but I'm glad I did it. I struggled. I expected to struggle but I navigated okay considering I'm a bit ring rusty. I didn't have any major 'headless chicken' moments and although I steered off a bit too far on one or two controls, on the whole I did alright.
So despite the threat of some rain in the lead up to today's Compass Sport Orienteering Qualifier, the actual conditions were good. There was a lot of cloud cover but it didn't rain and it wasn't cold. I made my way to the start early to espy in which direction the early starters headed out - turned out to be a bit of a waste of time as there was only one way to go. Down the path, round the corner and out of sight....
I got off to a reasonable start. Found controls one and two accurately before steering off too far for number three. Four, five and six were all okay with a small wobble on seven where the map detail was confusing but I stuck to my guns and despite taking my time, headed into the control accurately.
I mucked up eight a little but quickly corrected myself. On the climb to nine I started to die. Across to ten, eleven and twelve I was sllllooooooow. The terrain was hard going with lots of dead bracken and shit like that to climb across. With no stamina left that was hard going.
Thirteen and fourteen were good but I stayed too high to fifteen and overshot the crag. It was a longish leg to sixteen and I went far too high but knew what I'd done and got back into it okay. Then it was down to the last few controls and the finish.
Best of all... I wasn't last (16/27) but with a few more on the course that'll change a little bit. I believe I might sleep like a log tonight - just hope I don't wake in the fire place - BOOM BOOM!
So despite the threat of some rain in the lead up to today's Compass Sport Orienteering Qualifier, the actual conditions were good. There was a lot of cloud cover but it didn't rain and it wasn't cold. I made my way to the start early to espy in which direction the early starters headed out - turned out to be a bit of a waste of time as there was only one way to go. Down the path, round the corner and out of sight....
I got off to a reasonable start. Found controls one and two accurately before steering off too far for number three. Four, five and six were all okay with a small wobble on seven where the map detail was confusing but I stuck to my guns and despite taking my time, headed into the control accurately.
I mucked up eight a little but quickly corrected myself. On the climb to nine I started to die. Across to ten, eleven and twelve I was sllllooooooow. The terrain was hard going with lots of dead bracken and shit like that to climb across. With no stamina left that was hard going.
Thirteen and fourteen were good but I stayed too high to fifteen and overshot the crag. It was a longish leg to sixteen and I went far too high but knew what I'd done and got back into it okay. Then it was down to the last few controls and the finish.
Best of all... I wasn't last (16/27) but with a few more on the course that'll change a little bit. I believe I might sleep like a log tonight - just hope I don't wake in the fire place - BOOM BOOM!
