Orienteering race 1:16:16 [4] **** 4.0 km (19:04 / km) +50m 17:57 / km
spiked:17/20c shoes: XTalon 2017
West Bay (Rotoiti). Chasing start. Most of the map was like navigating through a maze (of green), only with occasional bashing through the walls allowed. Went pretty well which I needed as the last couple of days had knocked my confidence a bit. Got over my 1st control issues - at least as far as getting to the circle, where I met 3 who started before me (and enjoyed hearing "we must be in the right place, here's Nic") although the flag was still a little elusive. A couple of other controls that I lost a bit in the circle through a bit of carelessness, but the only mistake of significance was over 4 minutes (and a lot of unnecessary bush bashing) with poor execution of what should have been a safe route choice into 6. A longish leg on a rough bearing to catch the long clearing to the south of the control - I'm sure I was aiming off to the right to make sure I caught it but still must have drifted far enough left to just miss it. Thankfully the next clearing south was so much bigger again it didn't take me long to realise it couldn't possibly be the one that I wanted, still had to bash back to where I was supposed to be though!
