orienteering race 2:05:02 [4] *** 6.1 km (20:30 / km) +235m 17:11 / km
17c weight:31.6lbs shoes: Inov8 O-roc 280 Red
QOC McKeldin - Green
Expecting lots of climb, of course, but things felt especially brutal today. Lots of slopes were extremely muddy, especially in the new section across the road, resulting in lots of slipping around and falling down even with spikes.
A little hesitant into some controls - 2, 4, 9, and had a bit of spatial difficulty with the area around 11 for some reason, ending up too far left and then too far right along the stream before finally seeing it.
7 was interesting, with the clue being both rootstock and cliff. It basically turned out to be a rootstock which had pulled up a rock into a cliff-like formation so "rootstock cliff" is actually pretty accurate.
The area around 14 seemed very much more complex in real life than as mapped.
The last hill up to 15 was a brutal slog and I had to rest for a few seconds several times.
There were at least several places where there were flatter route choices. I stayed high and eliminated climb between 4&5 and 7&8.
At least the weather was gorgeous - I was a bit overdressed with a long sleeve shirt under the short sleeve one and had my sleeves rolled up the entire time.