Run race ((orienteering)) 1:11:38 [4] *** 7.5 km (9:33 / km) +350m 7:45 / km
spiked:22/23c
If I was chasing a result the start draw hasn't done me any favours this weekend: in the storm yesterday and early both today and tomorrow, which means no tracking, and this morning also meant fog (not something I'm used to seeing in Europe in July). This weekend, though, isn't really about the result (although I won't complain if I get one), so getting the chance to prepare for WMOC in the most difficult conditions possible is a plus rather than a minus.
Except for one control my fine navigation was functioning very well today. Unfortunately, that one control (#15) cost me a fair bit of time, probably 4-4.5 minutes. It was a textbook Continental terrain mistake - small boulder on a vague slope in green - and was all the more frustrating because I'd successfully made it through the limestone section (which I read reasonably well, but the rock underfoot was hard going). Only other time losses were route choices, most notably 1-2 where I probably cost myself a minute or two by trying to go straight across the slope rather than dropping to a track, not yet appreciating how slow the forest was. Not especially happy with my uphill strength in soft ground, but then I never am when I first arrive.
Two European orienteering features I haven't missed: charcoal burning grounds (the only way I recognised any of them was by the orange and white flags) and yellow that turns into green in summer.
I was surprised how slow this was - even on rock-free legs I wasn't getting much under 7-8 minutes/km. There was a fair bit of undergrowth which slowed things down, but at least I now have a better indication of just how wide it's worth going to use tracks here. (That said, at WMOC's altitude I don't think there will be as much undergrowth as there is here). When you finish with a kilometre rate not much into single figures you worry that you might be totally off the pace, but in fact I was fifth on the day and moved into third overall. There's a bit of space on either side of me so unless either I or someone in front of me screws up I should stay there. Glad I didn't run 21E - I would have been looking at 95-100 (and probably the same tomorrow) which wouldn't have done me any favours at this stage.
Unusually for Europe, I had to hire a car to get to the event areas, so took advantage of this mobility for some afternoon exploring. I was a bit sceptical when one of the main tourist attractions was labelled as the 'source of the Loue' (the local river) - I'm not used to river sources being exciting, but this one was a full-blown river emerging from a cave (limestone country). There were also a few other interesting features, including a narrow-slit gorge of a kind I've previously only seen in Karijini. A few of the features of this landscape (especially the underground rivers) featured fairly prominently in the fantasy worlds I was creating when I was ten, probably influenced fairly significantly by what I was reading at that stage.