Orienteering race (Grabouw Eikenhof Dam) 46:29 [4] *** 6.2 km (7:30 / km) +140m 6:44 / km
21c shoes: Inov-8 Oroc 280 #2
Western Cape Middle Champs
Had a poor start. Fluffed the 1st short control, by not reading the description and being on the wrong side of the feature, then bad route choice to #2 by going straight through the dense undergrowth.
Michael started 2 mins behind me and apparently saw me leaving, but it was only on way to #9 that he caught, so I must have had a few fair controls. I lost sight of him to #10 and then made a big mistake, dropping too low when I intended to contour around from the right.
Left the control and heard Tim (+4) coming in behind. We took different route choices, Tim contouring more (and better) to #11, but I went straight into it whilst he was still circling. Kept him in my sights until #16 but then he pulled away.
Decent from then on, but I must still have been loosing lots of time on Michael, as I finished 9.5 minutes down and 8th position. Very bad result. Running speed is non-existant and it's showing against Michael, Tim, Brad, Brian. Even then, it never felt smooth out there. Somethings missing.