Real Orienteering race (Druskininkai Miskas) 55:25 [5] **** 7.0 km (7:55 / km)
Last day, and like the wedding at Cana, they left the best till last. If anyone from the TAKAS club reads this, fellers, you put on a great event on a great map. Fast and open complex sand dune terrain. I suppose the visibility was more to my Australian tastes. I could see the land forms around me and could really run for the first time. No packs today. It was a chosing start, and due to my stupidity 2 days earlier, I was starting with the late bunch. So I didn't bunch with any of them. Managed between 7 and 8 minutes per k, which is fair enough for someone new to this glacial terrain. In fact, I worked out this is only the 10th time i have run on sand!
The map... everyone said it was wonderful. The JWOC Ozzies all told us we had to run it. Julie and I were thinking of dropping it due to buss connections. In the end we stayed here another night and did the full race. A great investment. If you get the chance to run on Druskininka forest, take it. Besides the fantatsic navigation, I ran in shorts.. no stinging nettles! Ran over lots of fruiting blueberries and alpine strawberries. Even saw some red currents. Every spectator I talked to loved the place. We are sad to leave it tomorrow.
One gripe was the heat. Mid 30s again. I starte dthe race with a wet shirt, but it was dry by the second control. I did a sprint at the end from the download to the lake and jumped in. Lovely. Wait till you see the images of the assembly area. On the sand between two lakes. A post race swim was compulsory. Generally beautiful location. Consolation for the ehat was all the organisers and spectators wandering around in bikinis. It was an impressive sight to greet one in the finish tent!