Training Log Archive: Spur

WMOC long distance qualifier (day 1 of 2 qualifiers). Apuparra. 51st/64 (my heat seemed stronger overall). Tough course with lots of vegetation, marsh avoidance and up and down ridges. Caught by Russian behind me by first control. Maybe a bit overcautious taking paths to 3. Lost 4 mins at #5 in amongst greenery and found the control by chance. Long leg no-brainer choice of path around ridge or 1k across a marsh. Some gratuitous up and down a ridge to 10 but clean to everything until 2 mins lost at easy 2nd last control confused by extra tracked up paths. Tiring badly at the end though. Would have been happy with 1.20 but even that wouldn't have been top half.

C • Wet 4

Back to Kadriorg Park to re-run a few legs from the qualifier. Did 1 to 6 in 6.45 rather than 8.05, and 13 seconds quicker on leg 16. Those improvements would have got top 20 in the qualifier.

World Masters Sprint B-final, Tallinn Old Town. Pretty clean in-control run and quite happy, 10th out of 50. Looking back at map, maybe a couple of slightly better routes. Caught by Swiss one-minute man at #8 so must have made a hesitant start but had a good close race with him to the end. Put each other off both looking for control 14 on tree instead of church corner without reading description (10 seconds). My folks saw me finish in Freedom Square on live video stream! So 67th overall in M40 sprint.

Estimated walking. Pub Rally orienteering, basically a post-sprint mapped pub crawl with SI units at each pub. But got caught out by bonus point system which gave a bonus control at a far away venue if reached within 20 mins of buying the first drink. So first beer was more rushed than might have wished. Later on sampled a ghastly local 'pepper shot' and then the splendid 'Depeche Mode bar'. Went to all the pubs but missed some bonuses and not seen any results.

World Masters sprint qualifier, Kadriorg Park Tallinn. Solid run apart from one 30 second mistake. Maybe lost 10 seconds on a slightly bent line to #3. 36th/58 in this heat. Caught by inexplicable lapse leaving easy #5 and headed straight for a locked gate leading to a block of olive green. Corrected quickly but found some rocky scrambling up to #6. Changed my mind on route to #7 in a maze of walls, a little flustered but was right decision. Almost got lost on a bizarre pass through the inside of a building taped on the floor. But very clean on second half and finished with a sprint round the 'One team in Tallinn' football stadium. Looks like I've missed the A final by about 30 seconds. Disappointing but the standard is high if a perfect run would only just have scraped through.

WMOC model map, Tallinn Old Town North. Cobbles pretty dangerous in the rain, jogged round.

Turfs at Suomenlinna fort.

A few riverside turfs by bike.