O Cup #6 - DGL's Knockout Adventure Run, formerly known as The Eliminator
My GPS initially took me to the wrong location for the race start/finish. Foreshadowing.
The Knockout format consists of three point-to-point sprint orienteering races that each have an O Cup box where racers may skip controls based on their age and gender.
After Race #1, new maps are distributed. The top 20 racers remain eligible for the win. Everyone else continues racing for the places further back. After Race #2, only the top 10 racers are eligible to win Race #3, which determines the overall winner.
It was a spectacular, cool, sunny day. There was a little snow and ice but mostly we ran on bare ground and occasional mud. Runnability and visibility were mostly quite good. The Knockout Adventure Run was taking place at the same time as the Knockout O Cup so there were lots of people running around in the woods, which was great.
I didn't have any big nav errors and I felt pretty good running but somehow I failed to process the important information that our final map would have the finish control marked beside a school about 250 m away from the school where the finish control would actually be. When I got my map for Race #1, the incorrect control had been crossed out and the correct control drawn on, so I just didn't think about it hard enough. So... I reached the finish control on the map in 1st place - but by the time I went partway around that school and figured out where the finish really was, Andrei outsprinted me.
Still a super fun race and I got chocolate for my category in the O Cup Series, which was won overall by the amazing Isak Fransson for the 2nd year in a row! AdventureGirl was top Junior Girl and Pekka Toivanen (missing from photo) was the top adult male and 2nd overall. Funderstormin' and I celebrated with a yummy lunch at the Merit Brewery.