Race Evaluation
QOC Hemlock Overlook: Red
Nadim
| 1. | Cruising easy so as to work my way into the race. I kept feeling like I was having trouble lining up the road with my compass. | ||||||
| 2. | Straightish, using the broad hilltop ridge to drop into the reentrant. | ||||||
| 3. | Over the hilltop again and up through the unmapped light green. | ||||||
| 4. | As was punching at #3 a man and his son asked which course I was on so I said Red. They followed me out. I warned them to be sure they know how to get back to the start and they explained having gotten separated from their teammate who had their map--they were to meet that person at #104. They initially kept up but lagged at the climb and probably lost sight of me. When I got to the control, I yelled back "#104" and saw them as I was leaving. | ||||||
| 5. | Down the reentrant, right in the large one, then left up the next system. I then ran a looser bearing on the side of a spur and across a broad reentrant before getting to the control. Jon Pifer got there perhaps just after I did. | ||||||
| 6. | +02:30 | I left running straightish hoping to leave Jon but I later heard his footsteps. He's still in better shape than I am. When I crossed a sort of saddle for a spur, I was pretty confident of my navigation. However, I turned right when I hit the trail, perhaps based on an unsettled compass needle. This got me onto the wrong spur. I descended to almost the river, then headed back. When I hit the trail again. I realized what had happened. I headed in the right direction but was a bit low at the end. | |||||
| 7. | +00:35 | I headed straightish but hitting the trail, I cut right taking it to the bottom. There I turned left and stayed on the left side thinking it was easier running. I saw one reentrant to the right but was looking for a second. I went too far. I noticed Jan behind a bit but since he'd gone out earlier, I wasn't sure at what point in the course he was at. I cut right, up the steep slope and passed a few others getting up the hill. | |||||
| 8. | +00:30 | I went down to cross the bigger reentrant, the climbed out along and in one on the other side. Once across the trail, I kept the reentrant structure on my right and maintained elevation. At the ridge I was headed to the control but I got distracted by another rootstock. I felt it wasn't of the mappable standard for this map and was probably too low but it's proximity to a nearby reentrant made me go down and check it out anyway. I proceeded to correct after that. | |||||
| 9. | +00:15 | I stayed high too long to avoid ups and downs, then had to go through some light green. The control appeared to be in the right proximity but the patch of green that it was supposed to be on was gone. | |||||
| 10. | +02:30 | With my errors on the last few controls, I'd kept seeing some slower orienteers. I left #9 ahead of one of these and I wanted to get away. I angled up to the trail, then stayed on it too long before angling down and crossing a side reentrant. The features were similar enough that when I crossed the next major reentrant and turned left up a more minor one, I was feeling confident. There were some other guys converging so when I got to the control, I just punched without first looking. The way it was tied onto a tree, I'd of had to go to the other side. Sticking my neck around the corner, I was surprised to find myself at #107. Since it was and earlier control on my course it wasn't very hard to make corrections but it meant going down and up one more time. | |||||
| 11. | I went straightish but eventually got to and got on the trail to the left. I left that at a bend and attacked from far to spike it. | ||||||
| 12. | Another orienteer had been standing at #10 when I got there. I left quickly and went fairly straight. I used a broad reentrant. In the process, I did leave the slower and younger orienteer behind. I could hear him giving chase. At the trail crosing, I noted seeing the more rootstocks than were on the map but I was confident where to go from then. The control seemed a bit farther down the reeentrant than expected. | ||||||
| 13. | I angled up to the trail and stayed on it most of the way. I angled off correctly to shorten distance and got there just as Jon Pifer was leaving. | ||||||
| 14. | Jon Pifer had gone down the reentrant. After a drink, I went down on the left side, then angled more left to get to the trail. I hit the trail along the big reentrant with Jon closing in on me. I got through a rocky section quickly and in doing so, managed to keep Jon behind me as we cut right again to go along the river. At the trail intersection, I immediately crossed the stream and angled up. Jon eventually caught and passed me in the side reentrant with the control. I was feeling encouraged to be nearing the end of the course but as I was to learn, there was a lot more to go. | ||||||
| 15. | Jon seemed to go straight. I left #14 not far behind but cut around to the right more, to avoid climb. I hit a field eventually but realized it was one too far south. I eventually got to the lake but missed reading on the map a trail that would have taken me to the contro. Instead, I climbed on the eastern side of the lake, used the field and went in on another trail. At an unmapped fork, I cut right when I should have gone left. Eventually, I walked-in through some heavier green. | ||||||
| 16. | We'd had a similar leg before. I hesitated between going straight and going backward to the left on a trail. Straight won. Once in the reentrant, I stopped, expecting to see the control. It was to my left and I'd almost passed it. | ||||||
| 17. | +01:30 | I was going to go straight but worried about a rough descent through some green. I went down early where the green was at least mapped more thin. That meant more side hill running but it was too dangerous to try to run. I just about got to the bottom, distracted by the lower cliff (it didn't look like a cliff to me on the map). I went down and searched the foot, the back up to the other rock. | |||||
| 18. | Up the steep hill, then on trails and in fields to the control. | ||||||
| F. | +00:30 | I ran straight, passing my son Max who was playing with Max Lennon. Another guy who left just before me was going more widely to the left. He was in better shape than me so he got ahead a bit. I got to the cabin area, then headed to the start/registration area rather than the finish at a different pavillion. Others in this area verbally helped me find it since a lot of other people had done the same thing. |
Total Time Lost - 00:08:20