Race Evaluation
Sycamore Scramble: Long Sprint
Nadim
| 1. | +00:37 | Lunch away from the meet site and a needed nap at the hotel resulted in me getting to the starting line just in time. I saw just a few people start in front of me and worse, I forgot to clear/check my epunch. The people I saw were punching at one of two visible controls on cabins. I took a lot of time to find the start on the map and line it up. With my bearing I ran fast. As I ran and picked my way through the deadfall quickly, I didn't read the map again and didn't notice the control really to be the second set of cabins across a road (the road wasn't very distinct and coming through the same area the next day, I almost missed it entirely. At the control I ran to I checked the code and immediately assumed that I had a bad bearing. I turned and ran to the other control only to find that it was wrong too. Flustered at this point, I figured out the cabins were across the road but didn't know which one. I ran across the road and didn't find a control at the closest cabin but finally found it on the second. | |||||
| 2. | I angled up to the road and ran until I could see the intersection. I had debated going around but the woods looked okay. I had a good bearing and also used the edges of the woods to figure out where I needed to go. I saw the control ahead in the last 35m. | ||||||
| 3. | Down the road for speed, I looked for the broad spur on my right before attacking. | ||||||
| 4. | I could see Chris Gross approaching #3 as I headed on bearing to #4. I was a bit to the left but the road bend helped me make the correction. I was more cautious at the end. I picked the right cabin though I almost missed reading one in the area. | ||||||
| 5. | Straight over the hill, I counted cabins using the road loop as a reference point. | ||||||
| 6. | I ran right a bit at first to get across the reentrant, then angled more down it. I made a bearing correction at the end when I could finally see it hidden in the ditch. No one else was around to give it away. | ||||||
| 7. | Straight. I was a bit cautious to pick the right cabin again, but did. | ||||||
| 8. | Like leg #5, straight over the hill; I counted cabins using the road loop as a reference point. Instead of reading the code, I used the center of the circle to correctly get to the correct corner. | ||||||
| 9. | +00:45 | I left #8 knowing that Chris Gross was still close behind. I confidently used the road to the bend but didn't want to slow down in what seemed like unmapped slash or light green after it. I cut left anticipating to go around it on the left and correct to the right but when I found fast running ground more to the left I used it. I didn't realize that I was on the mapped reentrant clearing. When I got to the bottom, I was confused at the uphill in front of me instead of a downhill broad reentrant that I could follow most of the way to the control. I never considered being as far off route as I'd gotten in 20 seconds from the road. Not knowing what was up, I went on bearing and knew that the nearby lake should help me relocate. I hit a reentrant and saw a control in it that I that was what I needed--wrong! At about this point, Chris Gross came running through. I thought he might have punched already so I headed the direction that he was coming from before thinking better of it and turning around again. Finally reading the map correctly, I realized the control was to be just beyond the reentrant with the control that I'd already found. | |||||
| 10. | I ran hard trying to make-up ground on Chris Gross. I ended a bit to the right but saw Chris coming up from the left. | ||||||
| 11. | +00:49 | Looking at the leg, I figured I just needed to go beyond a visible cabin. However, I picked the wrong cabin. I must not have let my compass settle. After passing the cabin, I looked for reentrants and a control and saw one ahead, only it was farther than I thought it would be. I got there, crossing a 'road' that I didn't realize was there as I ran across it. With the code being wrong, I turned back and saw Chris Gross. Oddly, I thought I'd somehow gotten ahead of him but soon realized that he was leaving an area near the lake where the control should be... | |||||
| 12. | Straight over the hill, I used the road loop intersection to help pick the right cabin. | ||||||
| 13. | I ran a bit right of the line to stay higher on the reentrant. I knew I needed to get near the power lines and since I'd parked near there, I knew where the control was. | ||||||
| 14. | Feeling slow and tired, I went straight. | ||||||
| F. | Still feeling slow, I gave it a little push but with it being a poorly navigated run, I wasn't that concerned with pushing. I had much earlier in the race resigned to just achieving damage control for the 3 race total of the weekend. With my epunch having not been cleared, I eventually sorted it out with the meet director and result worker. The next day, they showed my time being too fast and I went back to again correct it. I'm sure of the splits I have entered here and have double-checked them against my GPS track. I'd punched a lot of extra controls: 2 on the way to #1, an extra one on the way to #9, and 2 extra controls on the way to #11. Boo hoo. |
Total Time Lost - 00:02:11