Course 3 - M40
3.5Km, 30m Climb, 27 controls
Start @ 14:15
First day at the JK, all new for the kids so we arrived good an early to setup camp, and have a poke at the traders etc. Since we were starting late, everyone was able to see how the start and finish worked, and have a go of the model course to try out the EMITtags.Warm sunny day, so it was going to be warm running. I had gone for a training jog the previous evening, and knew the heat was definitely going to hurt.
Went to the start, got the kids sorted, did a bit of a warmup alongside the pitches then got into my start box. Silent starts were in effect (since it was a WRE for the elites) - dont like them particularly, but rules are rules. Clock beeped, started my watch, punched the start kite, and grabbed my map...
Quick jog around a corner of a building to the start kite. Glanced at the map, saw a line of uncrossable wall marked, and made a quick decision to head around to the left. At the time, I was pleased I had seen this route, but in hindsight, there's a much better and obvious route straight across the carpark. KISS.
Next few controls are straightforward (2/3/4/5), a guy I'm running with makes a mistake out of 5 and heads left before realising its a dead end - I just run around. On the way i consider my route out of 6, and decide to just go straight through 6 and around the bottom of the building to 7.
Out of 7, head up a wheelchair ramp to cut around the outside of the building to 8. theres potentially a shorter route through the middle via some covered stuff - I wasn't sure if it was actually open or not, so payed it safe. Collided with a guy coming back out of 8, no damage to either thankfully. 9 is fine, run along a small hill to 10, round the back of a shed to 11, and then around a hill and left of a building to 12. Starting to hurt at this stage, there's been no real navigational challenge, so just trying to go as fast as I felt i could maintain. Grab 13, then 14, and slow down on the way to 15 (gassed). Grab 15, push myself to run again and grab 16.
Running along a nice road between what must be senior officers houses to 17, then backtrack to 18. Theres a bit of a trap here, there's a control on the near side of the building where 19 is (the circle would be almost identical, just its on an outside corner, and on the wrong side of the building), so if you misread the map, you could easily go for it, or worse, mispunch. I dont fall for it, and run around to the real 19. Back to 20, down the path, no issues.
21 is an easy run between buildings and up some stairs. the rest of the course is very straightforward - just sprint, grab, sprint. Nearly collided again on the way to 23 with a lady coming through the archway halfway along the building. No fatalities. Hear the announcers on the way to 26 - at this stage, I'm running on fumes. Try to push for the last control, and the run-in. And suddenly, its all over.
I finish in 20mins, about 5 mins down on the winner. It was really a very easy course, so it all came down to the speed - who could run the fastest without making a mistake. But then again, maybe that's the point? Sprint is sprint. I just would have like a few more traps, to keep people on their toes - as it was, I could zone out for good chunks of this.
Finished mid-table, all happy. Good start to the weekend.
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