Run race ((orienteering)) 1:03:29 [4] *** 8.9 km (7:08 / km) +295m 6:07 / km
spiked:12/13c
First WMOC long qualifier. A smooth run technically with no wobbles bigger than a few seconds but not as strong as I would like to have been. It wasn't terrain where I expected to need a lot of strength (gently rolling and mostly very open pine forest), but deep needles on the forest floor meant the ground was very soft in places, which made its presence felt, particularly going uphill. Much nicer running conditions today - cool dry southwesterlies on the back side of the low that produced all the rain in Buenos Aires.
I expected the best people to be in the low 50s and they were. Once again I'm in the tougher of the two heats, although (barring calamity) at 13 minutes inside the qualifying cutoff it's hardly going to make a huge difference. (The other heat has an astonishingly large number of no-shows, so at most 10 finishers - fewer if there are any more DNFs/DNSs tomorrow - are going to miss out from there).
Woke up with a bit of a tickle in my throat. I was a bit concerned, given that I've had a few runs go horribly wrong in the developing stages of colds in the last two or three years, and perhaps it did contribute a bit to my lack of strength, but not enough to have a massive impact. In any case I have enough time in reserve to be able to back off tomorrow if necessary.
A reasonably predictable set of Australian results today, with those expected to be near the top comfortably in qualifying positions, Simon Rouse inside the cut with a bit to spare, the Scowns on the edge and the remainder further back than that.
There was a bit of discontent with transport issues today (always the most challenging as it's the most distant day), but it seemed to work reasonably well for me - but then I was anticipating that things wouldn't work 100% smoothly and left extra time to deal with that (as it happened, I didn't quite get onto the first bus I aimed for but was on the next one 10 minutes later). I have some more sympathy for the car drivers who have been suffering from a lack of signs - supposedly it's illegal to put such signs up, but no-one seems to have told any of the election candidates yet (Brazilian political parties don't seem to be in any more of a hurry to clean up their signs after polling day than their Australian counterparts).