A few issues in this course. I was rushing far too much at the beginning. Somehow my watch stopped immediately after the start and I had to start it again at 7.
The main incident that took me out of this course was at #16. I allowed the green to push me to the right and onto the eastern spur. I relocated at the boulder and artificial X and took a bearing into the control from there. But when I made it to the two knolls, the control wasn't there. I assumed I had swung too far right and decided to backtrack: nothing. Then I followed the spur north and eventually found it, although it seemed a little off.
After checking with my GPS track and the tracks of four other blue runners, it looks like 16 was misplaced. I think this contributed to my mistake on 17 afterwards also as I was out of contact with the map from the start.
It seems that if you attacked it from the south, there was no problem. Perhaps most people assumed they were running slower than normal because of the green. But my attack from the east lost me time there. Looking at the two-day totals, it looks like I lost the championship there.
I certainly don't mean to badmouth the organizers. I thought the terrain and courses were excellent. They did a great job putting on a fun weekend. But it's still frustrating to lose a championship on a control like this.
It also didn't seem like a good idea to lodge a complaint since who wants to throw out a championship race, particularly when it's in its final year.
So, there it is; a misplaced control and a lost race. It's not the first and likely won't be the last. Take it in and move on to what's next.
Once again, I want to express my gratitude to QOC for the weekend. There are so many things that can go wrong in orienteering. They did a great job making everything run smoothly.