Orienteering race 3:48:17 [3] 16.0 km (14:16 / km)
Raid the Sanctuary - with Mike Ball - team "No Adult Supervision"
Great pre-race planning. We got there early as there was no traffic and the organizers gave us our maps anyway. Nice instructions, and a good chance to plan.
Start->1: Mass start to an easy control. We followed the pack all the way to the final stone wall and climbed instead of contouring in like had been our plan. Most amusing moment: j-man coming in from the left (downhill) and saying as he crossed the trail, "It's not down there". Not sure what drove him down there in the first place. 3:04
1->2: Still with the pack, but we were a bit too high and descended in to it. 3:30
2->3: UP to it, not much to say; pack is thinning a bit. 1:52
3->4: First real route choice? Left or right around the unclimbable cliff. We had earlier chosen to go left, but in fact this was the choice of 90% of the teams - whether consciously or due to following. Hill was more of a factor than choice. 3:06
4->5: We had spotted this one as a potential separating point and we were correct. The green reentrant was tough going - due more to deadfall than living plants - and teams got spread out. At least two made parallel errors and went up the wrong reentrants. 5:48
5->6: Nav is easy; get to top of hill. We found a pseudo-trail to the top of the rock screen and then took the trail around the fence to the control. With one other team; one in front of us and one behind. 4:34
PINK RUN: Follow the streamers to the aid station. We take off after the team in front of us, but the one with us heads down the road. OOPS! Actually, the OOPS appears to be on us as the streamers end up taking us out to that same road creating a small advantage for those who either erred or chose to game the system. Stop for water at the end of the run, now behind two teams with the third coming in for water as we left.
Aid station->7: Debated dropping down to the road, but the others were all on a dirt road leading right to the soccer field (along the line). We followed and turned right (to the stairs) immediately upon getting to the field as the other two teams crossed it. Then they saw us and adjusted. Should have gone low! Time since #6: 8:01
7->8: Different colored roofs make it tough to read buildings on the aerial photo and we end up circling quite wide to the left. I'm lost and confused by the baseball field which I can't see on the map (okay, I'm blind and looking in the wrong place), but the other three teams are also lost. I relocated off the 30-yard line of the football field, turn around and see the flag tucked in between two buildings. Alas, there is no way to get this without giving it all away again. At least the others had the courtesy to thank us. 3:26
8->9: Down to the stands. 1:12
9->10: Jogging by the stands, answering questions about what we are doing and getting passed by the other teams that are more "runners" than us. Up the hill and "under" the building (2nd story walkway, but how do you know that from a photo). 3:13
10->11: "In a pack of three teams", right to it. 1:45
11->12: Down the hill in our little group. 2:03
12->13: Here we get spread out and "dumped". 2:22
PINK SECTION #2 and "dirt road run": Passed by j-man here (hunh?), slogged up to dirt road and ran/walked to the turning point. Had to run when we saw ndobbs in the middle of the road with a camera. Took water and saw the rest of our "pack" a bit ahead. Decided to let them wander off on their own.
"You're on your own" strategy. We had determined that the dominant time was getting from the start to C and then to #14. We further determined that if the person who went to C also got all of the others (in the order EDCBA) that the cost would only be a few minutes. Trading off the benefits of two navigators versus the chance of a single person screw-up and a couple of minutes, we actually chose to stay together throughout.
Aid station->E: Trail till it crosses the stone wall, then angle in. No sign of our competitors. Then, as we were leaving, we saw them coming in. They had both overshot and were returning. Time from 13 to E was15:16.
E->D: West to trail and then catching little trail that starts S and then goes SW towards control. Blazes were necessary to follow this trail at times. Through stone wall and in to flag.
D->C: Back to trail to bend just N of control and in. Our two competitors have played "teammate swap" and have split up with one member of each team going each way. Clever. Time E->C (or is it D?) was 5:16
C->B: Down to trail where it crosses stone wall, up to bend and in; overshot slightly.
B->A: Our friends are now headed to 14, but we have to get A. Trail to stone wall, turn right and head in, eventually seeing the other pairing at the control. Time C (or is it D) to A was 8:41.
A->14: Down reentrant and around swamp to right. 1:56
14->15B: Read question and "knew" answer was A so headed to 15A. We were hot and losing focus so we took the trail way to the left, seeing #4 on the way. At the bend at the N end of the trail, we headed to the stone wall junction and then to the control. OOPS! We went to the wrong one. Down the grodier than desired reentrant to the flag. Arguably our worst leg of the day 19:48
15B->16: Back up to it. 2:10
16->17: Bash SW down to the trail via "best route". Took trail to NW corner of pond and then slogged up the hill to towards the museum. Momentarily confused as the "building" was not as tall as me. 10:04
17->Finish #1: Around right of building and in to download. 1:06
Download, change maps, eat cookies and replenish liquids for an unknown time before heading out. (Six minutes?)
