11 May 2019
The Johannesburg Country Club
Another night Orienteering event, and the last one for the year.
My Saturday was quite busy. I started off the day by doing Golden Harvest Parkrun, tailwalking with Alison and Rascal. I then had to rush home to get ready and leave for Cross Country in Dobsonville - It was the first race of the season and I was quite happy with placing 5th in the senior women 4km. Rushing home, it was my first weekend of feeding the feral cats at the local business park (there are 6 stations). Getting back home only to rush off again to the orienteering.
After being injured and taking some time off I wasn't feeling too confident in my running going in to the event, but the most I could do was try and focus on my navigation.
I decided to start before Sarah Wimberley, something that I havent done all season, so there was a bit more pressure.
Start > 1: Setting off I followed the path to the junction. I left the path and followed the path parallel to the control. It was actually a really easy control but I spent too much time reading the map.
1 > 2: Joined the path and followed it down to the second junction. I kept following the line that I was on to the control.
2 > 3: Took a compass bearing which was clearly wrong. I ended up climbing up to the path, having to relocate and then drop down to the control. Hind sight I should have followed the vegetation but I didnt even see it.
3 > 4: Compass bearing gone wrong again. Ended by #5, checked number but didnt look at control description (I thought I was in the gap just to the left of #4. I went through the vegetation to find nothing. I realized that there wasn't a path above the vegetation, so I decided to follow the vegetation around, where I found the path and the control. So much time wasted on this control.
4 > 5: Dashed to #5 because I knew where it was.
5 > 6: Left the vegetation, around the green and to the control
6 > 7: Followed the path, along the way along to the control. Was slow, trying to read the map and my confidence also was not so good at this point, I was worried I was going down the wrong path
7 > 8: I think this was my best leg - took a rough compass bearing and just ran in the general direction, ticking off major features as I went along. First feature was the sand bunkers, which was about halfway, confirming I was on track, even if I was a little too low. Saw the thick vegetation on my left and ran passed the area of scattered trees, followed by the little hill. Ran to the right of the pit and into the control.
8 > 9: Went to the path and along - it was only halfway to the control that I realized there was another path closer to the control and would have been quicker. At the junction I took the wrong path, which ended, so I wasted time here, getting back to the correct path.
9 > 10: Followed the dry ditch before going out to follow the vegetation for a bit. Found the end of the path and found the control
10 > 11: Rough compass bearing. To the right of the greens and sand bunker, through the veld, up to the thick vegetation, to the left of the sand bunker, through the veld and up to the road. I realized I was a bit too far right, so I ran left to where the dry ditch came into the road. Went through the veld and straight to the control.
11 > 12: Through the veld to the path, followed path to the control
12 > 13: Attempted to go through the green, but it was too thick, so I turned around and took the path to the other side of the vegetation. Through the veld to the path, across into the control. Not confident on this one, also not very happy going through veld at night.
13 > 14: Took the path. After the bend cut through the veld around the left of the thick vegetation to the path, taking the small path into the control.
14 > 15: Back out to the path and followed along to the control
15 > 16: Ran a bit along the path before cutting across the veld to the other path. Followed this path for a bit before going through the veld to another path. Followed this path to the control. On this route I ended up going too far along the one path before cutting across because I was looking for a good way through the vegetation
16 > 17: Followed the path. When I left the path I ended up going to far right (around the thick vegetation) and ending up on the wrong path. Luckily I could follow this path back to the control, but it was still time wasted.
17 > 18: Followed the path to the main path/ road. I decided I wanted to cut across instead of taking the first path to the right (which would have been the quicker and more sensible route). After cutting across, I found the dry ditch, followed by the path, so I knew where I was. I followed the path right, going into the control. I caught Tania at this control, but it was also where Sarah caught me.
18 > 19: Once again I did not take the sensible route of following the path, instead I cut across the veld again. I saw Tania and Sarah come out ahead of me - quite a bit of time lost. At the bottom of the vegetation there was a gap to the grass, following the bottom of the fence to the control. I think at this point I lost motivation.
19 > 20: Ran down to the side of the building and along. The control feature (Boulder) was easy to see. At this point Tania and Sarah had long left me and were already finished.
20 > Finish: Down to the path and into the finish control.
Overall a messy run; absolutely no confidence, especially after mistakes early on. Started getting tired towards the end.
Finished 2nd on the Womens course, behind Sarah W.
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