orienteering 1:08:10 [5] 8.0 km (8:31 / km)
Dibden Purlieu MLS Event, weather forecast was dire, gales and driving rain -it was wet and it was windy but it was also 13 degrees so my decision to run in a waterproof top which was completely unnecessary unless you also wanted to boil rice in a bag on the way around. Area was also completely flat and mostly open with New Forest heather and the map looked simplistic. Completely flat however gives its own difficulties and the planner had avoided the temptation to use small pits etc. unless there was an adjacent feature. It was also wet (a good place to practice for Estonia?), whilst pussy footing around one puddle I was passed by Alex 'in we go!' was the encouraging holler. I was pleased to see that he only went up to his waist so would not need to swim. I was less pleased to see that when I emerged from the swamp he had disappeared over the horizon.
One area of map both Mark and I found somewhat confusing; basically the cause was a hill that was bigger that expected. Post race grokelling revealed the somewhat bizzarly an index contour had gone AWOL and crossed a number of its chums -how odd!
A really fun race, despite holding up the results board -its a really great facet of the sport to go to different and preferably unknown areas.