Australia NZ test match and SuperSeries finale, Queens Birthday Weekend

The Queens Birthday events provided an excellent opportunity for a intense technical final orienteering practise before leaving for Poland next week. The pressure was on running five events in three days in a large elite field including the team of Australians. Woodhill forest proved that it is always a challenge deserving respect.

Day 1 am. Telephone track.
Took a bit to get used to Woodhill again. Started off hesitantly, on compass bearing to #1. Almost ran too far north but distance judgement proved I was near so stopped and found it. This shaky start taught me to have more definate plan for following legs. Up till #5 I was quite smooth with good compass direction and super fast open pine forest to run through. I lost almost 6minutes on leg #6 by not being confident enough with compass. So when at 'attack point' I was not sure which way to go. Would have been helpful to go out to road and come back in. #7 was good but I lost confidence and focus when I saw the Australian who had passed me on leg 6, lost 3min here and was caught by Kate (NZ). !! What a shocker with 4min start intervals no one should be being caught. Ran with Kate, alternating the lead, for legs until spectator control. I made bad mistake with compass and misinterpretting detail near #19 and she got away. Frustrating! Suprised to catch her again at #22 by a few fast clean final legs. The top places were taken by Kate Belinda and Imogene. I came 4th. See http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=17404&categoryId=0

pm. The Auckland JWOCers organised an awesome sprint race around Massey Uni campus in Albany. An A5 double sided map ensured tight navigation was required for the short legs. I made this extra challenging for myself by forgetting my compass! The wooden walkways were also super slippery due to the drizzly rain. Never raced sprint without one. But it made me focus more and worked ok, care needed to make sure the regular square buildings correctly lined up. I won womens race in 15min closely followed by Belinda.

Day 2 am. Whites Line
I was aiming for a cleaner run today. There were 5 long legs for fast running. These were good for me. However again I was distracted by an Australian runner, this time one I had caught. I lost focus and was too hurried leaving #4. With lack of definate plan and only compass bearing I found myself confused and too far west for the control. Wasted too much time again thinking I was right, should have gone out to road to check earlier. http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=17416&categoryId=0

pm.
The Auckland JWOCers organised another special event, a 2 man relay on the most technical section of Mushroom Road map. Mass stert straight up 40m hill was a mission then a long way along hill tops to first control, split the starters up a little, but it was not until #4 that we really split up. I focused on maintaining close map contact and compass direction for the short legs rather than too much speed. This worked well. It required stoping often to check direction then firing over one or two ridges into control. (-: While it can feel like you are taking a long time to check nd you can sense others catching you it is actually only 2-3 seconds to check and this time is invested. You do not loose time checking and then doing it right, you loose time by not checking, running hard then being confused and just hoping to be near enough. I was suprised as it seemed to get quiet. I expected the others must be on separate splits, however when I reached the spectator control I was ahead! Contined this careful method for the next half and managed to stay ahead. Tagged on to Northerners and Pinestars team mate Tom for second leg Ross and came in a clos 2nd place.

Day 3.
Much better navigation today. Got speed control sorted. Recognising the detailed areas and stopping to invest time to be accurate when in these areas. Fast running on solid compass in between was possible. Leppin at half way may have helped me to maintain focus for the detailed final controls. I did not win all legs but no major mistakes means you can achieve much better. First womens elite in 57min.
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=17434&categoryId=0

The points for the weekend were accumulated and NZ won over Australia. Look forward to the rematch in NSW, in October. Will be interesting to see who is in the teams as many of the NZers may be financially unavailable and have to stay in NZ for Uni study.

I also managed to retain the Super Series title for 2011. Well done to everyone for such a close season.