Orienteering 1:43:02 [4] 11.63 km (8:52 / km) +86m 8:33 / km
shoes: Inov8 X talon
Biggest shocker for quite some time. Legs dead from yesterday, plantar fascia seized up too, so that made running quite difficult, definitely not very smooth. Managed to stay kind of in control (as much as I have ever managed in a Newcastle event) until 8. Got a bit rattled when it seemed to take forever to do the last bit of the leg. Got the control cleanly, but was so relieved I must have relaxed. Spent 12+ minutes wandering around number 9 before I got it. Then a bit off to 11, lost time wandering aimlessly looking for a control flag as I could not identify anything else. Helped some moderate people on the way to 12 and managed to get myself lost in the process so another few minutes lost there. Focused again through to 16, then decided I needed to take the easy track option. Too bad I did one of my classic mistakes, found a track and ran along it for 10 minutes hoping to find something recognisable before thinking that looking at my compass might be a plan. By then I had run a km or so 90 degrees the wrong direction, back past the start (now all packed away). 8 minutes lost on that leg! Plus any momentum I still had left...
Quite an achievement to get almost 50% extra distance out of the course.