Orienteering race 3:28:04 [4] 16.0 km (13:00 / km) +385m 11:36 / km
ahr:154 max:177 27c shoes: Salomons XR Mission
Had a bad sleep last night but wasn't really going to make a difference I alway knew today would be hard sleep or not!
Had a chat to the regulars before the race and decided to A) get rid of my wet weather jacket because it seemed to be "clearing" pre race and B) haphazardly hand over my iphone to ricky for a gps (haphazzard knowing his record with gps devices) without really teaching him how to use the app and without a waterproof bag - but hey now worries it was clearing ahha.
Made way out to start 900m start distance - seriously! oh well. Managed to call Fletch Tooms out there while waiting to start - showing how much I was with it then!
Anyhow my turn to go and told Craig thanks for showing me point 1 in advance. he thought I would get that and follow him to 2...
#1 he was wrong and I was right. I went right and too high (nothing new there) turned to have a look back and realised my error. which shortly after I saw craig dart out from the rocks I was thinking about heading towards 2. So much for a tow to 2. was way out of place. Also it had started raining straight away and was already drenched.
#2 Tried to go straight at it. half way there or maybe a bit more saw Craig coming back to go to point 4. god damn it - he moves too damn fast. Proceeded onward and found #3. oh dear too far right again. corrected up the hill and met Henry coming down at pace. found 2 reasonably smartly from that point.
#3 Well was relatively straight forward since I had been there already, the blonde norwegian/finnish girl cruised past me on the way to it as if I wasn't moving. eh. status quo. Last I saw of her for the day. Stopped a tad short but realised straight away and picked it up.
#4 Fail idea 1. Lets go back east of #2 grab the road and motor along the road the whole way to avoid the bush. Had I known how clear most of that bush was I would have gone straight line. Took it slow up the hill but once at the top cruised down the road. Went in too earlier though, distracted by others - should have waited for the prominent bend I was looking for. Met Graham in there who said are you after 142 which I wasn't - I realised my error and went back to the road. Met Ricky powering along - was wondering if my phone had died to the rain yet (I was thinking 5S) but we didn't really have much of a chat as ricky held my pace for about 5 steps before he realised he didn't want hypothermia and picked up the pace. Eventually got to my feature and shot into the bush and hit the point on the nose this time.
#5 Back to the road and along to the river bed, then in on an angle and perfectly onto the point was very happy with this.
#6 Again very nice leg - quite happy with it
#7 Botched this leg a little bit got dragged off bearing and went searching in the rocks. Also saw Henry come powering down from the rocks and thought you beauty his had a massive error and I caught him... Then quickly realised his on his second map :(. Spent some time hunting in the rocks but found it in the end.
#8 A bit of searching at the bottom of the cliff but found it pretty quickly (for my standard) especially looking at my drifitng amount on the way over. Even though I was drenched very happy to see the water drop!
#9 Pretty good line to the point got it pretty quickly when I got to the location not too much messing around. However was moving reasonably slowly now.
#10 without the map struggling to remember 10 - think it was a good leg pretty flush. will correct if it wasn't once juffmap working.
#11 Ditto with 11 from the trace it looks dead on and I remember two legs about this stage that lifted my confidence a bit. I had however not seen anyone for a long time now.
#12 was running well but guess what, missed it to the right, hunted around for a bit like a headless chook because getting it.
#13 the long leg with not much for me to play with, kept saying, keep left keep left... hitting all the small targets I had planned on the way, felt good all the way until I hit the river near to 14 I was practically on top of it... again tried to apply logic for a while but was struggling eventually convince myself to climb and used the big slab to relocate. didn't help the first few times then eventually got it.
#14 Powered back down the hill for my map change - should have been a basic leg, thought I will hit the river, cross is then follow it along abit and I should see the rocks. Got within metres of 14, but followed on like an idiot not thinking.. it was only after a good 100m or so I thought this is wrong and back traced and saw the point... kicking myself. Enjoyed a water stop at the 2 hr mark now... and started thinking. I Planned on 3hrs I have 1 hour to do this. at worst course close is in about 1hr 25.
