Training Log Archive: nmulder

Western Cape Long Distance Champs. M21A.

Grabouw Klipdrif, 1:10'000. 3rd Champs here in a row.

Another super-fast competition, with Brad taking the win about 2 mins ahead of me. I went out very fast in the first part of the course. I probably suffered a bit, running the 2nd long leg a bit too slow and not recovering until after the northern loop.

Hit the first few controls spot on, then went the direct route on the first long leg. Jury is still out on which route choice was the best. 3 controls were stolen on the day (2, 8, 9), but they had all been replaced by the time I got there. Suffered a lot between 13 and 16, but still hit all controls at speed and with no mistakes. Felt good entering the last technical section. Only 1 mistake, where I went a bit too low on the leg to #24.

Had a good run in, but nowhere near fast enough on this course to beat Brad, who actually pulled away from me in the final technical section. Michael had also been ahead starting in, but went backwards, finishing about 30secs behind me in the end.

Can't complain about my run. I just need to get faster, even though this rates as one of the fastest Champs courses in SA history?

From Orienteering Maps

Long Distance Course 1 M21 - Splits

Western Cape Middle Distance Champs. M21A.

New map, Highlands East, 1:10'000. Pretty well mapped, although there were 2 or 3 control features that were slightly suspect in their location.

Had a strong start on the race, hitting all the controls well at speed. Left the road too early when attacking #4. Exact siting of #s 5,6,7 is suspect, but I didn't loose any time. I did some good reading ahead on the way to #10, which gave me a good clean run around the technical loop, probably the deciding factor for me winning the course. Only mistake was #16, where I tried to contour in instead of attacking the control straight. Got held up horribly by some green undergrowth on the way out of #21, but otherwise clean until the penultimate #27. That control is nowhere near where it is supposed to be on the map (control location was at the eastern most tip of my loop on the GPS track). Lucklily, I only lost about 45 secs.

Had a good split to the last control thereafter and a blitz sprint finish which gave me the win by 8 secs over Michael. Jeremy 3rd.

Overall a very good run for me. I went flat out the whole way, with very few mistakes. Scary to see that everyone is running so fast as well. I don't think any of us would have broken 40 mins a year ago.

From Orienteering Maps

C • Scary ... 1

Middle Distance Course 1 M21A - Splits

8.5 hours of mapping.

8.5 hours of mapping.

5 hours of mapping at Mokubulaan

Got to the time trial very late due to traffic. Started at the 1km mark outside the gate and tried to catch as many stragglers as possible.