Orienteering race 2:18:43 [3] *** 9.3 km (14:55 / km) +120m 14:01 / km
spiked:15/19c shoes: Salomon Wings
Rough day .... buckthorn pulling and yard work left me rather sore/beat up from day before. Cold windy wet weather didn't help.
Readability of map with glasses and very thin brown lines w/ green undergrowth lines on top conspired to prevent me really getting into the map . ( 2007 printing of map was far more legible , had wider contours..comparing side by side was v interesting). There seem to be more clearings / grassy areas than before . Older clearings marked on the map as rough open are still there , but starting to be overgrown with softer edges ... they looked very similar to the unmapped new rough open areas. (so on 2 occasions was unable to use distinct open area as an attackpoint ). Not sure what the solution is for such an actively managed forest area. Remap every 3-4 years ?
Course was 50% longer than advertised due to scale issue which was unfortunate but OK . Controls were all on smaller features and very technically placed .
So with all of those factors (weather, map readability, soreness etc) I went into "run conservatively mode" = slow down , stay warm and dry ... plus bail out / reattack at first sign of trouble .
The conservative mode worked reasonably well. Control #5 (pit) was about an ~8 min error w/bailout , #15 was a ~7 min error with bailout. Had some fast running at the end #16 - 19 when trying to make sure I beat control retrievers to the controls. Stopped several times to make sure that folks out there were OK in view of the cold wet weather / difficulty/ late hour (~ 2 - 3 mins ) . Luckily we had no SAR or hypothermia issues to deal with..... and poison ivy rashes don't appear until folks get home ! (did the Technu body and clothes wash at home ... no issues for me)
Some areas were very nice to run in and I got a good flow going. Some areas have the nasty prickly ash which really slow one down. You never quite know what you will have on any leg . All areas have very technical orienteering. So in summary it's great to go to Sand Dunes for an annual fix of very technical O.
Orienteering 40:00 [3] *** 3.5 km (11:26 / km) +40m 10:49 / km
spiked:2/2c shoes: Salomon Wings
Control retrieval far east part of Sand Dunes... tired !