Ontario Orienteering Championships
Long Distance
Mono Cliffs Provincial Park
Chilly morning for mid-May with a mix of sun, cloud, rain and hail. Luckily, the last two waited till I was done!
Although Mono Cliffs isn't far away, I don't get there often since Hockley Valley is closer and hillier. It's scenic, varied and quiet so I will try to get back here before too long. We parked in the main lot today, which is a 22-minute drive from our house but I'd never been there before.
We got started late due to communication problems caused by poor cell coverage. It was worth the wait. Because Mono has an extensive trail network, I expected some long legs on trail but I spent about 90% of my race off trail. Very cool! Lots of different features and vegetation. It always stayed interesting. I had been expecting more scrambling on rocky terrain but there wasn't much of that. Instead I had several long runs on bumpy, abandoned farm fields. There was a time when my ankle couldn't have handled that, so yay.
I lost 25 seconds (according to GPS) on a control that had the wrong number on it - not bad compared to some other people. I continued running when I saw "227" but I was sure it was in the right place so I came back and punched it anyway. Then I saw the tiny ballpoint "213" - phew! I lost another 20 seconds when I passed below #9 and had to backtrack a little.
Otherwise, it was about as perfect a Long Distance race as I've ever had on a standard orienteering course. Typically, I count my mistakes in minutes, not seconds. Although it seems that the Long *should* be my strongest event because of my endurance sports, I've traditionally lost focus partway through and wrecked my race by doing stupid things. It undoubtedly helped that I was running my age group today so the course was shorter and didn't give me time to fall apart.
Because the Ontario Champs have traditionally been held on Thanksgiving weekend when I've been unable to attend for family reasons, I haven't competed very often. Since it's only my 2nd year in a 10-year age group, I thought it would be fun to push hard and see if I could earn an Ontario championship or two. Mom sent me an encouraging text on her way to church this morning: "Hope you have a threesome!" !!! :)) And now I do.
Many thanks to the Stars - a small club that took on a big job (with much-appreciated help from Ian Sidders) and gave us all a terrific weekend.