Choices, Choices section: This was essentially a Score-O with three controls on a "Strategy Loop", i.e. a Line-O. It was pretty clear that we needed to sweep the course, so we planned accordingly. We did misunderstand that we did not need to return to the original start and this slightly affected our route choice to the first control, but it probably cost us less than a minute. We took the same route to the start as we had been led on earlier in the day.
Start->120: Angle up and in, right to it. Time about four minutes. Total of 10:14 since punching Finish #1.
120->122: East to trail to junction with Strategy Loop. Up over first hill into saddle. Wanted to go down to 121, but that seemed risky and next saddle/reentrant seemed like a good place to tuck a line-O control, so we decided to check that first. Good thing as that's where the control was. 7:58
122->121: Down hill to flag where we found one of our other competitors. Quick conversation made it clear that their navigation skills were weak ("This is the first one we found on our own!") and we took heart that we would almost certainly move up one place. 2:07
121-132: Back up to line-O, across both trails and stream and a bit past the boulders before heading back to stone wall. Flag was a bit further N than anticipated so this wasn't ideal. 8:37
132-123: Ignoring line-O, right to it. 2:56
123-124: It was tempting to go right there and then backtrack to check line-O. Damn you Neil Dobbs, this strategy-loop thing is working!, but we went and walked the line past the stone wall with 132, past the pond and all along the line of cliffs before climbing the hill mass and attacking 124 from the south. 10:13.
124->125: Enough of this. New plan, take the line-O to the SE corner and then ditch it for as long as possible and then resume. So, we did, attacking 125 from the NE. We nearly went by it, but Mike spotted it and saved us. 9:34
125->126: No problem getting to the circle. Getting down was a bit of a challenge and I am not sure that the boulders are aligned as on the map, but the flag was right there. 3:20
126->127: This leg was very reminiscent of yesterday's big goof so we carefully checked off each cliff system on the way to the N end of the pond. Then we took the trail 80m S and angled in. Lessons learned! 9:21
127->129: I'm, feeling a bit zonked so Mike is leading while I look ahead. Plan is to take the trail. Mike says, "Trail to stone wall, then stream and in?" I look and agree. Alas we cross the first stone wall (E-W one) and we realize our disagreement. I thought he meant "trail to N-S stone wall, up that wall to stream and then over and in. He meant to the trail/E-W stone wall/stream junction and attack from further away". Yikes! But we straightened it out and got there no problem 8:37
129->128: At 129 saw our first people in almost an hour. They said they were headed to 130; we said 128 and they said, "Oh, that one's a lot of fun". Confused and slightly concerned, we headed off. N to trail up the hill mass and hten right at it. Slight confusion as to which way to go around the last hill, but it was easy. 4:30
128->130: Out to trail finding more rock than we expected (was this the "fun"?) and then to trail just NNE of control. Headed in to swamp and was momentarily confused until we realized the cliff must face E. Got there in time to see another team slinking away quietly. Good move! 6:59
130->131: Up to SW corner of line-O where paranoia crept in and we super-carefully checked the corner for a non-existent flag. Then along line past pond and up reentrant to trail; trail was wrong so we went around and doubled back hoping that we were thorough. In to big cliff without flag, beginning to get concerned that there were not enough "placeable features" remaining to get two line-O flags. Bent slightly left at top of small hill and could see the next flag. 10:59
131->133: Past stone wall, past cliffs and momentarily confused by semi-dry ditch before realizing that we should just press on. At stream with boulder, left line and headed downstream towards 133. Almost overshot it when Mike spotted it (again)! 7:19
133->134: Back to line-O and believing that there are only three possible locations left for a flag (or we blew it and won't have time to correct). Up to long, uncrossable cliff - not there. N to boulder - not there (Mike even goes around to far side to confirm). NNW to cliff. I see the cliff and no flag and moan, but Mike sees the flag (tree blocked me) so we are golden. 7:23
134->Finish: We've seen no one for half an hour so it's just a matter of getting in without being passed. We have 25 minutes to go about 1 km, mostly on trails. We take our time taking the trail that skirts the out of bounds area, running only the last 30m in (to look good). 9:16
Fifth overall (out of 11). There are at least four people (out of eight) on the teams ahead of us who have represented their country at the world championships. I can take this result.