Orienteering race 43:21 [5] *** 6.9 km (6:17 / km) +175m 5:35 / km
spiked:17/20c shoes: Inov-8 Mudclaw 265 Blue
EA Champs at Rushmere - great area and mostly very runnable (shame it was dropped as the venue for the British Middle as would be cracking in many ways): started strongly and caught John Ward (2 min man) by 4... he stuck with me to 8 - where I overshot and lost 15 secs or so. Pushed ahead but was finding the running hard going (thighs lacking), especially in the open heathland. Made another slip at 14 (too far west and wrong open - another 20 or so seconds) and struggled through the green forest to 15 (10-15 secs?). Overall, a pleasing run - only 33 secs down on Finn Lydon (LEI) who beat me by 1'40 at Wallesby in December - think I'm making progress.