RMOC Day 6 - Superfly Marsh
Blue Classic
8.3 km, 320m climb
We volunteered to prerun at 7am which made making our flight stress free. It was a cool morning, but really nice running weather. When we got to the start line we discovered that the course had been shortened by about 1km, no complaints here!
The terrain was very similar to yesterday with the addition of some marsh crossings, but the course had a very different feel with one mega leg and otherwise a very middle course feel. Legs felt surprising good, I was a little worried when my hip started bothering me on day 2. I had a big hesitation on the way to 2 when I drifted south and crossed a small marsh thinking it was a big one, but I figured it out pretty quickly. On the way to 3 I took a road option and a dog at a campsite started barking, growling, and following me, which was not so fun but it eventually turned back. At 6 I found the bare rock, and then the streamer, but no flag... until I looked down and saw it on the ground, so I stood it back up. 7 was the mega leg, I changed my mind a few times enroute but executed it really well, using the long rocky hilltop next to the trail as my approach point. After that it was mostly short legs so I tried to pick up the pace. I bobbled 12 ending up too far west on the approach, and sliding down a steep Bare rock as I corrected, which was a little scary but turned out fine. Things were going really well through the next 6 controls until I made my biggest mistake on the last control, which I had observed from the start and again between 16 and 17 :(. I made a parallel error leaving 19 going up a different reentrant than thought, so when I turned right I was already past the control. What a dumb way to end a pretty clean run. Still pretty happy with the results, it was definitely my best day despite tired legs.
My best day, but not enough AP Blue runners for me to get an AP score... Bummer!
6 days of orienteering + 2 days of rock climbing later, I would give a hearty recommendation to add this to your list. The week was a blast with fun terrain, excellent maps, well designed and set courses, and great weather. Thanks to RMOC and LROC for putting on such a great event.