Sprint 5 of the Canadian Orienteering Champs.
Map. A really nice course by Wil Smith. I ran the same course as the WRE participants, but I was really, really slow.
Here is my track laid over the map.
I started off pretty fast, by my standards. The start corridor was fast and down hill to the start triangle, then a quick line up for the first control. I was really surprised that my route to the second control was in full sight of the starters. (I did go right, but it looked best to me.) I had been in the start area for about an hour, and I hadn't noticed anyone running there. I must have been focussed on something else...
The first 7 controls went fast, and then I got into the control picking section in the old chalets. I did 9, 10, 11...slower than I would have liked, with too much hesitation leaving controls...but then on the way to 12 I just randomly went left around a building rather than the first route I saw on the map, and I saw a control with code 52. Completely out of habit---I knew it wasn't my control---I checked my clue sheet (on my left arm) for 52---and found a number 52. I spun around and punched it before I had the problem figured out, checked my map, saw that I had run directly from 7 to 9, skipping 8, so I said, "Crap!", then headed back to get 9, 10, and 11 again. I think several people did exactly the same 7-9. I am very lucky that I happened by my control 8, or I would have finished without knowing. I have set courses with three controls in a straight line, but I really try not to. Mike Minium always calls me on it. I think most course consultants or vetters would, too. My personal standard would say that if two people mispunch a control, that I screwed up as setter. It's not like a control was misplaced, but it's something I try to avoid.
12 was tucked in a little gap, accessible from both sides, but I thought the placement was a little too cute. It was an area where people piled up to punch, and had to slow down to get in and out. Certainly no biggie.
A few quick controls by the finish, and then into the woods. Up to now it had been mostly open running.
15 actually made me mad, but I really don't know if it was right for me to be mad about it. I eyeballed the map and the terrain, and aimed for the exact spot I expected to see the control. There was a gap there, but no control. I had seen people entering a gap to the west, and turning west was the obvious direction. I had to go back uphill about 3m to punch. The placement of the circle made me think it would be at the bottom of the slope. I honestly think these are nitpicks, but I'm throwing them out to see if anyone else noticed.
After 15, the woods got thick. From 16-17, I went straight. Having run the leg, I wish I'd diverted left just to hope for a little less green. 17-18 had a few lines of climb, and that's when I lost all my energy. I was taking baby steps.
18 was another cute placement, but I think it was legitimate because of the two openings and the relatively minor penalty if you figured it out quickly. I wondered if straight might be faster. I went left through the grass.
18-19 was another really slow hill climb for me.
20 was a slow speed spike. A lot of people had trouble. I didn't because I was walking down the trail and had all the time I needed to read the map.
As I was getting closer to the finish, my brain was getting more and more oxygen deprived. As I went to 24, the go control, I popped out of the woods and ran to a control, punched it, checked the code, and...it was the wrong code. In full view of the finish, I stood there for about 10 seconds trying to figure out why the code was wrong. I think it was the second-to-last Course 1 control. Oh well.
I was impressed with the course. It was fun and challenging. It had both urban and woods sections, so it was a good test of sprint ability. The legs were interesting and mostly fast.
Watching the Red Group run after my finish was a really neat spectator opportunity. The coolest single thing was watching eddie and the kempster race head-to-head the whole time they were visible to us.