orienteering race (Wattle Gully Chasing fina) 47:07 [3] 3.7 km (12:44 / km) +165m 10:25 / km
shoes: Inov8 OROC 270 blue/orange
After this morning which definitely wasn't my finest effort (fun though, with plenty of other people going in all directions) I ended up 5 seconds ahead of Sarah Lim, which meant starting 5 seconds before her in the chasing start and as soon as I saw the long leg from 1 to 2 I realised that she would be on my tail all the way. I nailed the little side creek at the end of the leg, went up it and no flag. Went west, noted that the control at the junction with the next little creek was the wrong number, went back up the first little creek and this time I found the right control by going a bit further over than anticipated. I thought Sarah had followed me through this sequence of motions but in fact it turned out that she'd stopped at punching the wrong one, not that she knew this until the end.
Poor route choice to 4, scrambling up & over unnecessarily, then followed the main creek through the blackberries to 5 and up the wrong little side erosion, then turned north when I should have gone south, and I bounced off the fence 50m away, so that's where Sarah got past me, plus I then had trouble with 7 where I was so sure I'd gone up the correct gap in the embankment but i just found myself in blackberries rather than the minor watercourse with a control on it, so maybe there was another unmapped gap? By now my foot was really painful and motivation waning somewhat, but at least I didn't end up last in either of the morning's or the afternoon's race.
Also, it's always nice to stay with the Radfords when in Castlemaine, and it turned out that their other house guest was keen to watch the Carolean Coronation :)