Orienteering race (sprint) 28:02 [4] *** 2.23 km (12:35 / km) +51m 11:17 / km
spiked:11/14c slept:6.5 shoes: Trail NB 706 9D # 1
Sierra Classic 2015 sprint at Northstar near Truckee and Lake Tahoe. Brown Course, nominally 1.7 km / 35 m climb. Gorgeous day; blue sky and low to mid 70s at start. Nice to chat a bit with folks we see all over (including some who we last saw in Scotland). :-)
I think the FR/AP calculated climb is way wrong; I counted about 25 m climb on optimal route and though I went a little high on one control I didn't miss it by that much.
First control was a giveaway as I think all the courses went there; I started the same time as Glen and followed him. Slightly confused by the description and trying to read what was in the circle*. [looked like a partial ruin with a stone wall running into it from the north; described as stony ground | stone wall, south end]
No problems to 2 and 3 which were short legs near some mountain bike trails; went too much west instead of southwest to 4 and ended up near other dot knolls instead of the one I wanted. Then I took too high of a route to 5; I think crossing near the groups of boulders south of the control and had to correct when I hit the bike trail. Okay to 6 though saw John Crowther approach it along the adjacent bike trail whereas I was coming in perpendicular to the bike trail. Good routes to 7 and 8 (down trail to bend then straight through woods; west around tennis courts) but then went too far north to 9 instead of due west, and hit the trail near the weird purple blobs (construction?) between parking lots and trail. To 10 I didn't see the west-around-the-building route until I was too far east but it was straightforward. The last few controls were in the Northstar village area where I wish a bit more of the course could have been--there was too much forest "running" imho.
*Problem reading map was due to not having the correct compass with me, but fortunately I had my backup baseplate compass in my kit (it has a tiny circular magnifier area). I'll definitely remember my thumb compass with magnifier tomorrow...it took me several controls to figure out the best way to hold the baseplate (in my left hand, under my thumb, on top of the map; simulating the thumb compass technique).
I think I was about 11th out of 25 or so on the course when we left; 8 minutes behind Natalia.
Walking warm up/down 5:44 [2] 0.43 km (13:29 / km) +16m 11:21 / km
shoes: Trail NB 706 9D # 1
Back to the parking area/download, without a map but with an idea of which direction (west) to go, though I went up the wrong staircase at first.
I think in situations where they take your map and have a remote finish they should either streamer the route to download/parking or give you a mini map (like a model map) showing how to go. A similar situation happened in KY in March though the download was near finish and we just had to find our way back to the cars.