Orienteering race 52:25 [4] *** 4.2 km (12:29 / km) +120m 10:55 / km
19c shoes: Icebug olx
Flying Pig Day 3, Big Bone Lick, M60 Green. OK, I went into this with the wrong attitude. Take it slow, don't screw up, so of course I screwed up mightily on the way to #9, mistaking a deer trail for the first trail down from the crest of the hill, then traversing 150m on the wrong trail until a sign told me I was headed toward the bison. Oh, shit. Backtrack to the narrows, cross the creek, and, competence finally restored, spike the control in a bunch of parallel ditches. Executed perfectly on #10, finding the first deep reentrant high up and heading down the middle of the spur, past the control in the pit to the huge tree visible from high up. A careful attack point to #12 from midway on the path around the bison, then a compass bearing to #13, stopping in the ditch to look at the map, then crossing over to find the reentrant just after it. From 15 to 16 I stayed outside the fence, attacking from the corner. Another howler ensued when I couldn't fnd the go control and lost a couple of minutes running around in the parking areas. Given this mess it wasn't surprising that I didn't finish first. Bill Cheatum had a good run and got me by 2 seconds in M60. I was only sixth on Green and deserved that or worse.
Overall a great event. There was a lot of diversity in maps, terrain, and individual legs. The courses were well designed, controls were placed as mapped. The starts and finishes operated smoothly, and Vlad's enthusiastic announcing was a huge enhancement to the meet. I led the pack in M50, M55, and M60, and Addie took gold in high school varsity. Unfortunately, we had to leave to make a 2:30 flight, or we would have stayed for the awards and another lap around the playlist.