Race Evaluation
2012 North American Orienteering Championships: RedX Long
Niall
| 1. | +09:00 | Borked the first control by not reading the map and seeing that a larger wet area CAN also be open. Just.. keep going west, idiot. No, not SOUTH to the root stock control!! Yes, back to the path, and to the corner, well, almost, and now back down and south and NO, don't go back to the SAME control you KNOW is wrong! Augh!! *facepalms* And there went my confidence for the day. | |||||
| 2. | Okay, not too bad, follow the bearing as well as the contours. Rise to a plateau, keep following it. Keep following. keep.. how long IS this plateau anyway? Right, 1:15k, so 50% longer than expected. Still. Did I pass? Follow the plateau.. this is going to go down at some point, right? Yes, here! and.. wait.. map says at clearing, no clearing ahead. to my elft? check.. yes! Confidence up a smidge. | ||||||
| 3. | It's bearing time... cross path and stream, yes, on the line. Follow ridge of cliffs, pass another control, this should be another not mine.. wait, it's mine? already? What happened to the 1:15k? Oh well. *beep* | ||||||
| 4. | +05:00 | Okay, just go around above cliffside and straight south! Let's go up on this ridge, it seems to clear up.. wait.. did I go way too west? (actually no, I went east a bit. shh!) Let's walk east along.. and more east.. and.. nothing.. wait. No, I must be nearing control 5. Go back! run run.. okay, I arrived here. let's try the other side. Step, step, step, step - see control down there. Really?? Confidence: lower. But at least I know the way after. | |||||
| 5. | Run run run happily, along ridge, across edge of valley, and hey, water jugs in the distance! glug glug. ahhh. Confidence steady. | ||||||
| 6. | Okay, kind of mostly north. If I hit control 2, that's great, I can attack from there. Doo de doo de doo... yup, familiar country. But that guy up ahead, I think he'll be too far east, let me veer a bit below these upcoming small cliffs as it's at a cliff bottom. Annd.. I should have seen it by now. stop. map: um, I'm on edge of a steeeeeeep hill to the river. Crap, it's on a much flatter terrain. Straight east! ..and there it is! woot! confidence up! | ||||||
| 7. | +26:16 | WARNING, CONFIDENCE LEVELS TOO HIGH! "It's just a quick run up to the small cliffs and follow to the right!" And so I did. And passed _10 meters away_ and never saw it. for HALF AN HOUR. Found two other controls, past the car ruins (hey, those bunch of Xs on the map, maybe they mean something), head back or try to, find the same two controls again, turn around, find.. the same two controls.. again... back to previous control to re-attack! Except I can't find where I am. Lost. Darnit. grumble mutter stupid idiot and gah, too close to that steep slope again, better go for flatter terrain and hey, look, control 6 again! so.. that valley I've been in four times.. it IS the right one.. let's go slowly...... there? THAT's where it was the whole time? *looks around* I passed there! *turns* and there! *turns* and I passed right there too! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY EYES?? Confidence levels: rock bottom. | |||||
| 8. | Do I abandon? I did two weeks ago, just before the long leg. But.. it's not been THAT long yet. Okay, let's try it. If I really bungle this leg, I'll give up. I should at least try to finish before the 3 hours are up. *checks map, misses the easy path course, despite that trail-running is a house specialty* Yes, aim for path corner, aim around marsh. Follow edge of open land (because open land is filled with razor-sharp evil stalks of prickly DOOM), and south right through lovely fir trees, just mosey along and hey, rock wall already? Are they SURE this is 1:15k?? Okay, follow follow.. right south now all the way to north path, yay! Follow trail to pathside water pond, around and down and there it is. Water! yay! *glug* | ||||||
| 9. | Okay, let's just go to the path... but not the easy way I just _came from_... sheesh.. and up to the ridge, follow, there's a nice easy control. | ||||||
| 10. | Hoo, tricky leg here. North to marsh! across at stream, then follow stream from a contour above to lake, and north to series of cliffs! Up on top, follow until there's open land to the right at bottom, go slowly north and look for clearing. Whee! Nicely done! | ||||||
| 11. | Oh, straight east, across the stream, just over the small hill, search, search, there it is, not too bad. could have been faster though, but keeping contact with the map is important. | ||||||
| 12. | Just cross stream and.. woo, this is much steeper here. Okay, climb, and up and follow.. did I went too far? Not sure, hmm, check map.. hmm, don't think so. Take two steps, see it appear. ...always take two steps more when you stop, idiot. this keeps happening. | ||||||
| 13. | Ah, behind a cliff after we cross agai... wait, when did this suddenly become so steep?? and all the now dry leaves... careful, careful, find a nice rock to cross, and up.. ugh.. up.. UP.... UUUUP *pant* okay, and now *pant* to the other cliff and... I think this almost counts as being in "mid-air", and the loosened earth leading to it is not reassuring by now. | ||||||
| 14. | Okay, just go back up and WTF this is even STEEPER and we have to cross the verdammt stream AGAIN the *&#$@@! *looks* okay, at least the two going and returning tell me exactly where the control is, and right below at the stream is a big rock. Easy to cross and climb right up. Just.. way.. slow.. down.. to not.. pitch forward and end up in the hospital... | ||||||
| 15. | Okay, after many water glasses to recover: ugh, I can't find any other attack routes. Bearing. Straight ahead. Oh, oh that was a mistake. Slugging through every type of underbrush (except the razor sharp prickly thorns of DOOM at least) made for a long, long path. Path! finally! Just go north to the lake and go from there, silly. Ah, there it is. | ||||||
| 16. | Annnd keep the same line.Follow the announcer voice at the finish arena, it's exactly in the path to the control. Hmm, it's on a knoll.. over there! Yay! | ||||||
| 17. | +01:00 | Okay, so south-east and.. should not be far.. umm.. should not be far... did I overshoot? (no, remember, 1:15k!) Also, other side of cliff, meaning go OVER one first! Ah, there it is. (afterwards: or just follow the rock wall to the cliff and veer left, without having to hesitate) | |||||
| 18. | Okay, towards the main path.. hit the side path. Confused as to path orientation. Decide so brain-weary that just going along path is safest route not to get lost again. Meaning going down and sharp up again, sapping strength. At least control is easy to find from path. | ||||||
| 19. | +02:00 | Take bearing. Took bearing while walking to previous control. Somehow, can't do it. End up through two other controls. Can't find go control. Others searching... end up at finish path, so backtrack red flags to go control. | |||||
| F. | And run like the wind! up a sharp incline! up a slow slop! up.. a loose rock incline to the arena and chute! who made this 225m finish run from hell... zoom! zoom! and yay, record time (for age category anyway)! That's one, at least... |
Total Time Lost - 00:43:16