orienteering race (Blackwood Hills score) 2:50:00 [3] 23.4 km (7:16 / km)
shoes: Asics GT-2000
20 minutes really wasn't enough planning time for a 3hr score event and on the start line (@Eden Hills CFS) Zara & I still hadn't decided which way to go. Yes, there were lots of controls in Craigburn and Simon was going there first - but then he was going to get everything, well within the 3 hrs, and at a pace at least 50% faster than us. True, Sleeps Hill quarries are never efficient, but they are scenic, and doing them first would give us more options towards the end. So I picked Sleeps Hill, probably against Z's better judgement, and the McInerneys waited to see what we were doing before deciding to head north too. All the other teams, as far as I could see, headed south into Craigburn (playing Simon Says?).
We seemed to start at a fairly leisurely pace which suited me because I take a while to warm up these days and was feeling rather vague today. The hills didn't seem as bad as I had expected though. The Sleeps Hill section took about an hour then we headed up Gloucester, past Pinera Station, past Belair station and into the park. I said " we should see Simon soon" and about 5 min later he materialised - so everything south of there had taken him 2:25 approx. Toilet stop by the lake (not counted in above time) and then up to the Uppills'. Saw a couple of other gun runners near here, also heading widdershins (Simon-wards).
Down the creek through Hawthorndene; 2 hour mark was next to the pine forest and we'd done closer to 10km in this hour. After the control above Frank Smith Park we headed out through Coro Primary and due west up the hill to Coromandel Pde, discussing what we could get in the 45 min remaining to us. In the end we got the controls in Magpie Gully, but nothing in Craigburn Farm, and were back 8 min early. Very similar score to the guys who were 2nd & 4th; if we'd realised that the event had started a couple min late then we'd probably have had time to trade a single 30 at the end for a pair of 30s slightly further south, but this would have been about it.
So: 3km less than Mark & I covered in the same event a couple of years ago but I am feeling better up hills than I did back in January.