RMOF Day 4 - Pelican Bay East
Blue Classic
11.3 km, 575m climb
Another really interesting map with lots of technical orienteering that I wish I could say I executed better. Orienteering at West Point definitely helped, but I still struggle with rocky terrain, although I have gotten a lot better at focusing on the contours underneath. I decided to bring a camelback, and I think it was a good choice for me, it didn’t impede my speed in this terrain and helped me stay hydrated in the sun.
I got off to a bit of a rough start with my biggest mistakes coming at 4, 10 min or so, and then 5, 4 min or so. At four I got very confused by the rocks and control description, and I think I was very close a couple times, but I just missed it. I reattacked from a spot I was confident with and still missed it. On 5 I lost focus and drifted north. I thought I identified a prominent cliff that I took a bearing from, but things weren’t matching up. I continued in the right general direction and eventually found the actual cliff and continued on. After that I slowed a bit and things improved for the most part. After the map flip at 11 I picked up the pace and executed the back half of the course really well, only really bobbling 15, again losing focus and drifting east and taking probably 2 minutes to relocate. The leg to 18 felt amazing, I was moving well and matching everything perfectly- why can’t every leg feel like that?
I beat my conservative goal by 11 min, so I’ll be happy with that, just need to stay focused better and relocate quicker when I do get off. One of the longer blue courses I’ve done, and physically I felt petty decent.