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....And we are back

2 February 2020
WITS Campus


The season opener for the Urban Series Orienteering was held at Wits on Sunday 2 February.
This season seems to have started quite late this year and with no time to find our bearings (no pun intended), we went straight into the complexity that is buildings...

I only participated in one Bush event in 2019, so for me its been more than 6 months not being behind an orienteering map, so I was feeling a little rusty. Unfortunately the calf injury I had most of last year has come back, which meant I had to take this event a lot slower than what I would normally.

So, on to the event. I got a nice early start at 09:04 - I saw Sarah Wimberley's name down and wanted to be sure I had enough gap for her not to catch me.
Everyone seemed to set off in the same direction, down the stairs, which makes the start a little less nerve wrecking knowing where I'm going. I was very slow to find the start control on the map and control 1, and when I did find them I was a little hesitant thinking the first control can't be this easy.

The course flowed nicely I found, because I was running slower I had time to read ahead to the next control. I also found that there were no nasty tricky legs that required more concentration.
Only 2 controls where I might have lost time:
#2-#3: I wasn't sure if there was an open gate on the other side, so I continued on the path, running the long way. I didnt chat to anyone afterwards so not sure if people took another route.

#5-#6: The gate at the end of the tunnel was locked. I ran there incase the stairs were before the gate, but no luck. Had to run down to the next tunnel and back up the other side. I heard some competitors were told about this on route, which I personally find a bit of an unfair advantage...

Going in to the last few controls I think I slowed down a bit, not sure if I was starting to lose concentration or I was just waiting for a surprise or twist.





Overall I had a pretty clean run, I think I was expecting the control placings to be a bit more difficult but honestly first event of the year so no complaints. It would have been interesting to see if it would have been more difficult if I could run faster, but at this stage being pain free is more important.

I finished 4th overall, 5 minutes down from Sarah Wimberley. I am happy about this, considering last year at the first event where I was 7th and thought I had a terrible performance. Small improvements.
I will unfortunately be missing the first night event at Ruimsig this Saturday due to Randburg Harriers awards but I will be at the next event on 23 February.




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