orienteering race (WMOC long final) 1:03:15 [4] 6.8 km (9:18 / km) +310m 7:34 / km
shoes: new Olways
Although I really hoped to be able to finish in the top 10, I was aware that 8th in the first qualifier was due to some people having big blowouts in the leafy green gullies, and felt that 12th in the 2nd qualifier reflected more my place in the natural order of things when it came to running speed. This wasn't all about speed though, it was about keeping cool, both literally and figuratively. Did NOT run hard on the way to the start, and poured lots of water on my head. (Coped okay with being accidentally sent into the B final lane, too.)
Started in 10th place so I got another sticker on my number (I am definitely keeping that number). Track route to first control gave me thinking time and as I ran up out of it I could see the Hungarian woman, Kinga Schmaal, heading down towards it. A couple of compass legs then a complex track network through the sinkholes, and running down to 5 I could see the saddle it would be on, and then the control, from over 100m away. This was the case for a number of controls; they were dead easy to find, as long as you were in the right place and hadn't got confused by the track network in getting there. (In contrast, on Wed you had to not get confused by the sinkhole network, and on Tues by the erosion gully network, so those were actually more difficult courses.)
Picked up water on the longish leg to 6, left it too far uphill and got caught in some green, looked down and saw the Hungarian woman running through a clearing below me so I dropped to there (lost maybe 1 min). Narrowly avoided disaster leaving 8 when I came out to the wrong track at 90 degrees from where I expected and briefly started running the wrong way. Ironically, from that point I could have taken a shortcut on a smaller track I hadn't noticed at first glance - but I was close to brain fade (could feel my scalp crinkling so knew I was overheating quite badly) and stuck to the bigger tracks, thereby almost doing an unnecessary lap of a sinkhole. Must have been running reasonably fast 'cos that was still less than a minute lost.
And on the way to 10 I caught the Hungarian girl again, and promptly got stuck climbing over a log then bum-slid down the earthbank into the control, here we acquired the Slovakian girl then climbing out of 11 I was a bit behind and could see the Russian girl coming up. The others had gone different ways, I grabbed water, then suddenly coming into 12 we were in a chain of 4, but I was struggling to keep up. There was another water drop where I doused my head, by now the others were out of sight but I picked the right track to turn down to 13 where they had overshot it, except for Kinga who caught on just as I turned down the track. Russian and Slovakian came across the hill from another angle as we approached 13 which I punched first, then it was on for young and old (or for 35-39 year olds). I think we ran through another Russian girl here as well.
It's years since I've had the opportunity to race in a train, and from nowhere came the second wind or the adrenaline rush, and the realisation that there were only 4 controls to the finish - it was like running those last few controls in the last hour of a rogaine, where you give it all you've got. Which I did, and ended up 9th, one second ahead of 10th, (who had qualified in first spot but obviously had a shocker). I will say that I was well pleased with myself. A bit disappointed to have lost some time in the middle section, but glad not to have completely overheated, and I guess the errors were offset by the kick I got at the end. Did take a long time to cool down afterwards despite the hosing-down by hunky firemen and sticking my head under a cold shower.
Susanne was second, Australia's only medal, which is absolutely great for her. And Lachlan won M21 in the public races. They dared each other to wear their medals when we walked down the street for dinner, with Jim & Blair, who were 7th and 13th in their finals respectively. I felt proud to be in such distinguished company (and the birthday kids were wearing matching T-shirts!).