Orienteering 7:15:00 [3] 42.0 km (10:21 / km)
A great day for a rogaine. Super tough conditions though with mosquitos, swamps, killer bushwacking, tricky controls, wild rose, high grass, and pounding sun.
I took a quick look at the map and decided that I would try and clear the course. It looked reasonable. There were only 6 of us in the 9-hr version of the race, but I have a friendly rivalry going with Francois, especially since I beat him at Medicine Hat Massacre by one control. I knew he would be trying to clear the course as well. He is much younger and faster than me so I just tried to orienteer clean. I kept seeing him on and off going a different direction, but he was always in the same quadrant as me so I knew it was probably close. We met again with three controls to go and I knew he was headed to the finish line via that same route as me. I was a bit bummed because I knew I couldn't keep up with him at the best of times, and I was absolutely exhausted from having pushed so hard. We both stuffed up the last control but I found it first got a head start on him with about 750 m to the finish. Then he just appeared out of nowhere and mowed me down. In the final moments with me dying behind, he took the main trail back to the finish line, but I decided to take a risk on a more direct line through the woods. Turns out it was about 200 m shorter and it was just enough to get to the finish punch seconds before he did. Yay, for the win!