Orienteering race 1:44:50 [5] 12.4 km (8:27 / km)
TT - Long. The plan was to start conservatively and not to rush. Had a little bit of a mix up on #2 as I missed a cliff on a map prior to the bag and spent a bit of time scratching my head. Then decided to attack from above on #3 as to avoid dealing with cliffs on the edge of the hill. Was clean on both #5 and #6 reading ahead and checking off things that I expected to see. Put my compass into use on #7 but missed the trail at the fire break and had to come back a bit losing a bit of time there. I haven't really planed the route to #8 but after punching 7 I immediately saw the all around route which looked simple enough for me as opposed to a straighter route which Boris took and which he executed rather well. Then spent a bit of time at #10 trying to decide whether I should climb over the hill or go around. Looked at my watch, and decided that it was too early in the race to take on big hill in such heat, so bailed to the right around the big monster. Executed it well, though could've cut a bit more before getting onto a smaller trail that lead to the shelve where the control sat. Then ran right past the water table as I wasn't sure if it belonged to orienteers or other park visitors since no one was around it, and there was no cup sign on the map. Caught up to Clem on #14, and proceeded to a lower route on trail while Clem went higher to the right. I got to the big trail with no problem and was waiting fpr the 90 degrees turn to begin my hillside run. Saw a bend, jumped into the woods, A minute later, realized that something wasn't right. Circled around, checked a couple of cliffs, still couldn't make sense. Slowly backtracked to the big trail. F$@k! Too early, not my bend. From there attacking was easy. Got frustrated a bit, and couldn't comprehend how did that happen. Still don't. Was a bit slow on #16 as I had difficulties matching map with busy area around the bag but was careful enough to not go too far down and got to it ok. Started to feel really thirsty, but ate my powergel on the way down to #17 any way after taking a brief look of what was still ahead. To #19, bad route. Decided to stick with the familiar trail, but it was just too far off the line that a straighter route on the left of the lake was a lot faster even with an early climb. Drank a bit of water at #19, and immediately felt refreshed. Pushed hard for the remainder of the course and working with my compass to #21. Finished strong, feeling pretty good physically, which was surprising given how tough the race was. I think that a cleaner race and in a bit cooler weather 95 min was very doable.
Great course. Lots of route choices, some of which I didn't even realize they were there.