Race Evaluation
NW Cup & WA Champs: Red day 1
jeffw
| 1. | Here's some comments from the bottom of the results list. My right knee was sore from jumping up to grab a basketball rim that morning. I'm getting too old. I felt okay during my warmup. It only hurt when I bent the leg at a sharper angle. At the start I noticed some people taking off down the road and some heading off over the hill directly. I chose to go directly over the hill. Followed a bearing, crossing the 2 fences. The grass was deep here causing me to run high steps. This was uncomfortable on my sore knee. Ran passed the depression. Hit the control at the end of the hill. Good way to start! | ||||||
| 2. | Entered the big reentrant through a break in the cliffs. Crossed the water course and saw the very narrow rocky spine on my right. Climbed out of the reentrant aiming for the big cliffs north of my depression. I was looking for 2 trees, but there were a lot more than that (I didn't notice the white on the map). Entered the trees anyway and saw the depression. | ||||||
| 3. | Followed a bearing onto the big broad spur with the 3 trees in the middle of it. As I came down the end of it I saw my wife Paula. I was aiming for the cliffs just south of the lake, but decided to just enter the reentrant containing my depression. Bingo! | ||||||
| 4. | I was a little slow on this control because I wanted to avoid standing at the top of a 10 meter cliff looking down at my control. I finally decided to follow the broad reentrant just south of the straight line path. Came around the big cliff and nailed the control. | ||||||
| 5. | I had the lake on my left and the cliffs on my right. Turned right on the second opening in the cliffs just as Eric Bone passed me on my left. He went high on the middle cliff while I came in low. There's the control! Woo hoo! This was the only 5 seconds in the entire race that I was faster than Eric! | ||||||
| 6. | Followed Eric to the next control. Turned into the 3 opening in the cliffs. It was very rocky and treacherous in this area. Kean Williams, who started 4 minutes behind me, was right behind me. | ||||||
| 7. | Kean and I followed the rapidly disappearing Erik. I tried to fend Kean off, but he just plain had more horsepower than I had. I tried to maintain a steady pace and read the map on the run. Kean would run quickly, slow down to read the map, run again, etc.. It was much more effective than my strategy. Hit the cliff on the hill and followed the ridge along the bottom right on to the control. | ||||||
| 8. | Took off on a bearing. Saw the long line of low cliffs on the left side on the other side of the depression. Hit the control at the end of the cliff. | ||||||
| 9. |
Did not read control description +05:00 | Went wide around the end of the marsh. Went up over the hill behind the cliffs next to the marsh. Went to the north of the hill, saw the depression. On the spur, I turned around and saw about a mob of people hot on my heels. I had a hard time climbine over the fence because it was pretty tight and barb wire. Went around the north side of the spur. I was positive that I was on the north side, No control! The other guys behind me couldn't find it either. We searched around for awhile. I went around the end of the spur and saw the deep reentrant. I kept going anyway. Maybe they misplaced it. Turned around and Fred Veler was motioning that they control was found. There it was hidden behind a little bush! Technically it should have been more visible, however, I didn't notice that the control description said the northwest *foot* of the spur. | |||||
| 10. | Set a bearing and saw the lone tree in my line of site. Decided to aim for it and pass just north of the marsh. Loocked across the broad reentrant and saw my opening in the rocks, NW of my control. Climbed the hill and saw somebody leaving the control. Went around the brush and there it was. | ||||||
| 11. | Set a bearing for the next control and I could see it, although I didn't believe it! Crossed the one fence and around the end of the other one, and yes it was indeed my next control. | ||||||
| 12. | Went up the hill and ran along the flat area towards the next control. I was keeping my eye on the road below, looking for the fenced area. I could see Fred Veler on the road zooming along ahead of me. How did he pass me! It turns out that he was on another course that skipped my last control. Saw 3 people converging on one area. Looked ahead and saw the rock with the control on it. | ||||||
| 13. | Followed the other guys to the next control. I felt like I took a better line to the control at the end of the rocks. | ||||||
| 14. | I could see the finish area on the right. Followed everyone to the control. | ||||||
| F. | As I ran to the finish, I could see Paula waiting for me at the finish. I felt pretty good about my race. Only one major oops this time. |
Total Time Lost - 00:05:00