Orienteering race 42:56 [4] 5.9 km (7:17 / km) +160m 6:24 / km
shoes: Brooks Cascadia 5
Easter 3 Days - Day 3 at Crusoe. Started well and nailed 1 but then felt like I did the same on 2 but was a fraction left so missed seeing the flag on the first time through the area because of the Chinese scrub. Did some circle work but no luck so back to the fence line and tried again but still to left. Back for a third go and went right and found the control - luckily this flag wasn't in the pit. Lost 2:30 which for the area was a big error. Ok for the next few just going straight, but did hesitate directly above 5 because I couldn't see the depression at first. Went a bit to the right of the straight line on 6, which was the only real route choice leg on the course, and hit the slope about 50m to the right of the control then contoured in. Just ran on a very rough bearing out of 6 but went a bit too far right so just picked up the track - straighter would have been a little bit quicker. Fairly straight on 8 and 9 because the lumpy old gold mining was quite easy to get through. Having said that I ran around the left side going to 10 then along the little water courses into the control. I crossed the water race on the straight line to 11 and then ran along the track for a bit before going straight again back across the water race. Felt good through the last few controls but did take the wrong direction out of 14 by thinking just get to the track ASAP so lost about 15 sec.
A cleaner run would have been just under 40 but nowhere near Geoff - I just can't run that fast. I didn't realise that Nigel, who caught me at 2, and I were on the same course. We were sort of in touch with each other through to 9 and probably kept each other moving along, but just tended to come into the controls around the same time from slightly different routes. He went around the right on 10 to 11 and lost a bit of time and I didn't see him again.
Overall I finished 3rd in M55A behind Geoff, daylight, and Eoin. Ted had two good runs and a disaster. I was happy with a lot of my orienteering but not having orienteered for over 2 months was not a great preparation. Most of my stuff ups were early in the course each day - something to work on.
Really enjoyed the weekend. Loved the variety and the areas - even the easy nav of the last day was fun for a change. Nothing like running fast through the forest.