Run ((Orienteering)) 29:19 [3] **** 2.7 km (10:51 / km) +30m 10:17 / km
spiked:19/24c
Since I first saw the original proposed World Cup sprint area in April, I’d been telling anyone who would listen that it would be the most technical World Cup sprint ever. The World Cup itself has been moved to another area for largely logistical reasons (the new area also looks very good from the old map, though I’ll get a closer look tomorrow), but we were on the original area this morning. I was looking forward to this.
I was not to be disappointed (except by my performance). This was the most difficult sprint I have ever done, and I’ve been to Venice - an absolute maze of lanes and passages with some random thickets thrown in. Perhaps it would have been a bit too extreme for a fair World Cup race (though I think that could have been largely dealt with with careful setting) - some of the passages were so narrow you couldn’t really run through them - but everyone was raving about this, and with good reason. (Nothing quite like actually running a course to focus your mind on the key issues as a controller, either).
I didnt feel as good as Sunday, and navigation was a bit patchy, losing 30-45 seconds apiece to a poor route on 3 and a dead end at 8, plus a few other bits and pieces. Would have been satisfied with 26; Tim won with something in the high 16s.