British Age Class Sprint Orienteering Championships
Following on from Winchester was the British Age Class Sprint Orienteering Championships, which took place at HMS Sultan. The elite championships took place early in the year so, while there was a race for the open men category, it was not surprising that the turn out in my category was low. Due to reasons I cannot understand, the format for this competition is decided on combined time – rather than the much more sensible format of qualifier and final.
Race 1
I started the race well – picking up the map and going cleanly through the first few controls. At five I got a little confused and stopped one gap in the hedge too early. Coming back towards the southern bridge I overshot and wasted about 20 seconds having to run back to the bridge. I was slow through the southern of the two forts – making sure to keep track of where I was going.
My route shows roughly where I went – though there is the usual GPS in built up areas problem. I was reasonably happy with the result (7/11 in class and 25/49 on the course – the course being shared by several classes) and felt that I had run fairly well.
Race 2
Having made a good start in the first race I then messed up the start in the afternoon. I misread the map near the first control and wasted fifteen seconds looking on the wrong hedge. I got this mistake out of my mind and ran well until I entered the fort in the north f the area. I was fine on the control in the dark area, as I had sunglasses on and was able to take these off and adjust to the low light level quickly. However, on leaving the control I ran off in the wrong direction and wasted more time in back tracking to where I made the mistake rather than cutting straight across to the next control.
My route shows an approximation of where I went. I was less happy with the result – I again finished in seventh place in the class, but 28/47 on the course.
Overall
My place was 8/11 in open men and 25/47 on the course. With a little more precision I would have been a couple of minutes faster and finished much closer to the top. Though that is the way that many feel after these events!
