Orienteering race (Sprint) 12:30 [5] **** 2.85 km (4:23 / km) +25m 4:12 / km
ahr:194 max:204 spiked:16/17c shoes: Inov-8 Road-X 233
BF Sprints - Chase
This race was a case of keeping my head, keeping the gap, and ensuring I didn't blow up mentally or physically. Having not guessed we'd just be doing the women's course from earlier, one concern was losing much of my 21s lead (to the tied Daniel, Aiden & Ondrej) at the start kite given the random direction we'd headed off in for round 1 (which is funny, given it was them who blew the race on the route to the first control by going north round the oval).
With lots of doubling back, I was looking out for chasers throughout the first 9 controls but didn't see anyone close and was going pretty well with fastest splits to 2, 4 & 5. Slightly dodgy southern route to 6, but pushed hard on the long leg to 10 and up the steps to 12, keeping things simple the order of the day round the rest of the controls - seeing Ben heading to 14 on my way to 15 meant I had a safe enough gap to cruise home (and punch the last control twice again).
Great fun going off first in chase, new experience that, and a real mental challenge to keep the head screwed on while knowing a pack is chasing you down, even more so in a sprint. Think having run here before was definitely beneficial in places, knowing what steps were up and down helped but as the numerous mistakes in the first race showed it wasn't everything.