Connacht Championships 2011
Before the race started I was making excuses, complete lack of running and illness over last few weeks.
First couple of controls were fine but lost a couple of seconds at 3, hit the path on the line and then then the re-entrant. Since contours were 2.5m I thought I was on the ridge with the control, headed down it a bit and hesitated as I got unsure, but continued and control was there. 4 was fine but veered a bit left to 5, again wasn't sure which hill I was aiming for. Went straight for 6 and then 7, no problems. On the way to 8 my direction veered a small bit. 9 was ok and then onto 10, kept left of the line before cutting across to the control when I saw it. 11 and 12 were straight, no issues. To 13 I followed the wall sort of parallel to the line, plan was to run straighter but saw a tiny track along the wall and thought that would make for slighty better running. Then cut up after a few hundred metres. I used the cows that I passed between 9-10 as a reference on this leg, knew I was crossing the line or close to it between 9-10 on way to 13. Can't say i've used cows as a feature before.
To 14 I went straight, got a bit caught on the last wall and had to clamber over a chopped log. Thought about going left but would have had to do more thinking and map following between the enclosed fields with gaps in the corners. 15 was easy, passed it on way to 5. 16 was ok too, just running and then the next couple of controls to 19 were fine too. Saw 21 from 20 so just put the head down. 22 and 23 posed no trouble. Went right of the green to 24 and followed the wall until the junction, probably lost a few seconds compared to a straighter line. Then back across the fence and into the rough grass.
Saw the x which was before 25's boulder so aimed for that following the tracks that I got the early starters to make for me! Wasn't running too hard, just focusing on finding a good line. To 26 I realised that the black circles were esb poles and then cut across them to see the control from a good bit away. Thought it was too obvious for mine. Lots and lots of controls were visible, no burying of controls today. Then back to 27 by the road following the tracks still, and then 28, and across the road to 29 and the finish. For the last loop, 26-finish, I kinda put map away, knew everyone had last few controls the same and had seen people running to them before I started. My biggest concern was if i'd got all the last few.
Downloaded and went to look at results,
Josh was on top of the pile but checking my splits I was 14 seconds faster than him. Good run by the junior. Pleased to have won , wasn't expecting to based on my excuses. Felt it out there though, higher than normal racing HR, but maybe speed of the area explains that, min/km today were very fast, and for 12km too.
Results
Routegadget
Garmin said I ran 12.62km and climbed 38m.