Yes, that cursed #21. I started that way but could not find it as the tracks on the map were wrong. Wasted 2 minutes and lost 30 (actually 40) points as a result. The track immediately north of the stream splits into a U of two paths, but this was not shown on the map. Hence the 'x' marked to the right of the original path (which in fact became the highest of all the paths but was not marked as such) was actually to be found to the right of the lower of the branches (and well to the left of the original path). Yes, I should have realised to look closer to the creek and just past the track down to the bridge - but we're all taught to 'trust the map', and in a time-limited event you don't always stop to consider every logical alternative. Adrenaline kicked in after that stuff-up and I ran quite hard (for me) for the rest, going 13-14-15-22-16-20-30-19-29-9-28-17-27-18-24-4-23-6. That was a nett 390 (one min late) from what should have been 430 and a minute early. In the washup that means 83% instead of 91% - rather a high penalty to pay for a tiny mapping error that caught out many in the gloom, as well as the hard-to-read detail of a 1:10,000 map. Rosscoe was right about the 10-pointers. Until I got to #4 I had only picked up one of the blighters. Adding to the drama of a murky day, my watch stopped at 14:45 - so I thought '**** it, just run my selected course and take what comes' - which was rather liberating in the circumstances and a nice bit of karma. Ah, to be 21 again!
2 comments:
Unofficial event solutions available at: summerseriessolutions.blogspot.com
Yes, that cursed #21. I started that way but could not find it as the tracks on the map were wrong. Wasted 2 minutes and lost 30 (actually 40) points as a result. The track immediately north of the stream splits into a U of two paths, but this was not shown on the map. Hence the 'x' marked to the right of the original path (which in fact became the highest of all the paths but was not marked as such) was actually to be found to the right of the lower of the branches (and well to the left of the original path). Yes, I should have realised to look closer to the creek and just past the track down to the bridge - but we're all taught to 'trust the map', and in a time-limited event you don't always stop to consider every logical alternative.
Adrenaline kicked in after that stuff-up and I ran quite hard (for me) for the rest, going 13-14-15-22-16-20-30-19-29-9-28-17-27-18-24-4-23-6. That was a nett 390 (one min late) from what should have been 430 and a minute early. In the washup that means 83% instead of 91% - rather a high penalty to pay for a tiny mapping error that caught out many in the gloom, as well as the hard-to-read detail of a 1:10,000 map.
Rosscoe was right about the 10-pointers. Until I got to #4 I had only picked up one of the blighters. Adding to the drama of a murky day, my watch stopped at 14:45 - so I thought '**** it, just run my selected course and take what comes' - which was rather liberating in the circumstances and a nice bit of karma. Ah, to be 21 again!
Post a Comment