Orienteering race 52:21*** 7.46 km (7:01 / km) +123m6:29 / km ahr:143 max:176 21c
WIOL 6 @ LTF. I usually do well here, as it's a venue that emphasizes my strengths and downplays my weaknesses, and I know it quite well to boot. This time around was not an exception; I generally felt strong and navigated well, taking a majority of the splits, sometimes with big margins. Still, I made a dumb-but-small loss-of-concentration mistake on 3, lost time in the circle at 7, 11, and 13, and had my worst mistake on 12, where I was too far east and wallowed aimlessly about in the swampy creek like a drunken hippopotamus for perhaps two minutes.
Very tough and fun course, which included the venue's two most locally infamous features - the Magic Boulder and the Ypres Trench. As usual, each victimized many a good orienteer, though as for myself, having been so victimized in the past and having subsequently devised a strategy for preventing such in the future, I was not among the fallen this time. At Fire Mountain I'll have a chance for my first-ever perfect 400.
Also, good to see the Bonesaw back in action - he's missed the past few events with a knee issue (though it is not entirely gone).
EDIT: I'd thought I won the all-important Magic Boulder split fair and square, but it turns out Kai (in the Intercollegiate category rather than Long Advanced) smoked me by 17s! Well done Kai! Also some really good racing by some of the other WIOL alums/UW students; perhaps we are making a little bit of progress in tackling the college orienteering gap.