AOOK 10Mila Test - Mass start night
Hadn't planned on coming out for this until the morning, having been aware of doing lots of races this week. Wanted a final positive night effort before next week though so went for it, with a goal of reading the pack and finishing with the front group.
Very messy start funnelling into a small path but there was a long enough run out to spread out a bit. Tucked in behind Emil and picked the right group going to my gaffel. Overtook him and caught up the front i.e. Knut before spiking number 2 just ahead of him. Wasn't sure on the next leg though so eased back a bit and let him lead in. Pace picked up round the southern loop but found myself out front again on the way to 6. Took things easy and merged back into the group when I wasn't sure what was going on.
With Knut and Ralph on the path in the lead to 7 but then picked a bad final line and got pushed back to about 10th. Made my way up the group before the 'arena passage' and then climbed strongly up the hill. Took the front of the chasing group behind Ralph but then fumbled into the circle at 11 thinking there was some gaffeling so didn't follow him. Pushed hard to catch up and again first to hit my gaffel on 13. Tucked in with Fredrik to 14, didn't have a clue what was going on, and then caught up in a bit of uncertainty at 15 when there were extra crags and some interesting mapping.
Screw began to twist down to 16 and people were jostling for places on the track. Managed to break off a bit with the front few ft. some demon descending before finding my place in the group and chilling into the finish. 10s from first and finished 4th. Unfortunately number 8 must have been a dying control so didn't register many of us. But happy to ignore that and take a really positive experience before next week. Physically feeling very much in control of the race and able to gain places or pull away when I felt like it. Would be nice to be able to recreate the feeling when it really matters.
Splits -
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
Map -
https://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_ma...
Arena Passage -
https://twitter.com/anordber/status/98742377725551...
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