Orienteering race 1:51:44 [3] **** 13.9 km (8:02 / km)
ahr:150 spiked:17/22c
Orienteering Race, ORingen, Stage 1. Tranås.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Was running pretty well until the last 1.5km or so. Looked at my watch, looked at the map and figured I had 12-15min to go. I finished 22min later, after losing a minimum of 8 minutes. I lost nearly 6min on one control - not normally something I do. There were two problems:
1. The first 90min were navigationally unchallenging, so I wasn't prepared to slow down and focus when we came onto the detailed ridge for the final 1.5km of the course.
2. An area that would typically be marked as semi-open was marked as white, which I was totally unprepared for. I spent 5min ranging back and forth in taller forest, in completely the wrong place. I hate this sort of mapping - though technically probably correct, it is very confusing, and not what one expects.
I should have been better prepared for the change in navigation style required for the last bit of the course. Definitely would have been worthwhile slowing down and focussing on the map.
I finished 18:44min down on the winner. Pity - it could have been so much better. I guess, on the brighter side, in previous years I would have been relatively happy finishing within 20min of the leader.
My GPS measured that I did 17.5km...