Race Evaluation
2002 Billygoat Run:
BorisGr
| 1. | After looking at the map for a couple of seconds and running with the pack, decide to skip 1. Turn to see Matthias and Kenny doing it too. Take off on the trail, away from the whole pack. | ||||||
| 2. | Down the road, through the stone wall junction, up to the control. Kenny and Will set a fast pace, I am sure i can't keep up. Still sore from 2 hours of soccer the day before. | ||||||
| 3. | +00:30 | More or less following Kenny, Will, and Matthias. Fall behind slightly and lose some time going too far left in the circle. | |||||
| 4. | Up the re-entrant to the trail, behin Matthias. Cut up to the ridge trail earlier than Matthias and run down to the control, where I see Matthias leaving, and Graeme, Jon Torrance, and Sergey Zhyk in front of me. I decide they had to have skipped #3. | ||||||
| 5. | With the pack to 5. It rains, and gunshots are ringing loud... | ||||||
| 6. | +02:00 | Matthias and i go left, with Jon T. somewhere around. Graeme and Sergey disappear right. I am still dragging behind, feeling crappy and barely navigating. We realize that we are too far left when we hit big cliffs to the west of the circle, and cut through lots of crap to get to the control. Jon is with us. | |||||
| 7. | Trail, a bit across the swamp, down the road, then the powerline, then a slow and painful climb up. Jon runs away from us, he seems to be a much stronger runner than me or Matthias. I am lagging behind, keeping Matthias just in sight. | ||||||
| 8. | +00:20 | Went too straight out of 7 and had to descend down a steeper part of the hill, surprised to see Graeme and Sergey coming in from the right as i get to circle. | |||||
| 9. | All five of us are together, running/climbing. Contour to the trail, off the trail through a pass between knolls. Then, contouring on the hill, i went a little high of the pack, but the control was lower than i expected it. Saw the last of the pack disappear over a knoll as i punch. | ||||||
| 10. | Contour to the trail, then run on the little trail, where i catch up to the others again. Graeme keeps tripping over stuff, falling, and yelling. I do the same. Down the reentrant, to the group of cliffs, where we break up to search for the flag. Matthias finds it first. | ||||||
| 11. | Down the trail. Ask Guy (monitoring the drinks control) what place we are in. He says 3rd. I guess he was wrong. | ||||||
| 12. | Matthias takes off very quickly, and i curse him silently, having hoped for a longer break here. We all follow back up the trail. Get passed by Sergey, Graeme, and Jon, but they all leave the trail early, and Matthias and i punch ahead of them. | ||||||
| 13. | Leave the small trail after the cliffs in the green, run more or less along the stream and attack from the stream bend. | ||||||
| 14. | Run north on the trail, see Sergey go south. I wouldn't see him again. Turn right onto the small trail running along the lake, then cut up a flat area to the big trail, hitting it at the 180 turn. On the trail run, Graeme and Jon are running away from Matthias and me, and i even walk a little. After turning onto the N-S trail, i decide that i have to stay with them to at least 14, 'cause it gets easier (less climb) after that, and that's my only chance to stay in the race. I start running again and speed up after seeing Graeme and Jon leave the trail earlier than what i thought was ideal. I turn around to see if Matthias is with me, but he is gone. Leave the trail just before the bend, cross the two legs of the marsh, go around the knoll to the flag. See Graeme and Jon leaving as i come in. | ||||||
| 15. | Run hard in the flat to catch Graeme and Jon. As we start descending, right of the hill, we see Steve Tarry headed to 9. Jon turns in his directions and runs west. I speed up, hoping to get away from him here. Graeme and i spike 15. | ||||||
| 16. | Down the trail, on to the little trail, left right before the marsh, cross the stone well just south of the junction, hesitate a little in the circle before seeing the flag. I am suddenly feeling strong - the gu i had at 11 must be kicking in. | ||||||
| 17. | Run across the edge of the marsh to the trail, then down the trail at full speed, until the second time the trail turns north. Across the marsh, down the stream and along the stone wall to the wall junction. Follow the line of knolls, read the control description and go to the east side of the knoll and punch. Graeme went on the west side of the knoll, and i didn't see him punch, though i assumed that he was right behind me, since he came out to the big trail at the same time as me. We turn west and run down the trail. At the big junction, he stops and hesitates. I realize he hadn't punched 17 and shout to him that we passed it. | ||||||
| 18. | Run down the trail, knowing that 3rd place is probably mine if i don't mess up. Turn off the trail after the knoll, down into the reentrant. | ||||||
| 19. | +01:20 | Down the reentrant, onto the little trail to the stream. Then along the stream to the road. I hit the road past the junction with the trail that the control is next to, and i keep running till i see the finish through the trees. Cut off the road and run right up to the finish, looking for the last control. I stop, look around, look on the map, see the finish, some spectators, Kenny cooling down on the other side of the Pond, basically everything but the last control. After standing in place for literally a minute, i finally see the control in a clump of trees behind me and sprint for it. | |||||
| F. | Finish about 20 seconds before Graeme, in 2nd place. Very good race with lots of good skip options. A very enjoyable Billygoat! It's also good to know that I was booed at the award ceremony after getting my first top-3 finish in a major US race. Thanks for that glowing endorsement, Mr. Gagarin. |
Total Time Lost - 00:04:10