As we have family nearby, we headed up to the Midlands to take part in a couple of urban races.
On Saturday was Great Linford, Milton Keynes - a mix of open park, small pockets of woodland, and classic urban running. Al (W10) and Sebastian (M10) took part on the M12/W12 course. Al did some good running between the controls, although she had a few controls where she went off course and had to relocate - she was 2nd on the course (and lead W12). Sebastian took things a bit slower but was more consistent, carefully stopping to work out the route between each control - ultimately finishing just behind his sister (2nd place M12).
I had one of my better runs - helped by spending most of the course (M40 / Open Women) racing directly with another runner I think I caught after the first few controls. Our micro-route choices were different, which meant one or other of us would appear first at a control before disappearing again down a different route. It was also a fairly clean run, although I made a mistake between 10 - 11, choosing the wrong path - lucky reaching an unexpected bridge so I could relocate and correct.
I also got a lucky break at the end - I sprinted from what I thought was the last control to the finish, punched the control and stopped my tracking before noticing the runner behind me taking a different angle to another control on a nearby tree. I had missed the actual last control! Assuming my finish punch meant game over, I jogged over to the missed control to punch it anyway and re-punched the finish. Lucky the system worked it out and I finished 5th.
On Sunday was Cambridge North (King’s Hedges) with wonderfully intricate and detailed 1:4000 scale maps (double-sided on some of the courses - I had my first ever map flip!) with lots of twisting paths and cut-throughs.
Despite the detailed maps - Sebastian again did well out on the course (a yellow+ a fellow orienteer called it), with some good flow and relocating when he overshot. It was apparently stressful for the quiet shadow (Sarah) as Sebastian headed confidently down seemingly dead ends only to pick up an unseen path. He finished 7th on the course (and 6th in M12 class).
I again had a good run - especially enjoying the detailed mapping. You had to stay in constant contact with the map to maintain pace through all the twists and turns. I had a moment where my finger slipped and my mind went blank and I completely lost where I was for a few moments. I also had an issue finding the finish, which had been moved the day before due to some caravans on the finish open area - quite a few orienteers had the same issue though so the final leg was thankfully removed from the times. Overall 8th on the course (5th in my age category).
A big thank to you South Midlands Orienteering Club and West Anglia Orienteering Club for putting on two enjoyable events.