Help! Im Lost in a Danish Forest!

Photo By: Menage a Moi

[Editor's note: To applaud Matador Network's merger of Glimpse.org, we'll be republishing a little of a favorite Glimpse articles over a subsequent few weeks. This story, "Hello, My Name is Run Basketball" creatively appeared upon Glimpse.org in April of 2004.]

One night over dinner, my Danish horde father astounded me with a little wonderful news.

Next weekend, there is an orienteering competition only north of Helsingr, he said.

Wow, Peter. That sounds similar to fun, we said. we goal youll do well. Can we pass a salt?

Of course it shall be fun, he answered, with a divergent smile. We have entered we as well.

I immediately forgot about a salt. You entered me to race? My horde parents, Peter as well as Karen-Margrethe Nielsen, had mostly told me about their adventures with a Skrmen Vrlse Kommune orienteering team, as well as as we listened to their tales about almighty treks, soaked clothing, as well as upside-down maps, we regularly attempted to restrain a smirk. But assumingly Peter as well as Karen-Margrethe had interpreted my quiet, condescending grins as wild unrestrained for their favorite pastime.

Yes. We will use this Wednesday, Peter continued. The competition is upon Sunday.

And which was that. we had a week to prepare.

In an orienteering competition, participants run by a wooded area, regulating a map as well as a compass to match topographical map icons with a terrain which surrounds them. As they navigate a course, they must locate a array of hidden checkpoints as well as insert a hand-held thinly slice in to an electronic data-recorder during any point. The chairman who finds all a checkpoints in a slightest amount of time claims victory.

I was a decent runner, though we was not in a habit of to using as well as meditative during a same time. Wednesday! arrived , as well as Peter as well as Karen-Margrethe escorted me in to a woods behind their neighborhood to use my skills. Peter gave me a compass as well as an aged orienteering map as well as explained what any map pitch represented. At checkpoint seven, Karen-Margrethe motionless to go home as well as begin cooking given it was removing dark. Peter, upon a alternative hand, insisted which we finish. In a semi-darkness, we located checkpoints 10 as well as 11, as well as he appeared satisfied.

Photo By: xtophe80

Good. You should do fine upon Sunday. Just try not to skip checkpoint 9 during a race.

I longed for checkpoint nine? we asked.

Yes. You longed for checkpoint nine. Lets go home as well as eat.

Sunday morning arrived earlier than we had hoped. we sat in a kitchen, my New Balance trainers tapping a building as we anxiously bounced my knee. Peter as well as Karen-Margrethe entered a room as well as my expectations for a day unexpected entered a new strata of bizarre: They looked similar to a pair of lissome spacemen from a low-budget 1970s sci-fi movie. Their suitslong-sleeved tops as well as slim trouserswere made of a timberland immature lycra-nylon blend, equivalent by electric blue abandon upon a arms, legs, as well as collar.

My facial expression must have tricked my complete astonishment. Karen-Margrethe asked, Oh, we similar to a jester outfits?

We loaded up a camper van as well as gathering to a race. All around, hundreds of competitors were setting up tents to protect themselves from a gathering rain. Much to my delight, everybody was given similar to Peter as well as Karen-Margrethe, all in different shades of neon.

My name was called, as well as Peter led me to a starting line to give me a little final words of encouragement. we assimilated a 4 fellow runners in my heat, any of whom would be following a differen! t course . They were staring during their maps similar to a party of barbarous high-schoolers hungry to begin a SATs. The starting time sounded with a shrill beep, as well as we saw 4 vivid streaks of color cranky a starting line as well as vanish in to a woods. we looked during my map a single more time, noting a splendid this is where we are dot. Gripping my compass for dear life, we scurried in to Aggebo Hegn.

Before we knew it, we was articulate to myself: OK, trail upon right, trail upon right, trail upon right. There. OK, next: ravine. Ravine ravine there. All right. That equates to a checkpoint should be right over there?

I picked my way by a slightly wet timberland for what seemed similar to ages. Eventually, we stumbled across a unenlightened vegetable patch of ferns as well as speckled itmy initial checkpoint! we timidly extrinsic my electric thinly slice in to a box as well as heard a beep beep as a appurtenance relayed my data to a judges. Alone, with no a single to share my joy, we pressed on.

The points were sparse across my map in a full of color array of dots, set against orange as well as immature backdrops (fields as well as tree groves). There were also wavy red lines indicating elevation. At a maps northern extreme was a paved roadway, as well as upon a western extreme, a green hills which Peter had warned me about. Do not stand a blockade surrounding a pasture, he had said.

Why, Peter?

Because there are bulls in there. It is really dangerous.

Amazingly, we eventually found a subsequent checkpoint. To my further amazement, a single by one, we proceeded to find a rest. They were sunk in gullies, secluded in disfigured roots as well as thick underbrush, tucked during a edges of clearings, as well as buried in vegetation during a banks of marshes. My thinly slice beeped harmoniously in any steel box. Finally, we upheld my thinly slice by a receiver during point fourteen as well as headed for a finish line. My shoes were soaked as well as my shirt was ripped, th! ough as we crossed a line, we was thoroughly, utterly exhilarated.

I handed my time label to a judges as well as was unceremoniously given my final time: 53 minutes, a single second. Fifty-three minutes, a single second! we had accomplished in underneath an hour! we shortly found Peter, lonesome in persperate as well as wiping a sleet from his glasses, as well as proudly displayed my time: Ohhh, he said. Fifty-three minutes. Well, it was a rather formidable course.

As times were picked up as well as posted upon a vast circular board nearby, we understood his miss of enthusiasm. My finger slid from a top timesjust on top of twenty minutesdown as well as down until we reached a really bottom. There we was: third to final place in a children, seniors, as well as newcomers group. we had knocked about a 12-year-old, as well as someone named Bjarke who never showed.

With that, as fast as it had begun, my orienteering career came to a close. Ever given which fateful weekend, my fellow Americans enjoy badgering me when we get mislaid upon a streets of Copenhagen, nudging me as well as proclaiming, Let a Orienteering King lead a way! But we only smile. Because deep down, we know which we outlayed my excellent hour here in Denmarkno, strike that, my excellent 53 mins as well as a single second, thank we really muchutterly mislaid in a woods of Aggebo Hegn.

Community Connection

Add a little adventure to your life with these 50 things to do before we die.