Orienteering race 1:01:03 [4] 7.12 km (8:34 / km) +135m 7:50 / km
ahr:159 max:178 shoes: Icebug Ardor OLX
Xmas 5 days - Day 3 - Baronga Creek
This was a new map for me held in an area largely of eucalypt forest and some pine forest. A network of dirt roads and minor trails meant a mix of on and off trail navigation.
This course was the fastest between Days 2 and 5, partly because of the extensive trail network which was used extensively. Out of the 13 controls, two were botched up quite bad which led to about 10 minutes of losses on an otherwise straightforward course. The first botch up was to the first control going through runnable (not) white terrain. Instead of quickly deviating to the nearest road I somehow ended up going through crappy white to even crappier green terrain. I ended up on the road on track but went for the wrong rocky outcrop cluster which resulted in a double cluster-f**k (excuse the pun). With control 1 finally punched everything was relatively smooth sailing with control 2 being an easy find, control 3... la la la and control 4 ... why is this so close to the road? The off track between controls 4 and 5 were far sweeter than the off track to the first control and after pinging control 5, I grovelled in the blistering heat up the steepish terrain to hit the minor track and claim 6 near the road bend. Control 7 was a simple traverse of the pine forest and control 8 a simple find close to the road. Control 9 I got to via the steep direct slab route, however exited on route to control 10 through easier (though not easy) terrain. Though 10 to 11 was a short hop but I hadn't read the map properly and darted for the scenic views at the wrong set of cliffs on the wrong side of the gulch. This added to my unintended 135m of ascent. No bonuses here and it was a fast run from 11 to 12 and another fast leg to 13 uses the road for a short section before getting entwined in the finish tape at the end. Minus the scenic excursions this would have been one of the cleaner runs of late.