Orienteering (The Coves) 19:56 [5] *** 3.3 km (6:02 / km) +30m 5:47 / km
ahr:170 spiked:24/25c shoes: Inov-8 X-Talon 212 Orange
SA Sprint Champs at The Coves Estate
M21E
Got off to a good start and nailed the first loop. In the same area as Garry M on M40. Slight hesitation into 8 to check description and a bit slow across the open. Thereafter good again, with Garry behind me. Misread 12 (thought hill instead of depression just before cp) and lost 10-15 secs. Went straight on 17-18 which also meant easing through a pond. Turned out to be the fastest route. Went left to 19 down the stream but think this was about 5 secs slowed. Good then until 22-23 where I ran straight instead of paths which would have saved another 5 secs. Had Garry and Michele in my sights from here, so pushed hard to catch and pass them across the fields to the finish. Turned out that this was where I got a gap on Brad as we were still dead-heated at 23.
In the end I got a very surprising win (never won SA Sprints before), 15 secs ahead of Brad and another 2 min on Eugene.