Orienteering race (SA Long champs B'sorah) 1:55:32 [5] 13.0 km (8:53 / km) +200m 8:15 / km
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 3
SA long distance champs at B'sorah. Was feeling good and keen to give it a good go today! I had a reasonable start apart from overshooting 2 and then messing around approaching 3. Number 8 was a shocker too, where I did some grid searching before stumbling upon it. The next few controls were great, and I was moving well over the terrain. My run towards 19 was going well, and then I have no idea what actually happened... My plan was to take a bearing off a bend in the jeep track into 19, but for some unknown reason I didn't do that, and blindly headed down the slope, with no real plan. Thinking about it afterwards, it was a complete rookie error and I have no idea what I was thinking at the time... I hit the foot-path below 19 and then tried to relocate. I found a weir in the river and though I knew exactly where I was (there was a weir on the map "downstream" of 19). I second guessed it, and second guessed it again, but decided to try relocate off it. Turns out I had run just off the map to the south, and was relocating off a weir which wasn't mapped.... Evan Howell was also in the area, which of course gave me some hope I was in the right place. After trying to relocate twice, I headed back up the hill to the jeep track (and when I popped out, that is when I finally realised I had been off the map). I found the bend in the road, and used a compass bearing straight into 19 first time. Complete idiot!!!! Turns out I probably lost a good 40-42 minutes. Didn't help that 19 was only 110m from the edge of the map... Pushed it to the finish and got a few fastest splits! Well done to Alex for dominating the race and winning by miles (1:17). Happy with 3rd place, but really should not have been in the medals with that mess....
