6 – 8 February 2015, I did the Pooltocht orienteering race with Leon Reteig in the woods near Lauenau, about 40 km west of Hanover, in Germany. (This was the 3rd Pooltocht I participated in and my 5th orienteering race). The event is organized every year by scouts from Enschede (the Netherlands), and the races are always held in wooded areas in Germany.
How does a race work?
At the start of the weekend, every team gets a map and coordinates of a number of posts, and the goal is to find as many posts as you can, as quickly as possible, only using a map and compass. The team that finds the mosts posts, in the shortest time, wins.
It’s a great way to improve your navigation skills (some areas of the map are even blacked out to make it a bit more difficult) and a good workout because you walk around 30 km per day in hilly terrain with a backpack carrying all your gear. In a Pooltocht, both nights you sleep in a sportshall so no wild camping.
Results
This Pooltocht Leon and I (team ‘Highlands’) walked 66 km in total and ended up 25th of 38 teams in the ranking.
Here are some other orienteering weekends that I participated in over the years.