Walton Chasers held its first competition on an area never before orienteer’d on this weekend – a rare occasion nowadays in the UK. Its’ a small forest called Mansty Wood, recently back under private management after years as a FC leasehold woodland.
As I knew it was flast (flat and fast) I decided to bite the bullet and enter the Blue course (2nd longest behind Brown in the color coded structure) rather than green and try and jog a bit more and walk a bit less and see how it went.
I started a little eagerly enjoying the bluebells underfoot and the complex ditch networks in otherwise fairly vague terrain. After 7 or so controls my hip started to complain so I backed off and walked a little more and ran a little less. The area was much better than the map would suggest and I know many people struggled and made costly mistakes.
A Pilates session in the evening got rid of any post race niggles so I seem definitely on the mend!
