Training Log Archive: Meredith

3 hour Minigaine - Linear Park Paradise
I teamed up with Abigail and Joanna for the rogaine. We were all very excited for the event. We arrived at the event 1 hour before maps were handed out, got changed into our fabulous princess costumes and posted a photo on facebook to ensure we got those bonus 20 points!! We rushed and got our indemnity forms signed and lined up at admin at least 10 mins before map handout. After waiting excitedly at admin, they gave us a 1 minute advantage and gave us our maps at 12:29pm!!!! We then planed our course. We were very ambitious with our planning. The hardest part of planning was deciding whether to go west or east from the HH. We chose west as it had higher points, however we didn't take into account that maybe that was because it was a lot steeper!

After planning our courses we still had plenty of time left over. We decided that we might have a short nap before the race. We used our maps as pillows. We thought that if we put our head on our map it might help the map to become embedded in our brains haha. Joanna then successfully worked out that control M1 was worth, 50 points and she was right.

At 2pm the race started. We ran of quite fast until we got to the so called crossing point on the SE corner at Thordon Park. We had to scramble through the fence and went to M2. M2 was worth 60 points which was great for an easy control right by the HH. We then ran across the park to 45. There were many people there. The control was so high up in the tree. This kind person let Abigail stand on their back so that she could reach the control. After that we headed up to 36, 72, 41, 70, 60 and 53. I recognised many of the areas from previous orienteering events. This part was very steep. We then went to control 91, which we messed up as we went in one path early. After going to 91 we were all very hot. We then all realised that we were only 50 or so minutes into the rogaine and we had only 100 ml of water left each. eek!!!!! We only took about 900 ml of water each as we thought that we would be running and wouldn't have enough time to drink water, bad idea. We then began to panic as we realised that we are all so dehydrated, have almost no water and still have over 2 hours to go. We were weighing up whether we should go back to the hash house and refill. We knew however if we were to do this it would almost certainly guarantee we wouldn't get a top 10 placing. I then suddenly remembered that there were toilets at Wadmore park that I had used in the individuals. We ran to the toilets but were quite confused as to what we should when we saw a sign on top of the taps saying "rain water, do not drink". We decided that if it was rainwater then it should be safe to drink. We then refilled our water, drank heaps of water and then splashed water all over ourselves.

After refilling our water we headed down to 55. We felt so much better running as we weren't dehydrated. We then continued south to 64, 80, 63 and 54. At control 54 we decided we would have a short break and decide what we would do next. We chose to shorten our main plan and just gain as many high point controls as possible on the way back. We also took the chance at 54 to once again refill at water bottles at the water fountain there. After heading to 54 we went up to 33. We were stopped a while at the traffic lights but it was a perfect opportunity for us to snack on some of the lollies we were carrying. We then ran back down to 43 which was on a nice bridge. We made the courageous move to run all the way down to M1. It was a long way. M1 was on a big statue on a busy intersection. We were given many strange looks by some of the people sitting in there cars. We then began heading back to the hash house picking up 81, 71, and 30. After that we went up to 42. That was a bleh control. We finished off running to 22, 23 then HH, getting back about 7 mins early.

After arriving back we collapsed on the ground for ages, not a good idea as I am still so sore today. We then ate lots of the food and listened to the presentations. I was bit disappointed in the lack of lunatic awards this year.

Overall we ended up 3rd out of at least 120 team, which was awesome. We were 1st womens open and juniors. We were definitely the youngest team there. It was interesting discussing post presentation with the winners. They basically ditched all the low pointers and went straight to the high pointers.

Great rogaine but I have learnt that 900ml of water is not suitable for a hot 3hr rogaine!

(I think thats the longest report I have ever done on AP haha)

C • Good report 4

Short run around Mortlock

Repat loop