orienteering race (Pittwater NOL Hagaby) 1:37:42 [3] 8.2 km (11:55 / km)
shoes: Inov8 ORoc 280
Mass start, 2 short loops with splitting then a longer loop out to the east although it didn't get as far as the open dunes. I made hard work of this, going to the wrong first control each time (by a process of elimination I was actually correct on the 3rd loop) and just generally struggling to lift my legs over anything in the terrain. Already in last place by the time I picked up the map for the final loop and while trying to keep Anna S in my sights, completely ballsed up the first control in the rough open (shouldn't have attempted to read the edge of the trees) and bounced off the track to the north so there went 4-5 min. Had expected not to see anyone else after this but did encounter Anna F and Anna D at the easternmost controls in the rough stuff. They got away from me on the flat southern section by which time my legs were refusing to lift at all (hadn't really noticed the rain but wet sandy shoes & socks & gaiters weighed about a ton by now), and then for good measure I screwed up a couple of the controls in the simpler section right at the end. So if I lost 6 min yesterday on a 4km course, today it was more like 12 min on an 8km course. I know that someone has to come last but I really didn't expect it to be me!
