Orienteering race 1:25:47 [4] *** 9.3 km (9:13 / km) +405m 7:34 / km
37c
NOL 2 Mass-start Classic with forking, Belair National Park.
Started with a chaotic first loop around the flatter stuff near the arena. I was a bit scrappy and made a few misses here and there which meant I was still in the pack as we came through to pick up our second map. I carried on and thought I was in 3rd when I left c8 (of the second map) on the long leg to c9. I aimed to do that long uphill leg well and got to c9 ok but then messed up c10 a little. Then I accidentally navigated c11-12 instead of c10-11, running along the wrong strip of rocky white and making a mess of the correction once I'd realised. By now Jas and Aislinn were running past me and I was back in the main pack. I proceeded to lose lots more time in the rocky bit as my direction was off and I couldn't move well through the vegetation. Motivation was low, but then I saw Rach and Susanne running down into the rocks as I was leaving them with Jas and Aislinn, so realised we might be the leading three. We did a few controls together then I really tried to hammer the long one down the hill to c7 (of the third map). I banana-ed to c8 and Jas was right on my tail, so had to run pretty hard all the way to the finish. I really enjoyed the course and racing atmosphere, though my nav left a little to be desired. Was really pleased my knee held up too.