Orienteering race 1:33:01 [4] 12.34 km (7:32 / km) +433m 6:25 / km
shoes: Inov-8 X-Talon 212 b
WA Long Champs at Lover's Lane.
Didn't start well, rolled my ankle just before the start triangle so spent a while hobbling and watching the ground instead of getting my bearings and looking for good lines. Never really felt as though I knew where I was until I spotted the L shaped cliff I was wanting to use as an attack point just off to my left. Ended up being quite a reasonable line and fastest split by over 30 seconds, just didn't feel in control. Once I found it cleanly I actually thought it was looking good for my chances as I thought the course was going to suit me a lot better than yesterday.
Went past Brycec (8 minutes) near 2, pretty cautiously as I didn't want to do anything really stupid with him watching. On my own for a fair while after that, with Wayne not starting Oliver was the next target 12 minutes ahead. Stuck to conservative routes, staying out of the rocks and green and avoiding climb as much as possible. All went pretty smoothly through to 8. I remember thinking on the way to 7 that I needed to be leading here as the rest of the course would probably be more physical and less technical so would suit tRicky more.
Leaving 8 it was a bit rougher than I expected and this caused me to dither a bit and then change my route choice to swing left out to the yellow. I felt as though I was very inefficient doing this but I think it was a good choice as I ended up with the fastest split by almost 2 minutes and I came into 9 just ahead of Oliver. Next leg to 10 was my worst on the course even though it was a short leg to a drinks control at a major track/creek crossing. Just rushed it a bit I think because of having Oliver behind me and swung left when I should have swung right to go around some green, hit some diggings I wanted to avoid and was a little confused for a few seconds. Only lost about 30 seconds so no real harm done. Had a gel here as well so Oliver caught up and ran ahead up the hill towards 11.
Missed 11 slightly, distracted by Oliver again but he did it a little better than me so helped limit my loss to a few seconds. I dropped off a little again on the next climb and then took a safe approach into 12 up the creek to the right but came into it just ahead. Careful across to 13 over the rock surfaces and then staying on the contour. Slight concern when I couldn't see it at the end but it was just on the other side of a tree. Got a bit of a gap on Oli at 14 when I took a lower route and saw it from the track crossing while he took a higher route and was looking for it a little high as I left. Took the safe route around the fence and track to the right on 15.
Aimed a little left on 16 but wasn't sure how far left I had gone so was stopping to work it out when I saw tRicky run across below me into a likely looking spot. I felt pretty safe at this point as I thought tRicky was the most likely to beat me today but I reminded myself that fletch could still be ahead so tried to keep pushing. Couldn't stay with tRicky up the hill to 17 but got a good line into 18 to get back in front. Oliver caught up again here and stayed with me over the hill and down to 19 and 20. tRicky seemed to drop off here which surprised me a little but I guessed he couldn't see any point in just tagging along.
Saw Cameron ahead at 20 and passed him going over the spur. Coming into 21 fletch was punching just ahead so now I really felt I had it in the bag. I'd already decided I would take the safe option of dropping out to the track as there was nothing to be gained by taking risks at this stage so when Steve went down I followed. I think Oliver came with us while Cameron must have taken the more direct route. Tried to spot 24 on the way through but couldn't see it and I think we led Simon astray here as we ran through while he was heading for 24.
Cameron popped out of the bush onto the track right in front of us at 22 so there was a group of 4 of us through 23 and on towards 24. I noticed I was the odd one out, not wearing a Nomads top as I ran at the back of the group towards 24. I was kind of disappointed that I was going to trail the group in but that was rectified when everyone turned up into the green a little early. I did too, but just for a quick look as I really thought it was going to be in the next bit of green a bit lower. I quickly went on and expected the others to follow but they took their time and allowed me to run in alone.
Ended up a bit over 13 minutes ahead of Oliver for my 16th win from 26 starts in M21A at the long champs. Ricky was another 4 minutes back in 3rd place. I was very happy with my race, no significant pain from my heel and handled the distance much better than I expected to.