O Race race (Race) 1:24:32 [5] 14.4 km (5:52 / km) +400m 5:09 / km
slept:8.0 weight:67kg shoes: Salomon XT Wings
Pretty poor start, struggling to get into the map. First clean control was #5. Then proceeded to have a big time loss to #6 where I somehow made a parallel ridge error & gave myself extra climb! Once I relocated I was disappointed to see Nic ahead of me (he started 6mins behind). Worked hard to #9 to make a gap, but gave much of that up to #10 (wrong tree) and #11 (stopped early & found and unmarked cairn). Got away again at #12 & didn't see Nic again until I was leaving #22. Frustratingly I did see the saddle further north and took a route over the ridge that meant more climb and so Nic was right on my tail going to #23. Would have pulled out 20sec or so, but managed to miss my route to #25 and only just got there ahead of NIc. Pity about first 6 controls. Need to work a bit more on hills!