Oktoberracet 2007, OK Enen, Enköping.
An almost entirely flat (I counted the climb for a laugh - about 53 meters!) course with occasional knolls and boulders scattered throughout. Mostly fast woods.
I started quite early (4th starter) and was pretty cold in the beginning, but got warmer as the race went on. Had a very good race for the most part. Didn't feel like I was running too fast, but felt in control most of the time. For most of the course, the controls kept turning up exactly where and when I was expecting them to, which was nice. I did make one big mistake - on #8, I first took a poor route choice, picking an around trail option rather than going straight, and then executing poorly when I didn't see the ditch I was planning to use as my attackpoint. Ended up losing 2 minutes, which is pretty irritating. Still didn't see the ditch after I found the control it was supposedly next to. Amusingly, the guy I caught at #3 followed me the whole way, including through the dark green during my mistake on 8. Ran very well after 8, with just one 20-second bobble on 11. Was the first finisher in H21, which is pretty cool. Ended up 30th out of 90, 5 minutes off the winning time. This winning time belonged to Albin, our incredible soon-to-be 16-year-old, who dominated the H21 class today. Very impressive and humbling.
Regardless, this was my best race in a while, and good for getting some confidence back.
WinSplits:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map:
http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
After the race, we stuck around to watch the Elitseries final. It was a middle distance race, with three loops and paired starts. Each pair ran the first two loops in different orders and then did a common third loop. It was great spectating, though I am not sure how the athletes felt about this format. Additionally, having two runners start each minute meant that lots of packs were forming, surely altering the results to some degree. Still, it was really fun to watch, especially as Mattias Millinger won the men's race, and Tomas Stenström and Mats tied for 5th. Very cool! Annika Billstam got 6th in the women's race, anot both she and Millinger ended up 4th overall in the Elitseries. Plus, at the orienteering gala in the evening, OK Linné was awarded the "Swedish Relay Club of the Year" prize:
http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=2151 .
All in all, a good day for the club.