NMK Ekstraløp (12-09-2013)

This is the traditional extra race at the end of the Nordmarkskarusellen series of 6 regular races: Everyone get the same map in a mass start, but then each class has to pick a specific number of controls, in any order they like.

I.e. the senior men had to take 21 of 23 controls, so they just needed to figure out which two to skip, while my class (H55) required 15 controls, making it quite a bit harder to figure out exactly which to skip and which to take. I think I found a near-optimal route, except for a lot of boulding activity in the NE corner where I started, with fences forcing me to go all the way back past 79 (my second control) on the way from 78 to 76. In hindsight it would have been better to start with 50 and then skip 78, but since the map didn't show the new obstructions it wasn't possible to figure this out.

Otherwise I had a pretty much perfect race, got to be alone from the very beginning, and the only time loss was on my 8th control where I stopped a few seconds 3-4 m from the flag without seeing it.