Run race ((orienteering)) 36:47 [4] *** 5.7 km (6:27 / km) +105m 5:55 / km
spiked:27/30c
A significant race - my 300th National League appearance. While a bush "sprint" (really more like a middle on a sprint map) wasn't the format I would have chosen for the occasion, the venue was definitely a homecoming - within a couple of kilometres of where I grew up (and at the venue and basically the same arena as one of my first wins of consequence, M11 at the 1982 ACT Schools Championships). Despite the area's proximity, I haven't really run on this area in its form today - the erosion and vegetation detail has never really been mapped properly before.
It was a bit of a running race despite the best efforts of the setters (with some tricky controls, particularly on the last loop). I kept telling myself that whatever tiredness I felt, those who had run the long course yesterday would be feeling it a lot more, but in fact this was a struggle - the back was playing up a bit today, and when it does the thing it has most trouble with is gentle uphills - which made the three rounds of the finish chute rather unpleasant (it can't have looked pretty). Reasonably consistent technically with three wobbles costing a few seconds apiece, but I was totally uncompetitive on pace today as the field progressively cruised past me.
It was dry with a chilly wind when we were running, but a strong front was due around midday, and it delivered; had this race been three hours later we would have been running in snow (falling but not settling). I was hoping we might get a bit on the way home but it didn't happen (and the others weren't enthused about an excursion via the Batlow-Tumbarumba road in search of it).