. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Billygoat or who think it’s only for “serious” orienteers, you may find that it’s actually just the event for you.
The Billygoat Run is a long (13 to 15k) orienteering competition over hilly terrain. Everyone starts at the same time and must finish within 3-1/2 hours to receive a T-shirt. These T-shirts are testaments to the owner’s endurance and O-skill and are highly prized. So prized that over 35 people have 10 or more (this, according to the Billygoat Honor Roll page of the official Billygoat Website: http://www.billygoat.org/statistics/honorroll.html). But the truly unique characteristic of the Billygoat is that participants can follow each other as much as they want.
If the prospect of tagging along behind a better orienteer doesn’t sound interesting, keep in mind there are many different levels of following and being assisted by fellow orienteers. A decent runner who has almost no orienteering experience could tuck his map in his pocket and attempt to track a good orienteer closely. In fact, if you fit this description, I’d encourage you to try it. I just recommend that you have enough idea of what’s going on to get yourself out of trouble if you lose your leader—especially if there’s a forked control or skipped control. Such controls won’t hamper the successful follower but could pose problems to the person who strays from the herd. It’s a lot tougher to relocate when you don’t even know which control you visited last.
The truth is though, you don’t have to follow like a lemming to be assisted by the other orienteers. Those who want the challenge of doing their own navigation can do so and still move along much faster than they would if they were alone in the woods. Most participants’ per kilometer time is faster than it would be in a regular event. That’s one of the most rewarding aspects of the run: it gives you a sense of how fast you could orienteer if you weren’t limited by your navigation skills.
Everyone starts at the same time and runs the same course, so you’d have to stubbornly refuse to consider any other runner’s actions (or be the very front runner) to fail to receive assistance by the throng of orienteers all moving toward the same goal that you are. Go ahead and choose your own route and track your progress with the map as you normally do. Instead of stopping to double-check the map against the terrain, the other runners help verify that you’re on the right course. Seeing others going in the same direction gives you the confidence to move along more consistently and probably at a faster pace. The other runners can also help you prevent serious mistakes. If you’re the only person heading off in one direction and 100 people are going in the other direction, it’s probably a good time to reconsider your route choice or double-check that you’re actually on your intended route. If you do find yourself alone, head to a high spot and look for orienteers. You’ll soon be back on track, heading for the next control.
So don’t let your times at local events or your inexperience make you think there’s no way you could finish the Billygoat. You might just finish, earn a T-shirt, and learn quite a bit about orienteering, which you can put to use when you are alone on a course. And if that’s not enough incentive, let me assure you that this year’s T-shirt design is of such outstanding quality and creativity, it is sure to be prized above all others, making the attempt well worth the effort.