Owls Count

Following on from the SE Sprint Championships was the South East Relay Championships, taking place in Stanmer Park and the University of Sussex. I was running in a non-competitive, due to being out of region, handicap team with my parents.

Dad had first leg and set out well on the middle length course. His course had a ’round the hill’ first control rather than the ’straight up the hill’ that everyone else had. He was a fair way up before he noticed and veered off. There were a couple of quick runners on the same course and I expected him back after these two in about thirty-five minutes. After about thirty minutes there had been a couple of people back, who had had the short course first, but no sign of anyone on this course. Then suddenly dad appears leading one other. It turns out that he had got he navigation right and slowly burnt almost all of the others away. Mum was off next, on the short leg. I expected about a thirty minute run, which gave me time for a trip to the toilet and time to warm up. As is happened, mum took just under 29 minutes.

I set off well, closing in on the person who had started just before of me. We wasted a bit at the first control - getting confused by the vegetation and then lost about four minutes at control four as the unmapped indistinct paths caused much confusion. After this I ran well, losing the person I had been with as he made a small mistake. The last part of the course crossed into the university and through this section I ran quickly and navigated accurately.

Overall we finished in 109:03, which was good enough for fourth place. An impressive result I feel.

At the weekend I travelled down to Sussex for the South East Sprint and Relay Championships. For the past two weeks I have been training heavily and I was not sure how my legs would feel trying to run fast.

SE Sprint - Race 1
I started well. For the first four controls my navigation and running was good. Then I lost 20 seconds at 5, 35 seconds at 7, and some more time towards the end of the course. My route shows the mistakes I made in the second half of the course. My time was 17:58, but I should have taken around 16:30.

SE Sprint - Race 2
The second race went better. I again started well, but managed to keep my concentration and navigation good. I also managed to spot fairly good route choice quite quickly. My time was 21:17 - I could have been sub 21 minutes, but not any better than that.

Overall
My combined time was 39:15, which put me in 20/33 - or 24/73 if you combine in the other classes who ran the same course. I was just over 10 minutes behind the winner, which is reasonable. My legs felt good, even with all the recent running.

Even though I arrived in plenty of time I failed to warm up properly. The mass start ensured a fast early pace, even if I took most the way to the first control to get my map under control in the strong winds. The first few controls were about maintaining a good pace in the pack.

My first real problem came going out of 11, where the course gaffled. I just could not work out which direction I was meant to go and wasted 30 seconds sorting the problem out. Going out of eighteen, and under the M60, I followed a group who crossed the river. I was going with them until my brain realised that they must be on a different course, since my next control did not require crossing the river I had to quickly back track. Continuing from here my calf started to tighten and I struggled to maintain a good pace in the last part of the course.

Overall I am pleased with my run - I managed to remain navigating well even at a reasonably fast pace. The course offered a good challenge and a decent run around Stockport. A photo of me near the finish and my route - or at least some approximation of my route, as I cannot really remember where I went at some stages.

I have been meaning to go up to York for the city race for a few years now, but there has always been something else happening on the bank holiday weekend. This year was different and so I put the race in my calendar. We stayed at a camp site just outside York and while we did not have the rain that swept through the south of England it was very windy - a good test of the tents!

This year EBOR had gained access to the National Railway Museum and so the courses started with a trail-o like section through the museum before the main course. I had little problem with this first section apart from one control which I messed up by not reading the instructions carefully enough and finding out that zero was an option.

For the main part of the race I did ok, but not great. I kept letting my pace drop and my navigation was scrappy. No large mistakes, but my route choice could have been better - particularly on the longer legs.

This past weekend saw the JOK Chasing Sprint and Harvester events, with both taking place a short journey from where I live. I ran in the first, but my club had filled a team in the Harvester without me - meaning that I went along to support them and act as reserve.

Prologue
I had a good run in the prologue. I started at a good pace and was navigating well. I had a small wobble at 4, where I just did not see the control in the depression until someone else dipped into it. I felt I picked good routes on the longer legs - managing to go reasonably direct, while keeping in contact with the map.

Chase
Having had a good run on the prologue I then proceeded to stuff the chase up. I had a poor first two controls - losing about three minutes between them, which was how long the two controls should have taken. The next few were ok, but then I picked a poor route on the long leg to six and ended up retiring when I took a big crash on a downhill section.

Harvester
Having finished at the Chasing Sprint we drove the short way up to the harvester area. The camp site, parking, and assembly were all in one big field. I grabbed a couple of hours sleep while the A class started and then got up in time to see the first teams changeover and the B class start. Seeing lines of runners come into the spectator control during the night legs was impressive - you could see the lights coming down the hill and then turning and running across the field.