Race Evaluation
Newcastle Bush Series (NOY) #5: Moderate Long
alsoCass
| 1. | P | D | P | R | 1 | +00:15 | Made a small mistake when the track turned and I continued for 5m, I corrected that quickly. I wasn't sure where the pinnacle of the turn was. I should have used my compass. |
| 2. | P | D | P | R | 2 | My plan was to run to the first track, and head further NE until I hit the second track - run along until I spotted the control. I always hesitate when my plans are that vague, I spend the first leg second guessing myself. I was fairly confident that I knew my location at all times. Found the control okay. I think I need to stop weaving around and just pick a bearing. | |
| 3. | P | D | P | R | 3 | +08:00 | Really made a meal of this control. Bill made a much better route choice and was 10 minutes faster then me. I faffed about a lot. My plan was to head south of the unrunnable section of trees that followed the water crossing. I began quite well and then turned off. Route choice was difficult and the appearance of another runner always throws me. He looked like he had a way through the thicket so I followed - dumb. I didn't realise my bearing was changing so significantly, I thought I was just taking an easier path through the trees. If I had held my original bearing then I would have gotten through easily, instead after a minute I realised that this track was awful and veered off, back on my original bearing, which was now sending me through the trees... ugh. When I finally hit the track I had no idea where on the track I was. I ended up running south (wrong direction) and spend a lot of time trying to identify features to work out my location. I managed, but then still overshot the control, confusing the tracks on the map, thinking I was on the minor track, but I wasn't. Bill ran North to the track and then took a bearing at the water - a much better choice. |
| 4. | P | D | P | R | 3 | +02:00 | I picked a good route, had a good picture in my head of the leg/control, but I made a mistake as I left the main track. My plan was to follow a little track through the marsh until it came close to the service road, then follow it. Easy and simple. However I immediately ran along a south bound track instead of a north one. Compass compass compass!!! Wasted a lot of time running through awful terrain. At one point I spotted the start flag so took a bearing off it to work out roughly what direction I lay in, tried to run in the right direction (but the terrain was unrunnable and the tracks loop wildly around). Eventually found a nice track and was on my merry way again. |
| 5. | P | D | P | R | 1 | I recognised the area from the xmas 5-day, that certainly helped here. I think I could almost see the control from the previous control. There was a good track to follow at any rate. | |
| 6. | P | D | P | R | 3 | I took a long pause when I saw this control. My first thought was to head to the fence line and follow it around to control #8, then attack from there. However I wasn't confident that it would be runnable. My second plan was to head to the start flag (which I knew was visible), follow the track to #8, then #7, and then #6. Taking advantage of the checkpoints to confirm my location, but also meaning the run in reverse would be quicker. At this stage I was wondering if the course was going to take me 2hrs and wether I should head back so Bill could have his run (turns out the second half of the controls took only 10minutes, which made for a nice ending). 1.5km of running! | |
| 7. | P | D | P | R | +00:10 | My strategy here was to just run back the way I had come, relying on my memory rather than the map. I ended up 10m south of the control. I could have paid a little more attention to the contours and not let myself get so low. | |
| 8. | P | D | P | R | Again, just running back the way I came. I was nominally heading back to the track, with the idea of staying on a direct bearing to the control for as long as the terrain would allow. I never ended up on the track (so something was wrong), but I still (re)found the control easily. | ||
| 9. | P | D | P | R | 1 | Plan was to run along the track and then cut across the marsh. Found the marsh easily, saw a bit of pink tape on the far corner which I headed towards, followed the watercourse easily to the control. | |
| 10. | P | D | P | R | 1 | Could (almost) see the control from the previous control. | |
| 11. | P | D | P | R | 1 | Same again, enjoying this bit of zig-zagging after the previous controls. Headed on a slightly off bearing - letting the trees etc throw me around. Found the control quickly though. | |
| 12. | P | D | P | R | 2 | Rushing toward the end didn't have a great plan - other than a general bearing and a thought to hitch a ride on any tracks I ended up on. I found the track cross roads and spend a bit too long confirming my location before I moved on. | |
| 13. | P | D | P | R | 1 | The control was about 20m away from the previous control, I nearly ran past it. | |
| F. | P | D | P | R | 2 | Tape to the finish... Had lots of fun running hard through those trees!! (Seriously). Please to finish in under an hour - not two hours like I was worried it would take!! |
Total Time Lost - 00:10:25