Training Log Archive: Duncan

Malham Squad Training Weekend was cancelled but Cherry still flew in and we got some last minutes entries and did some stuff. Varsity orienteering at Sutton Park thanks to Ian Webb and Jon Marsden.

Quick jog to the start but they had some slots so did some warm-up. Picked up the map and got going. Running was a bit uncomfortable at first but running once in the forest I felt good and from there just hammered it picking off 1 and 2 nicely. Wished I'd gone through the forest to 3, but saw James Hoad exiting the wood as I went in. Caught him at 5 hunting for the control. Got a bit keen on racing to 6 and wasn't very accurate with the compass and drifted well right near number 8. The map was good but some bushes were missing to 9 and then interpreting 9 itself was hard so didn't run very confidently. The whole course I was bit slack on the compass on long legs (i.e. not looking for features to run towards).

Went right to 11 while hearing James getting closer. Just kept the pace high down the muddy/twisty path. Straight to 13, careful to 14. Might have exited the control funny and didn't match map to ground for along time to 15 so was a bit wavey, probably a bit of running too fast. 16 again didn't really match things right but the area was very forgiving and saw Ben Stevens ahead. Small thrash at 18, then just keeping going in to the finish.

Good race with not many errors in the circle, but some time wasted between controls from poor compass and map-ground matching. Didn't matter loads here but would elsewhere. Not sure where my pace came from! Maybe Thursday's hills. http://www.jok.org.uk/varsity_match/2016

Lunch: Mixed Grill

C • Good Speed 4

Cannock Chase Follow the Dog followed by the early part of the Monkey Trail. From Run & Ride on Cannock Chase Enterprise Park. Good fun. Pretty swift. Not much stopping. Would like to do the rest of Monkey Trail sometime.