#15 Was a good leg and restored confident. Hit the point perfectly.
#16 Purposely went more north than north west, wanted the road and didn't want to mess around with the terrain. This is the point I found out the ground up there wasn't so bad and was generally pretty runnable, shame I was knackered. Got to the turn off which I made the mistake earlier and quickly found the point from where Graham had been much earlier in the day.
#17 As I went back along the road I realised it had been a very long time since I seen anyone, but some 4wd's soon broke that coming back and forth past me. oh and dear god the wind on the road was bad now, fricken cold too after being drenched to the bone. Went to T junction then dived into bush hit the point flush.
#18 Had now come up with a plan, 100m at a time at a jog on bearing, pace counting the works, wanted to get through this now. Found 18 pretty quickly, was the one Henry had got some mm 1.5hrs earlier haha.
#19 Went to road then used road until granite mound, in and hit the point, was feeling good now and felt like whilst 3 hours was gone, course close was doable. (I should point out by now I had twisted both ankles like 3 times each and kicked both big toes but was kinda numb to the pain).
#20 After a few good points I stopped short on this point and it annoyed the hell out of me. eventually found it and moved on pretty quickly.
#21 Easy - perfect and fast I thought.
#22 on the nose again and yay for water.
#23 Long leg with not much to nav by, made reasonable time for the walking/running I was doing and came out all of like 5m left of the point very happy.
#24 Could still definitely make course close was feeling good about it and again hit the point flush, awesome.
#25 managed to find 27 on the way, was a tad dis hearted hearing and seeing everyone there for presentations as I slinked past slowly. Went a bit astray here following the river and generally not doing the right thing. Wanted to cross the damn thing just couldn't find a point. Eventually after chasing it for ages I saw the point and made another leap of faith across a river. Really not a fan of those last event I did it at I ended in the drink chest deep. I managed to clear all rivers throughout today though without needing my swimmers :)
#26 I got the point pretty straight on, may have stopped slightly early but was good. However realised I think the advertised course close was pretty much when I punched this point - oh well!
#27 Easy had already been there and was a nice straight line effort too it but for a small swerve for the river at the end.
To finish - trademark sprint, had already semi scoped it when i had crossed earlier. Opened up what I had left which was not much... Rounded the corner and headed down towards the water... Oh dear children in the way - oh double dear the planks that had been put down for crossing where not in place... mmm certainly people hearing me coming now - pictures face planting in river... started to slow a bit in anticipation - hope this isn't too deep/slippery/... hit at reasonable speed I think potentially covering small children in muddy water - bl. Lost a lot of speed from the leg in the river but pulled through, tried to accelerate but hit second bit of water and a bit of a cramp - push what I had though for final 10m and punched in. Was happy to see faster split by 3s. Only as good as your last leg I say :) Oh and it was meet with a cheer, may have been coincidentally aligned to an award but I will take it anyway.
Only a few mins post course close. had I started 930 flush I would have been ok by 2 minutes.Also seems the gps had failed for ricky but was happy/surprised my iphone 4 had not died from rain or rock .
Got a can of coke and went to car, was chatting to Ricky and Tash as they got called on for control collection - I looked over and said no chance I have been out there long enough thanks and got in car. Had I known my mate wasnt going to be at forsyths for another 45 mins I would have got some close ones but thought he would be there already so moved on reasonably quickly.
A little bit of cramping tonight but nothing serious, no major blister issues, mainly toenail concerns and pain and sunburn < SERIOUSLY surprised I got burnt but oh well!
Oh yes and I am well aware my write ups are as long as I take on the course haha.
and yes my real competition for the day Phil beat me by 13 mins which he held from early in the piece, wd - I think I could have had him without some silly mistakes. but learnt some stuff out there today with should make me faster next time.
1 final thing Wayne Eliot MPed so I am claiming I beat him :P mission successful.