Training Log Archive: syd

New Zealand Orienteering Champs
Long, W21E (Red)

My focus for this race was on making good route choices, which included minimizing climb. I was the first W21E starter and hoped to not be the last finisher. I was successful...but got destroyed, wow those women are fast!

I started off nice and easy since I had made mistakes early on the last two days. No mistakes on controls 1 or 2! I was also worried that my legs would be very unhappy, but they actually didn't feel too bad. The course started out in a mix of fields and nice open woods. For the most part the woods were fantastic, but I did pass through a couple of reentrants that were full of very dense thorn bushes. It was very slow going, but at least it was only for short periods of time. Small mistake on 8. I cut down the cliff too early and briefly searched the wrong reentrant.

After 10 the rest of the course was primarily through open fields. With sheep and cows in them! Fences weren't mapped (not sure why), but they were numerous. I had to jump at least one fence per leg, on some of the longer legs it was 4 or 5. So...many...fences. I was pretty tired of hopping fences by the end. I also ripped a massive hole in my tights on one.

There were a few very long legs. 16-17 was by far the longest leg I've ever done. And there were essentially no trails. Finding a route was rather daunting, but I planned one that seemed to minimize climb and successfully executed my plan! On a whole I selected routes that minimized climb, which meant going around spurs on quite a few legs. With better fitness I think I could cut time by going over on some, but I was happy with my route selection and execution.

Really fun course, I loved the terrain and the route choice. And we have now orienteered in New Zealand :)

New Zealand Orienteering Champs
Middle, W21E (Red)

Kevin started a while before I did, so I found a nice spot of grass to occupy near the spectator loop/finish. It was such a neat setup. I was on a grassy spur with the spectator chute off one edge (up a huge hill!) and the finish off the other side. There were lots of people watching and you could look out across the fields and see competitors as they ran across. I saw Nathan Fa'avae run through (!) and watched Kevin at the spectator control, but headed off to the start before he finished.

I've never seen a map with so much yellow! The course started off in grassy farmland with large, steep hills. I started off strong with an error on 1... I didn't take the time to match up features and just wandered a bit. Silly. The rest of the controls on this section went well. Such cool terrain. Picked a terrible route from 6-7 and did a lot of extra climbing. First time orienteering through a herd of cows! The second part of the course was in a wooded area. My legs were shot at this point, so I mostly just trudged along. The terrain was great though, nice woods and lots of parallel features. Navigation was pretty clean, I was just slow.

Overall, this terrain was awesome. I need to make better route choices that minimize climb. I also got a southern hemisphere compass for these races that does not have the ability to take a bearing (the housing doesn't rotate). I didn't realize how much I rely on bearings, might be something I work on for the future. At least my compass pointed north ;)

Te Mata Peak: Parked at the main car park and did the blue loop. Beautiful views of the surrounding farmland from the top! It was a bit hazy, but off in the distance you could see the ocean in one direction and mountains in the other.

New Zealand Orienteering Champs
Sprint, W21E (Red)

Flew in to Auckland in the morning and then drove down to Hastings. It was very strange driving on the left side of the road, but it was surprisingly easy to adjust. We arrived at the venue with time to spare (we thought). But when we picked up our packets, the start time on my bib was 13:47 and it was 13:20!! I had switched classes (from W21A to W21E) and hadn't looked at my new start time. So I dashed around getting ready and ran off to the start. It was 1.5 km away, felt like forever, and I arrived just in time to progress through the start procedure. BUT the volunteers were very confused because the first start wasn't until 14:00... After looking through the start list, it turned out that the time on my bib was misprinted and I didn't start until 15:47. Whew. What a way to start the event!

So I headed back to the check in area and was able to watch Kevin run. And then returned to the start with plenty of time to spare :) My mind was very foggy, so I didn't expect to do that well. I had a hard time focusing on the small details on the map. So right off the bat I made a mistake on 2. I went down the correct alley, but didn't realize the flag was under an overhang around the corner. Figured it out and punched with the girl who started 1 min behind me...not the best start. That was my only big mistake, but my route choices were poor through the whole race. I was often on the wrong side of fences. Really fun course. Lots of route choice with fences and narrow alleyways.

Easy run to shake out the legs.