Australian 3 Days - Day 3
Sprint Distance
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
Map 1 of 2
Map 2 of 2
A fun race with a little bit of open granite forest, followed by a university campus. I started well, coming through the forest section in 6th place. I didn't expect to be quite this high in a non-urban terrain. My biggest problem was that I didn't expect #9 to come up quite so early. I almost thought that I should not check the flag as it was too close to to #8, but in the end I did just in case, and sure enough, it was mine.
GPS inspection shows that this was indeed too far to the north. This also explains why my split to #10 (southern route choice) was a bit off the pace of those who went north.
I didn't seem to be able to increase my pace in the urban section until the map turnover at 17.
I missed the optimal route to 12 around the northern end of the building. Apparently there is a path there. I'm not sure what happened with my map printing, but I certainly couldn't see a paved area between the olive green and the building on my map (see scanned image). Perhaps it is there if you enlarge your OCAD screen to 400%, but it didn't appear to be visible to me on the run.
I lost a little time on 13, when I confused the overpasses with paths/stairs. However, I think most of the field also did the same mistake as the map was drawn without the usual adherence to ISSOM standards. Many of the area thicknesses were too narrow to be seen clearly.
From 17 to the finish I was clean and fast, and picked up 3 places.
My 7th place in M21E was ok for a NOL event, but I would have liked to have been a bit closer to the winner.