Smarting from my loss to Giovanni in Sprint 1, I resolved to focus entirely on racing fast rather than exploring a map. Even with all the trails, the event was still a sprint, with lots of direction changes and quick decisions. I set a goal of having good flow, quick reactions, and a solid plan in and out of each control.
I ran hard to 1, and made a good route choice cutting some woods to a trail to 2. I made a bad decision to run on the left trail option rather than the faster right to 4, probably losing 20s. I slightly overshot and climbed too high to 5 for 10s loss. Control six was a disaster due to a poor attack and a fuzzy map; the feature was a cliff in a line of cliffs along a river, and the feature wasn't terribly distinctive. I overshot after attacking and ran south for perhaps 60m before doubling back; I probably lost 30s, but it would seem that no one executed that control well. I think it was in the correct spot relative to the nearby trail junction. I passed Ben and his parents on the way to 8, and then chose to leave the trail early to 9 by attacking from the cliffs. Had visibility been good, my route would have been optimal, but as it was, I couldn't see the boulder and lost 20s ambling around in the vegetation.
My performance was middling at best, but has to be interpreted in the light of an older, vague map. It is my recommendation that Turtle Pond not be used again until it has received some mapping attention. I have
run on the map before, and I maintain that it is sufficiently interesting and convenient to be used for sprints and WYO instruction. It's like a slightly bigger, more complex, gnarly Menotomy Rocks, and especially in the spring, it could be useful. It falls short of Hammond Pond in terms of quality of orienteering, but diversity is attractive.