Training Log Archive: FernWerm

This was fun! Despite the early morning, leaving the farm we were staying at around 7am with Paddy, and the sluggish 100m jog to the start, I had a great time. Kinda stuffed around with the first couple, then got into it. This was great racing around the town - a bit like a complex street and park event, with cow statues. Lots of cow statues. :)

Amaze'n Margaret River
Well - Juffy and I battled for mistake of the day for this race. I was one of the first starters and after bumbling around in the bush looking for 1 (showing all of the people waiting to start exactly where it was) I got the following 5 in the bush ok, even convincing a couple of fast guys that although 4 had the wrong number it had to be correct. The next controls up to 10 were fine then into the maze! I had been looking forward to this!

But the map was so hard to read - the circles of the 5 controls in the maze covered vital information and it was sooooo tiny at 1:4000 scale. Still, I struggled around, wondering how other people zooming around were managing. After eventually getting all 5 I couldn't find the way out and a volunteer near the emergency maze exit helpfully said I was between the two big gates marked on the map. What big gates - there are no big gates on my map. Nooooo, on the big map. Puzzeled look. Then he turned my folded map over to reveal the blown up version of the maze map clear as day. Bugger. Ah well. :) It was still awesome fun!

Cowaramup Long - Splits

Ameze'n Long - Splits

Event: Sprint the South West
 

Fun run around Bunbury ECU and TAFE campuses. I didn't do very well as my brain just couldn't get into the sprint format (e.g. planning ahead, reading the detail, or really just orienteering at all) and I lost my earring at number 8 (I thought that being a sprint race in a campus there wouldn't be any plunging through bush - wrong!) - but I had fun all the same. :)

Bunbary Cathedral Grammar School.
Same as the morning as far as orienteering ability goes (or lack of), but I had fun racing an older orienteer around the course, especially through the bush at the end. Being one of the first starters there were no elephant tracks to follow!

Bunbury 3 Campus Long - Splits

Bunbury Cathedral GS Long - Splits

Aus champs relay. Got talked into making up a SA women's team with Zoe and Jenny, knowing I was by no means fit enough. The long leg from the start to 1 in the physical terrain broke me, and when it had taken me 50 minutes to get 5 controls and I had 10 more to go, I decided to get one more and call it quits. It was pelting with rain, the bare rock was super slippery and my heart wasn't in it. Basically, I wasn't having fun. Felt pretty bad for Zoe and Jenny, but they knew I was never going to be competitive anyway, and it wasn't worth breaking myself for!

I was a bit tired after travelling to WA, and had a late start in the warm sun, but I still really enjoyed myself. This was just the right length for me, and the bush and landscape was just so pretty at this time of year. I took a bit too long getting to 3, going off my bearing and ending up on the creek south of the control, but I quickly realised what I'd done once I oriented my map properly and discovered the creek going at a 90 degree angle to the one I thought I was on. I also took a long time on the long leg, just purely from being unfit, really, and staying a bit too high when contouring around the hill. I ended up too far down the hill at 8, but managed the rest of the controls quite well. I was happy with my time and it gave me false hope for the relay the next day... :)

Walk up Rankeys, down Upper Sturt, along the creek and back via Blackthorn and the streets behind the primary school. Saw the amazing tree house that Ryan has built for his kids with a piece of pine tree trunk chiselled out to make steps up to the platform. Nice.

Only got half of this done before I heard crying.