A fun and challenging sprint: first 1/3 in downtown Arnprior with roads blocked - good route choices; second 1/3 in woods - tough transition; last 1/3 in arena/park with LOTS of controls. Long for Sprint at 3.4K but no climb - held a steady pace, faster than expected. Three bobbles - too many for a Sprint. 23rd of 46. Map & splits at:
http://www.naoc2014.ca/results-centre
S-1: Saw left vs. right and seemed equal, went left. Without a gap between building and fence, right was better. -15s
1-2: Chose zig-zag right over left - pretty equal.
2-3-4-5: chose optimal routes - clean, pace a bit slow
5-6: At least 4 routes: dog-leg and left; right on one of 2 trails; right then woods - chose latter - still like it.
6-7: Hadn't had chance to re-read course notes - forgot that dark green blobs could be hedge or big prone logs. Very short leg but didn't visualize what I was looking for (rootstock at end of log). Missed, stood on trail, Now What?, found it -45s
7-8: Good plan - used trails well - missed last turn: stop, correct, over-ran 'green blobs', back - UGH -40s
8-9-10-11: Clean and picked up pace a bit.
11-12: Chose right over left, WHY? -20s
13-14-15-16: Entered arena, maintained focus and pace.
16-17: Looked easy, ran to tree with Fran - wrong code! Bounced back to wrong control Read map - 'past playground', done - sloppy on next to last leg.
-40s
17-18-F: fine
Errors dropped me from about 17th to 23rd. Certainly can't afford that many errors on Sprint. But pace improved as ace went on; I kept on looking ahead and seeing routes.
Great 6 days of orienteering in NY and ONT. Being 64 in 60-64 and then 55-64 age groups, but more importantly little recent running and time in woods, led to mediocre results but 40th to 50th percentile felt good along with 5th in NY Middle - encouraging that body held up so well. Also, weather was near perfect, warm/cool and missing all rains. Camping with 34 degree lows was 'chilling' but just enough sleeping bag and layers.
Hmm, Canadian Champs in August in NS/PEI/NB sounds really tempting for 2015 trip! I've always wanted to see the maritime provinces.