Race Evaluation
QOC: Pohick Bay: Blue
Nadim
| 1. | Though I was the course setter, I only designed the courses and hadn't run in the park for about a year. Valerie Meyer and Kris Beecroft had set out the control. I was probably the last to start this day. I took trails all the way then contoured across from north to south. | ||||||
| 2. | +02:00 | Heading west initially to climb out of the reentrant, I errantly cut right at the power lines, using memory rather than reading the map. I was thinking that the map was just out of date and the road disappearing. As the ride started to drop, I realized my error and cut across the green to the road. I turned right on it, then left at the next intersection. Leaving from a bit trail bend, I descended a spur to a stream junction and saw Mark Mace at the bottom contemplating which way to go. I was tempted to tell him to follow me. I climbed both running and walking but hit the road east of the control before correcting. | |||||
| 3. | I stayed high using the trails. I was a bit surprised to see that the trails had started to disappear. As I came off a bend and down a reentrant, I was a little surprised to see the control in front of me. | ||||||
| 4. | Up the reentrant mostly ignoring the trail below, I cut left at the next major reentrant junction and skirted the property line to the end of the fence. I read along as I went and found it helpful. There wasn't much of a reentrant at the control but I could easily see it from the trail. | ||||||
| 5. | I angled to the trail to the left but got caught up in the green a bit. I had almost gone all the way to the road before hitting the trail. Once across, it was easy to follow the edge of the green in to the control. | ||||||
| 6. | Going straight, I started to make an error after crossing the first reentrant but quickly set myself straight again skirting along the junction and just above the gully. I ran to the field corner and in but had to turn right a bit to reach the control. | ||||||
| 7. | +00:10 | I started to go straight, then got turned SE up the hill. Eventually hitting the intermittant trail, I was higher than I wanted to be but at least I knew exactly where I was. I attacked off a ruin but was loath to descend along the correct bearing without seeing the spur. I ended up overshooting slightly and coming back. | |||||
| 8. | I made a parallel error by starting to go straight and then trying to contour around when I should have been descending more. Trying to make features fit as I came to thiem, I only stopped when I reached a Green course control in a small reentrant near a road. It took me a little while to believe where I was but once I did I was able to go directly to the control. | ||||||
| 9. | I angled downward toward the east and ran the trail along the shore of the cove. Turning right before the marsh, I used the trail until it started to ascend more steeply. Running across the marsh, I read the stream bends then noted the narrowing of the valley ahead. I stopped in the correct place and climbed an old trail/road to the dot knoll. I think I would have found it just fine but Jan Merka had told me that he'd used this approach earlier. | ||||||
| 10. | Staying high, I ran along the shelf to the major reentrant opening on the left. At the bottom I started to hear voices which soon were discernable as cries for help. Fortunately for me, the two cadets yelling were on my route, to the left of the green on a straight approach, and at the top of the hill. They weren't hurt, just lost, I gave them a safety bearing which they seemed to dilligently move on with. Refocusing on my approach, I guess the green turned me or I was not as far south as I thought. I hit the edge of the hill top near a slight reentrrant NE of the control. I kept moving and eventually found the correct reentrant near the trail. | ||||||
| 11. | +02:00 | I figured that going straight would be a little risky but it was just under 200m. I expected the green on the map to be more of the mountail laurel which I'd just passed through. Instead I encountered a blow down fight. I tried to go through it on the left but it was slow. Finally I popped out on the trail. I mistakenly turned right and then had to make a U-turn shortly later. Attacking as the green opened a little on the left and the trail started to descend, I hit the control well. | |||||
| 12. | I used the trail to get to the power line ride. Cutting in from the shallow valley, I spiked it from south to north, enjoying the run. | ||||||
| 13. | I dog-legged back to the power lines and tried to stay on bearing. I emerged at the road then ran along it to where I could see the control. I had a Gu then punched. | ||||||
| 14. | I ran in the grass along the main road. It might have been faster to actually be on the shoulder but with spikes on the hard dry clay was a hard enough surface for my knees. Thinking ahead to the end, I figured that my earlier error would put Dave Pruden's finish time out of reach but I also thought I could make it close. I cut in on the paved trail, then used the roads to get to the attack point west of the control. I expected the control to be a bit more east which would have been a lot less deep but I won't second guess the placement location without taking slower look. | ||||||
| 15. | +00:35 | Up out of the reentrant and across the road, my bearing was true. I expected to be able to see the control from above. When I didn't see it, I cut right a bit. From there I could see the control at about where I thought it was initially. The bag was faded and it turned out that it was on the ground. The stick it was hung on had fallen over in the mud. The area of the control seems to have eroded a lot. An earthbank should be on the map now. | |||||
| 16. | I planned to stay low but with fallen trees making that look not so good, I climbed to the right, going completely over the first ridge. I descended along it again and had to do more climbing on subsequent ridges. I eventually ran on the left main bank too, where it was flatter. Approaching the control, I saw another runner approaching from afar and high. I got there just after him. | ||||||
| 17. | I ran down the reentrant, then over the small ridge to the now dry marsh. Up the trail was slow. I remembered when I could run it, albeit slowly, in earlier events here. Walking was just as fast but easier today. I noted the trail intersections, then came off the trail bend to spike the control. | ||||||
| 18. | Back down to the trail, I ran on the road, then across the parking lot. I started to feel that I had a slim chance of catching Dave Pruden's time. I ignored trails and kept a straightish bearing. I followed the edge of some greener woods which were mostly unmapped but this got me to the reentrant before the control. A quick glance told me that I was in the right place. I kept straight and saw the root stock, spiking it. Originally, this control was going to be in the formline reentrant, very close to where the rootstock was. | ||||||
| F. | I ran straight up the hill but was running out of steam fast. I had to walk the last bit up to the field. I took trails from there but didn't feel very quick. |
Total Time Lost - 00:04:45