orienteering (Pewsey Vale) 38:23 [3] 2.4 km (16:00 / km)
shoes: Inov8 X-Talon
I seem to recall telling people at the course planning workshop yesterday that a control is just a means to end a leg, or something like that (not my personal opinion, I was quoting from the guidelines).
Today's controls were more than just that. Simon enlarged Pewsey Vale to 1:5000 and inserted 25 leg-enders into his 2.4km course, meaning that we were looking for a tape every 100m on average. A goodly crew participated in this exercise (Robin, Adrian, Simon, Bridget, Fern, Tyson, Lauren, John, Luke & me), and 40% of us got misplaced, simultaneously, in a clearing on a hillside about 300m SW of where we needed to be. And this was a leg where I had ignored my bearing and said to myself "I'll just see where I pop out into the clearing when I cross the spur!" The penalty for this laziness was a good 5 min :(
What I noticed was that I often went around a clump of brush and rock while Adrian bashed directly over it, but he would still come in to the control before me. I was being a bit tentative and protective of my ankle in the new shoes, but they were pretty good (while I would still prefer spikes if the granite was wet, these were more comfortable).
orienteering (Pewsey Vale) 32:30 [3] 2.5 km (13:00 / km)
shoes: Inov8 X-Talon
I found the second course easier physically and kept to my bearing better; can't say I lost much time. Was hungry when I started, so was pleased to maintain concentration, and pretty stuffed at the end. Not as stuffed as Robin, though, who lay down on the ground when she finished and didn't want to get up again - she had first put out one set of tapes and then run both courses!
Birdwood Bakery afterwards was a good way to finish off a great morning (I also enjoyed the drive to/from, I like those rolling golden Barossa hills north of Mt Crawford) and we sorted out our plans for next weekend's Bendigo road trip.