orienteering 30:42 [3]
weight:120.5lbs
This was only sort of orienteering. DVOA had their annual summer picnic and relay event. I teamed up with Brian Komoroski. There were two courses - a yellow and an orange - but only one map. You could do the courses consecutively, use a phone, have one person do memory-o, etc. The courses were such that after every 2-4 controls, there would be a common control on the two courses.
Brian is a great runner and a decent orienteer. I've set courses in the park so know it reasonably well. I did the Yellow and he did the Orange. Once punching start, I memorized the first 4 controls and he took the map and we met at the 2nd common control. There I memorized the rest of the course and then we both finished. Brian had the fastest time on the Orange - some of the speedier folks were doing it from memory so he had that advantage. I had a decent time on the Yellow, with no errors, but having to walk a good bit. It helped that I had seen the courses since I was the one that did the overprinting.
There was also an elaborate handicapping system - things like -40 minutes if you had never orienteered before, +20 minutes if you were ranked in the top 20 any of the previous 5 years, etc. I had a -10 credit for being old and my best club ranking was just shy of having a penalty. I was thinking I should get a penalty for having seen the courses ahead of time, but the event director decreed that was my bonus for volunteering. We ended up 2nd overall. Woohoo.
It was a lot of fun.