LuxSUL 1 – chilly, but dry!

Well, there were 38 results from 14 different nationalities at our first Luxembourg Summer Urban League run last night! Thanks to all who took part, especially to our visitors from Belgium, two from as far away as Brussels. We hope you enjoyed your lap of Limpertsberg – one of the joys of orienteering is that you get to see places that you would never otherwise go to.

The weather was again kind – yes, a bit chilly, but fine once you got going, and wasn’t the sunset lovely? Certainly, better weather than the other day, when the planner went out  to check all the control sites (it’s always important to find a tree, fence or railing that the control can be locked on to) – he was pelted with icy hail at one point.

Limpertsberg is one of our better areas for urban orienteering. The university campus is quite technical, and Park Tony Neuman has lots of detail even though it is very small. And Cedric’s accurate mapping now allows us to plan more testing legs there. The street network is also more complicated than a grid pattern, and there are some narrow back alleys, so there’s lots of possibilities for route choice. The planner liked to hear one comment – “he always plans it so it’s balanced, so it doesn’t matter which choice you make”. Yes, that’s often true, and the most time that can be lost is just from hesitating over which choice to make. But some legs can be more sneaky – who, on heading for control 9 on the Deer course, spotted that turning back and using the west exit from the park was at least 50 metres quicker than going north-east and up into the university?

So, perhaps helped with his mapping knowledge of the area, it was no surprise that Cedric took the honours on the Deer course – a useful 2 minutes in front of Sasha, who looks to have recovered from his knee injury. On the Rabbit course it was very close among the ladies. Orsi was fastest, but only by 30 seconds. Elisabet (on home ground), Jana, and Inga were all just behind, and within 20 seconds of each other. And Inga was only one second faster than young Matthias. The full results are at https://helga-o.com/webres/index.php?lauf=5223  

Thanks to Helina, the Koteckys, Cedric, and Simon for helping collect the controls in. We got them all before the park gates were locked! And special thanks to Elisabet and Ludger for hosting us, providing drinks and snacks as well as having spent quite some time making space for us in their garage.

LuxSUL 2 should be on Wednesday 15 May, using the Gasperich area, including the new park near the French School. More details on the website a few days before. Hope to see you then!