British Sprint Championships
Qualifier
I had a slightly slow first control, while I struggled to locate exactly where I was and where I was going. After that I kept a good pace through the first half of the course, with only a small wobble on one control in forest.
On the longer legs on either side of the spectator control I was a little slow. Then I had a couple of poor controls. At 14 I was distracted by a nearby control and I lost 12 seconds working out where the correct control was, though I did save some time by punching the control over the passable wall. I then lost another 12 seconds by picking a poor route to 15 - by the time I had noticed the better route I had already committed myself to a longer route.
From there on to the finish I kept in control of my direction and kept a good pace. I finished in 17:48 and, at best, could have been 35 seconds faster if I had had a perfect run.
Final
For the afternoon the snow had cleared and we had moved into an area with more running on hard ground. This meant the flat shoes and shorts came out for the final. This ended up being a good choice - in only a couple of places would any extra grip have been helpful.
I started well, managing to avoid the mistakes that many made at 2 or 4. Going into 8 I lost a couple of seconds due to one of the parked cars, which was weird as it was clear where the tree was.
My time for the long leg, to 9, was good. I made a quick choice and stuck to it. It seems that I picked the same route as most others, but I am not sure it was the best choice.
At 16 I lost a few seconds by not running as directly as I could have done. I veered off the straight line route. Going into the spectator control I was slow and did not pick the best route. After this I maintained a good pace. I had a small problem at 23 - I misread the control descriptions and confused myself standing at the correct control but not thinking it was mine.
My time was 16:59 and I had less time loss than in the qualifier. I could have been three places higher with a perfect run, but am happy with my place and time.
Overall
Before this event I set myself the goal of reaching the C Final and wanted to run well in both races. I achieved the goal and did have two good runs. While I was only three places off qualifying for the B Final the gap was over a minute and I simply cannot, at the moment, run fast enough.
I managed two good runs by staying in control. I was close to losing track of where I was at times, but managed to keep it together and cut out the big mistakes that caused others problems and I had at the JK.
