Orienteering race (Balcombe Woods) 1:08:23 [4] *** 7.5 km (9:07 / km) +200m 8:03 / km
spiked:16/21c
Slightly more focussed than yesterday. But only slightly. Probably due to the cold, which was very unwelcome. Nor did the area look promising, small bits of scrappy woodland separated my muddy fields. The planner had had a proper job getting some decent courses out of it. Biggest problem I had was selecting the info I needed from all the clashing colours and detail on the map. First three controls all needed fine micro-navigation in the circle as the flags had been carefully placed for maximum difficulty, 6 to 8 were across the fields, and there were battles with rhodies, slippery mud and brambles for 9 to 13. 16 and 17 were rock features on a very steep and slippy slope, as was 23, but the rest were fairly 'southern' type legs. None of it was easy and nowhere was I fast, but apart from a minute miss at 12 I didn't really go wrong. I'm not sure whether the cold, the scratching, the slipping and the hills amounted to a pleasurable experience, and my calves were really stiff afterwards for some reason, but I got some exercise/practice. Which was something I suppose.