Race Evaluation
QOC: Rhino Goat, Avalon: Blue
Nadim
| 1. |
Ran too fast | A beautiful day. Ted Good started us out on the mass start with personalized pre-printed and sealed maps. Jon Torrance and Randy Hall took off first and I chased on the road. We went faster than I wanted but I wanted to stay with the "pack." Just as I saw my attack que, the opening of the channel in the Patapsco River, Jon takes the same que and leads us there. Jon, then Randy, then I got there. | |||||
| 2. | The 1:7,500 scale was confusing us. We jumped back up to the road where I passed Randy. I was going to leave it at the reentrant on the left to begin the climb but Jon went past it. As he turned up 50 yards later, I did to and cut the distance. Jon was low and I saw it first. As I climbed, he saw it and got there ahead of me. Randy was right behind. | ||||||
| 3. |
Lacked confidence Followed others Unused to map Unused to terrain +02:00 | I ran after Jon up and across the slope and closed a little. He was moving fast and increased his lead bounding down the hill at the first reentrant. Randy had taken a lower route and passed me. After the next reentrant, we climbed a ridge. Randy said a cliff we crossed wasn't on the map. I had ignored the rocks to this point--we were moving too fast but I thought the control was right below us where some other recreational orienteers were resting. I followed Randy onward instead of trusting myself, across a hollow and down into the next. Randy said something to the effect that Jon is probably gone for good. We saw a control and Randy, getting there first realized we were at #4... The thought to skip ocurred but it was too early and not worth 3 minutes. Back down, we got to #4 where Peggy and many others were punching. | |||||
| 4. | We'd already known where to go and took off. Looking up, we were very surprised to see Jon coming back to #3. I think I got there first, passing Peggy along the way. | ||||||
| 5. |
Ran too fast Did not like map Could not relocate Followed others +13:00 | Rather than go around the sloping ridge, I rose up to a level spot. Jon caught me and passed, Randy pursued. As we dropped, Jon got farther ahead but as he turned right up along the stream, I cut a corner and caught-up. Instead of paying attention to him, I should have watched my compass. We cut left across the stream at a rock but I wasn't sure where we were. We climbed steeply. Near the top, I passed a pile of junk which I took to be a ruin shown north of the control so I kept going. Expecting to see a downslope on my left, I chased Jon up over a ridge to a flattish area. We began dropping to the next reentrant but things were still not lining-up. Jon and I circled about. We had actually run off the map onto private property. We finally split with Jon heading down NE, in the direction where I too would eventually find the control and me heading SW. I could see houses so I turned away from them. I saw a huge rock on a knoll but still couldn't relocate. I think the map showed this rock with much too small a symbol. Eventally passing some mining scars, I caught sight of some people and head back down toward them. Valerie Meyer punched just ahead of me, suprised to see me. | |||||
| 6. | Straight up over the first ridge and passing Valarie, I crossed the stream. Following a reentrant up to the trail, instead of taking it, I went on to avoid unecessary climb. Finally taking the trail in the green, I cut right just past the reentrant. I saw and passed Francis Hogel just before the clearing. | ||||||
| 7. | Going a little right at first to get around the thick green, I cut left and could see it well ahead. | ||||||
| 8. | Attempting to go straight, I kept getting pulled right and found myself on the edge of the map when I hit the trail. I turned left, not going all the way to the intersection before turning right. Eventually I saw Elliot Hamilton on my left. He probably used the trail longer than I. I was hesitant but finally recognized the pointy reentrant and got there just ahead of Elliot. Time Lost: 0:45 for a bad line. | ||||||
| 9. |
Read map too late +00:20 | I just went straight at it upward. I crossed Norris Lane at intersection with Norris Trail (a little left of the line). Correcting, I went down into the reentrant on the right side. I finally saw it on my left. | |||||
| 10. | I took off following the line. It measures to be the shortest route though it took longer. Even though Ted said we could use any brown road, it really didn't occur to me to use Landing Road. Even if I'd seen the road route, there were problems. First, private property edged the straightest path to it. Next, the map didn't show it printed all the way across. Going toward the corner of the private property, I thought I'd follow the trail. I must have stayed too closed to the property line for I only saw a remnant of the trail past the corner. Eventually, I hit the White Trail following it around the bends to the stream, crossing, then cutting right toward the control. | ||||||
| 11. | I went left around the green, then straight up. I drifted enough to hit the trail and cut right at the knoll. | ||||||
