Race Evaluation
Blue Hills Traverse: Traverse
ParkSchool
| 1. | R trail seemed better option with good departure feature and good route to flag up reentrant NE of flag. Punched in with Ross who appeared to be first to arrive from L trail. | ||||||
| 2. | Roughly straight trying to hold on to Tim and Clint | ||||||
| 3. | +00:15 | Started to climb after Tim and Clint, then changed my mind and contoured to trails and looped to the S. A little tentative approaching flag, particularly as Clint veered off to the L in front of me. Many folks right behind me as I punched. | |||||
| 4. | Straight S mostly avoiding the green. Crossed marsh and started up hill NW of flag before figuring out where I was. Was unable to make out color of feature, and was looking for a dot knoll, but boulder was so obvious I knew it had to be on map. Until now, I was convinced that this was an interesting interpretation of dot knoll by the mapper, but I am now convinced the dot is black. | ||||||
| 5. | Through marsh to path with John Hansman ahead and a mess of people including Phil and the female Olafsen clan crossing to punch after me. Crossed reentrant to spike flag. Can hear many people closing on me. | ||||||
| 6. | Up power cut to first trail, then along road before cutting in to hit parallel trails. Caught here by several better runners. | ||||||
| 7. | +00:30 | Tried to go on line, but drifted to the R. Cut over when I began to appreciate rocky ground up ahead. Phil and Olafsens slightly ahead by now. | |||||
| 8. | In a pack angling down hillside. Helped by noting Tim heading for # 9 which convinced me to stop descent a little earlier than I might have otherwise. | ||||||
| 9. | On line, now following Dan and Olafsens. | ||||||
| 10. | SE to trails, then crossing cut to run down spur. | ||||||
| 11. | Angled up to trails, then climbed a little higher than necessary to have good attack point from the E. Dan stayed low and had a little better route. | ||||||
| 12. | Others with me went up, but I chose to angle to road. Phil followed me down and caught me on the road. Angled off trail as I passed large rocks on R. | ||||||
| 13. | +00:15 | Again went S of others, but this time probably went downhill too quickly as I lost some time to Phil and Dan who must have gone straight W to road. Dave Yee was visible as I hit the road. Beginning to suffer from lack of conditioning at this point. | |||||
| 14. | Stayed on main trail, but overran control slightly. Passed recreational flag on large boulder before hitting control. | ||||||
| 15. | +00:15 | Confused briefly by earlier hill, but corrected without much loss of time. | |||||
| 16. | Trail to road, then past another recreational control. Caught by Tim Rief. | ||||||
| 17. | Avoided climb by following trail to building, then NE on paved trail and and over to cross main road. Followed large trail, then headed N on trail between high elevations. Contoured to W of marsh then N crossing two trails being fortunate to hit the boulder just S of trail to help confirm position. Headed N keeping to E edge of spur to avoid most of the evergreens. Hit control from E at same time as Viktoria and Olafsens and arrived from W. Clint also appeared again around this time. | ||||||
| 18. | Angled up slope to stay above cliffs, then down again slightly after crossing trail. | ||||||
| 19. | +01:00 | Contoured to trail, then left trail at bend to climb up after large group of people including Phil, Viktoria, Olafsens. Many people milling around short of the flag. Kept climbing along with Tim Parson, Tim Rief and Clint, spotting wall to N of flag below us as we climbed. Dan at flag when we arrived, perhaps having climbed higher along trail. | |||||
| 20. | Down slope on line through wall remnant, Tim Parson leading the way. | ||||||
| 21. | SW to trail intersection. Legs really beginning to fail, so opted for trail run to L. Phil, Clint and Olafsens right behind at intersection, but take a different route. They arrive at the flag only moments behind me. | ||||||
| 22. | I'm not liking my chances as the pack passes me on trail run S. I leave trail a bit earlier than the others in the hope they might overshoot. My route seems slightly better as I punch in the middle of the pack. | ||||||
| 23. | Again opt for different route as I can't run with the others, but this time angling to road loses time. Arrive at road behind everyone but Clint, then promptly cramp up. Hobble after the pack, but I know I have no chance to catch them. | ||||||
| F. | Slow and anticlimatic finish. Overall, an excellent run with only a few small navigational errors and only my lack of conditioning really limiting me. |
Total Time Lost - 00:02:15