Orienteering 2:44:12 [3] 7.4 mi (22:11 / mi) +820ft 20:05 / mi
shoes: MPMW15:w
Morven Park
Cowboy Relay Long (29 controls, 8.2 km, 165 m)
Actual Distance Traveled: 11.9 km
Actual Climb: 250 m
On the whole I'm not real happy with my time but I made mistakes which cost me quite a bit of time, two mistakes in particular.
First, I misread the map for the 4th control on map B. Because of where the number 4 was placed on the map I thought that it was near control 1. The lines on the map connecting the controls were one clue that I misread the map, but I thought that the circle for control 4 was the fifth control, which was actually higher up on map. If I had stopped to study the map I might have seen the mistake I was making but I didn't feel as if I had the time to do that so I kept running around in circles. In the end it took me 17 minutes to the 4th control on the B loop, and that was only after the course designer pointed me in the right direction. Even then I didn't realize what I had done wrong.
Second, I didn't do a good job searching for the 2nd control on the long course. I just took a guess as to where to leave the trail. In retrospect, based on my Garmin track I can see that I left the trail a little too early. What I found after I left the trail was that the terrain north and east of the trail was much varied than the contours led me to believe it would be. I probably should have headed back to the trail and found a good point from which to navigate to find the control. Instead I wandered around for quite a while not sure where I was. Based on my Garmin track it looks like I walked right past the control during this phase of the search.
Eventually I headed up to the trail near or at the top of the ridge line. At that point I thought I knew where I was and followed the trail until I thought I found the right place to leave it. I headed down along a dry stream bed in what was the right direction but I didn't find the control. Based on my Garmin track I passed very close to the control (for the second time) without seeing it. I wandered around some more before heading back up to the trail at the top of the ridge. I followed that trail some more looking for a kink in the trail but I did not find it.
Finding something that looked like it I tried heading southwest, which I thought might take me to the control I was looking for. It didn't and I decided to head south for the other trail and try another approach. I hadn't gone very far when I spotted the 3rd control. From there I headed east and without too much more trouble finally found the 2nd control, 47 minutes after I found the 1st one. After that I didn't have any problems.
Loop analysis: It took me 50 minutes to finish the 3 loops. 17 of those minutes were spent looking for the 4th control on the 2nd (B) loop. Under better circumstances I probably could have finished the 3 loops in 35 minutes.
Long course analysis. It took me 1:54 to finish the long course, 0:47 of which was spent looking for the 2nd control. Under better circumstances I should have been able to find the 2nd control in under 10 minutes, so in better circumstances I should have finished the long course in 1:17.
Final analysis: I lost about 0:52 due to mistakes. I'm glad I was able to find all the controls and finish the course. At one point when I was looking for the 2nd control on the long I thought I would end up with a DNF.
There are sections of this park that could be mapped better, especially with regards to contour lines. It reminds me a bit of the map we used for Meadowwood the first time I orienteered there several years ago.