| 12. | Back the way I came at first, I made good time running down to the creek, crossing at the trail intersection. I caught Greg Lennon there, who giving sincere compliment to what I felt was my ineptitude so far, said "that blur must be Nadim." Blur or slug, I left the trail up to the saddle and cut right to the rocks. | ||||||
| 13. | Straight across, I got left of the line at first, I cut the corners on the road, going around the pines. On the way across I read ahead and confimed my planned my skip of #14. Back into the woods on top of the knoll, I kept my line crossed the creek and found it behind the first boulder I checked. | ||||||
| 14. |
Did not check features en route Underrated difficulty +01:15 | I thought about using the field and trail but is seemed a bit far. I went straight across the first hill. I followed along the left side of the reentrant and up the next ridge. Continuing in this fashion I feared getting too far left so at a trail, I cut right on Center Trail. However, I was unsure of which one it was until I'd gone far enough down to see clearings off the map near Rockburn Branch. Had I been thinking, I was very near #15 and could have punched there skipping #14. From there, I navigated better across the green past the saddle to the control. | |||||
| 15. | I skipped as the Rhino rules allowed - it wasn't worth 3 minutes to go all the way back from where I'd come. | ||||||
| 16. | Coming from #14, I cut left of the straight line to reduce the climb across the reentrants. I cut right just past the last and spiked it. | ||||||
| 17. | This was the same as the first leg of the meet last year. I think I did it better this time. Going down left to the bend in the Ridge Trail, I cut right around the reentrants. Going up, I climbed hitting the unmarked mountain bike trail. I took it right to the ridge rather than climb more. From there, I dropped to the control using the visible reentrant to guide me until I could see the control. | ||||||
| 18. | Up the reentrant via the Valley View Trail, I cut left across a saddle near the control. I could see Peggy ahead below. She took a more level route on the trail as it cut back left and right. I got there just behind her. | ||||||
| 19. |
Did not like map Tired Disturbed by others +02:15 | Following Peggy up to the Ridge Trail, I passed her. Not realizing I was an hour and a half into this, I finally ate the Gu I'd been carrying and soon felt stronger. At the bend to the right, I went straight down to the forking reentrant. I picked-up the trail and cut right just ahead of some more mountain bikers. The fold of the sealed map threw me and I followed the trail far to the right (north), missing the left turn up the hill to the Blue Trail. I cut off a sharp bend the bikers went around but they caught me while I read my map. I passed them again on the trail then cut into the big reentrant. It wasn't until I was at the bottom that I realized I was 350M west of the control. I ran east up the big reentrant and cut left at the major fork. As I neared, Peggy who had not missed the turn to the Blue Trail as I had, came in behind me just before I dropped into the control. | |||||
| 20. |
Bad map reading Bad compass work +01:30 | Up, straight across the ridge and down across the big reentrant, I climbed the other side into the green. Trying to follow a wide reentrant, I got pulled right by the green. There was more green here than the straighter route I had intended to use. Cutting left to correct, I passed a clearing w/another course's control and other recreational competitors. Finally getting across Norris Lane right of the bend, Peggy who once again had taken a trueer route was ahead. I passed her dropping into the reentrant reaching the control. | |||||
| 21. | Continuing down the reentrant I cut right on the Cascade Trail and left across the stream up the Cascade Trail (it wasn't very visible going up). Cutting right up a reentrant I crested a gap (very tired), and dropped in the reentrant to the control passing a runner on another course. | ||||||
| 22. | Heading mostly straight, I crossed the ridge on the left, crossed the next reentrant a little high, then went across the next gap to the control. | ||||||
| F. | Two runners were visible ahead. One was moving slow going down the reentrant. I cut left up across the ridge to the next reentrant passing him. The other guy in red and white was ahead but I'd closed the distance. He was moving faster than the first but we both climbed slow up the hill. Later I found he was on the Red course. I hit the Orange Trail and used it for a while before cutting left to stay more directly in the reentrant. I made good time going down and passed the guy in red who went wide right on the Orange Trail. Passing right past Randy in the parking lot, I had to smile at the mistake on #5. Multiple people corrected me as I headed to the pavillion instead of the table. I did okay except for the mistakes but isn't that the point--not to make mistakes? It was an fun event and I got to see just about everyone while running the course. |
Total Time Lost - 00:20:20