Orienteering race 1:33:34 [4] **** 8.19 km (11:25 / km) +135m 10:33 / km
spiked:9/13c shoes: VJ Falcons 4 (yellow)
Day 2 at Bear Brook. Several controls in a recently logged area with a well-mapped network of rough open corridors which were reasonably runnable. In the middle, two controls in tough, detailed boulder and subtle contour detail terrain. Final controls in a rather bland area. Plenty of technical challenge, appropriate for a championship event.
Smallish errors on three controls, massive error on #5, one of the controls in the really detailed area. Really enjoyed the logged area and did fairly well there. On 5, lost contact a few hundred meters from 4, eventually relocated on the trail to the west, but then lost contact again before I found 5. Wandered around without a plan for a while trying to figure out which under-mapped marshy area I might be at. Finally stumbled across control 6, from which I found 5. 36 min on a leg which should've taken 10 - 12 min. Arrgh!
Lesson for the day - never give up! As I wandered somewhat aimlessly looking for 5, I spent a few minutes seriously considering a DNF, figuring that losing 20 minutes on one control would surely put me well out of a decent placing for the two day total time (and championship medal). Shortly after I relocated on 6 and was headed to 5, I noticed Soupbone heading into 6 to punch. He had started 12 min ahead of me and it certainly wasn't going to take me 12 min to get to 5 and then back to 6. The race was back on! As it turned out, lots of others had less than perfect runs, and my two-day total was good enough to move me into 3rd (from 4th after day 1) in M60 and into the medals! Much better than a DNF. :-)
SL distance 5.1 km. 80 m climb.