Orienteering race 17:35 [5] 2.5 km (7:02 / km) +140m 5:30 / km
shoes: Silva K100
GHO Peak-to-Peak Sprint set by Mike Waddington, about half and half escarpment and open land/baseball fields surrounding an athletic complex. Didn't catch the start of the pre-race briefing and paid at the first control in not knowing that there weren't going to be epunch stations at every control and that the codes weren't going to match the control descriptions on the map. Spent long enough stupidly wavering over whether there was an epunch hidden near the flag, whether I ought to look for another flag nearby and whether I ought to go back and ask for another start time that Boris just about made up the 1 minute start interval on me and had the goodness to jolt me out of my reverie with words to the effect of "Keep going! Run, you fool!" - I shouldn't have needed that but thanks. I was on thereafter navigationally except for a wrong call or two as to exactly which individual tree in a cluster certain controls were going to be hung on and I must have been on physically since I won - not having timed myself, I have to take GHO's word that nothing too strange was going on with the timing.
Orienteering race 1:20:48 [4]
shoes: Silva K100
GHO Peak-to-Peak Score-O on the Mineral Springs map in the Dundas Valley - I headed out towards the west end of the map to begin with and ran with a Bob Miller (I hope I got the name right - from what I garnered afterwards, an experienced adventure racer relatively new to orienteering) early and for a couple of controls heading back east after we diverged and converged again. Lacking a watch (couldn't seem to find anyone with a spare before the race) I asked him the time at 28 minutes in and two others the time later on. I had given up on one ten point control in the middle of the map and the two worth 50 points in the southeast corner but I ran into someone just downhill of the 10 pointer on the slope north of the finish who said I had 9 minutes left so I decided to try for the southeast corner. Apparently my eyes are attuned to my fresh running speed since they were worth just enough to equal the time penalty getting them cost - I would have been better off hopping on one leg past the 10 pointer to the finish. Assuming I could have hopped on one leg all the way up that steep snowy slope at all. In any case, the snow had made the course a challenge for everyone and I ended up 10 points ahead of the aforementioned and impressive Bob Miller.
Orienteering 1:30:00 [2]
GHO having decided to postpone a control picking exercise designed by Katarina Smith until 4pm to let legs recover and my having plans to join family for dinner in Toronto around 6pm, I ended up streamering the control locations before all but a few other earlybirds started the exercise. Concerns over accuracy had concerns over flow through controls falling by the wayside but it was a very good training session for my precision navigation, particularly in the section of fantastically detailed topography out in the southwest portion of the map.