Day 3 and the rain of yesterday cleared into glorious sunshine. We were back at the same start finish area but using a different part of the map today, better visibility and runability but the same intense Karst navigation through numerous sinkholes. There were a few paths to help things along today too.
I ran well through the first 8 controls but was starting to tire and had a quick drink at #8 which seemed to break my concentration. I promptly messed up the #9 but quickly realised what I had done and got back on track but managed to lose time on the to long legs 11 and 12 on the way back in. I am not quite sure why the planner subjected us to a load of grotty forest for the last few minutes after spending so long in amazing woodland.
I think it would have been quicker 11-12 to drop down to the major northern track than going direct, but I remember thinking at the time I haven’t come to amazing terrain like this to run along easy tracks!
Overall an OK run, slightly frustrated by my mistakes and 8th place. Fellow mountain bike orienteer, the Swiss, Beat Okle had a storming run taking 20 mins out of me, winning today but he is only running today and must have fresh legs
The map below has an overlay of my route and speed across the ground and shows the mistakes.
