Race Evaluation
Western States + Intercollegiate Championships: Red 1
Nadim
| 1. | S-1 - I had just made it to the start line with about 2 minutes to spare after getting Max situated in the child care. I ran along the wash thinking at first that it should be more to my left. I figured it to be safer to stay along it and did; the side reentrants were far enough away that trees obscured them. I wasn?t feeling confident of where I was. At a bend in the wash, I came to a dead stop for 15 seconds to figure things out. From there I left the wash and contoured upward to the control. Ryan Bresseman was just getting there after having made an error. | ||||||
| 2. | 1-2 ? Ryan went straight over the steep hill. I chose to contour a bit to the left and lost sight of him. Using the big reentrant on the other side of the ridge, I cut left and attacked. Eventually, Ryan converged, helping me have confidence that I was dropping into the correct reentrant. I think he got there just before me. | ||||||
| 3. | 2-3 ? Ryan took off quickly and straight. After looking at the leg, that made sense to me though I think I contoured a bit on the left side of straight. I got there a bit before him. | ||||||
| 4. | 3-4 ? Straight up and over. | ||||||
| 5. | 4-5 ? I ran a little on the left side, up the spur. I drifted to the left a bit but later corrected. I was still a bit low as I approached but knew it. | ||||||
| 6. | 5-6 ? I had thoughts of going up the spur after crossing the first reentrant but found myself a bit to the right going through the reentrant instead. Peggy descended from my right and started climbing out just in front of me. I figured that we were headed to the same control but it turned out that we weren?t. I passed and crossed the small reentrant on the line to the control. Rick Bresseman was just leaving as I got there. | ||||||
| 7. | 6-7 - I had some water before leaving and Rick had gotten ahead. He was contouring around so I went a bit straighter, aiming for the large reentrant junction. I hit it just a bit too high but seemed to be ahead of Rick if he was headed to the same place as I was (he was running Green). I just followed reentrants in from there, walking a little at the end. | ||||||
| 8. | 7-8 ? Out on the right side of the reentrant, I climbed up to the road. Before starting the course, I had about 45 seconds of time to look at the map (without the courses). I like to do arm chair orienteering to get used to a map and had imagined a course leg just along this route. It therefore took me no time to figure out I needed to cut left a bit toward but not at the road junction?I passed the road junction with it on my left. I saw someone in red going this way but lost sight of her. I descended broad area with scattered trees. At the bottom of the next big reentrant, I found it was Sharon Crawford that I?d seen earlier. I passed her on the way up but still near the bottom. Going up a spur, I angled around the large side reentrant and used it as an attack point to go over the ridge into the reentrant system with the control. I came at it through the larger reentrant on the left side. There was a sort of side reentrant on my right not really visible on the map. I began to doubt being in the right place but kept going and curved into the control. | ||||||
| 9. | +00:45 | 8-9 ? As I left the control continuing down the main reentrant, I saw another runner coming up. Next I saw Michael Platt going up the reentrant looking a little uncertain of being in the right place but moving well. At the bottom, I took a bad bearing and got confused by the fence and power lines on the map. I crossed the fence and got up onto a sort of spur before stopping. I turned to the correct direction but ran hesitantly not being precisely sure of where I was. As the fence ahead started to climb the hill ahead, I knew and crossed back to the correct side. I picked up the pace following along the wash and kept track well as I closed-in on some other orienteers. I passed an Army guy who paused and knew to turn left where a woman ahead had. I got there just after her. | |||||
| 10. | 9-10 ? Going around seemed way too long so straight ahead I went. I sighted the telephone pole on the ridge but lost sight of it as I climbed. I crossed one small reentrant on the way up and mostly walked but hit the pole just fine. At the top, I could see the control below. It wasn?t until I descended that I realized the drop from the ridge wasn?t as big as the climb. | ||||||
| 11. | +00:30 | 10-11 ? At first, seeing the long leg I thought it might be tricky. I stayed low crossing the gully but staying lower than the still visible road. I counted reentrants then angled up. | |||||
| 12. | I ran up the hill chasing a guy in brown. I passed him but started walking a little. As I heard him catching up, I moved on and left him. I read the tops of the two reentrants near the top of the ridge and went down into the one with the north south line to the main reentrant. I cut right and looked left. I was a little uncertain as I ran up the next reentrant on the left but ran up and found it. | ||||||
| 13. | I started straight, the had doubts as I realized I could have cut right to go around the next reentrant. Though I walked up to cross it, I think this was still faster for me. I dropped into the next big reentrant system not worrying too much about finding it since it was right at the bottom. I only worried about making an error like I did at #11 where I didn't see it because the steep bank hid it. The fence was a dead giveaway as to location in the main reentrant. I went on and found it without any problem. | ||||||
| 14. | I just ran down the main reentrant looking for it to end and then cut left. | ||||||
| F. | +00:15 | Partly lack of confidence and a desire to just run fast, I eschewed going straight for the flat ground of the wash. It was slower than anticipated because of the sand. I also didn't follow the wash as it bent left. I got almost south of the finish before looking over and having to make a correction. |
Total Time Lost - 00:01:30