Race Evaluation
Billygoat: Billygoat
jjcote
| 1. | Stephen took off like a shot following Erik Nystrom(!), and it was challenging to keep him in sight, though he slowed down somewhat when the we got to the first uphill. | ||||||
| 2. | Following the crowd, and just before the control, I head people calling my name, alerting me to the fact that Stephen had just taken a fall. He looked pretty shaky when I got to him, and had a bruise on his ribs, but I gave him a drink and said we could walk for a while, and he kept moving. It did seem to have him dragging a bit for the rest of the day. It also seems that this is where the map fell out of Stephen's pocket, though we didn't notice that until later. And he had forgotten to bring a compass. | ||||||
| 3. | In from the trail junction. | ||||||
| 4. | Stayed left of the marsh, with Henderson for a while, then took the trail between the marshes and arrived right after Dean and Phil, and just ahead of Steve Tarry. | ||||||
| 5. | Left fork, with a bunch of HVO guys, hesitated at the boulder on the W edge of the circle. | ||||||
| 6. | Careful climb, spiked the control, arrived with a big crowd. | ||||||
| 7. | skip | ||||||
| 8. | Straight at it, again arived with a big crowd. | ||||||
| 9. | While everybody else seemed to be going SE, we went directly W to the trail and took it around. Encountered Adam C-B who looked like he was heading in for a second try at 5W. Converged with several other people at the control. | ||||||
| 10. | Clean and direct. | ||||||
| 11. | Still with a crowd. | ||||||
| 12. | Stephen slowed somewhat at this point, and the crowd (Charlie, Tony, several women, etc.) started to pull away. | ||||||
| 13. | Pretty straight, using trails here and there. As we were approaching the control, Stephen said that he saw Jeff Saeger up ahead. I was skeptical, but he was right. | ||||||
| 14. | |||||||
| 15. | Because the thick woods were difficult for a little guy with comparatively short legs, I decided to go for a route choice with some easy trails, around to the left. Seemed good in theory. I wasn't so sure that going up a driveway and past a house was the coolest idea, so we opted for the trail on the powerline, despite that fact that it went through some crossable marsh. When we got there, it looked worse than the map indicated, maybe knee-deep instead of just ankle-deep. I asked Stephen what he thought, and he was willing to try. Not so bad to start, but when we got about halfway through, it turned into the most extreme floating bog I have ever encountered. The vegetation mat was soft, and clearly over some very deep water. The waterbed effect was going up and down at least a foot, and I was able to stay on top most of the time, but occasionally broke through and sank in thigh-deep. I was hopeful that Stephen, being lighter, might be able to stay up, but a few times he punched through as well (maybe in spots that I had already punctured). Twice I had to pull him out, because he was in at least waist-deep and stuck. As we neared the far side, Barb appeared behind us, and said that if she didn't return, we could tell the searchers where to look for her. Fortunately, this swamp was the highlight of the course for Stephen. Most people would have been hating me for taking them through that, but Stephen thought it was amazing fun. (I'm really glad that he didn't get a shoe sucked off in there!). We went left on the power line to avoid the hill, and arrived just after Dean (who seemed to have been lost before spotting us) and Barb. | ||||||
| 16. | Arrived just behind the older HVO guys, and just before Jessica R. | ||||||
| 17. | |||||||
| 18. | Slight error on my part at the power line, only lost a few seconds. | ||||||
| 19. | |||||||
| 20. | Still with Jessica at the control. | ||||||
| 21. | Very slow going down through the boulder field. Came in over the top to the control. | ||||||
| 22. | |||||||
| 23. | Through the white, because the yellow looked thick and weedy. | ||||||
| F. | 23 shirts for me, 3 shirts for Stephen! |
Total Time Lost - 00:00:00