Østfold Vintercup løp 3 (12-01-2022)

A fun run but a pretty bad start to my first season as a H65 competitor:

First I had missed the PM announcement about mass start 18:30, my plan was to arrive and start around 18:45, but then I got stuck behind a traffic accident on E18 and that delayed me so much that I had to call (while the car was stadning completely still) the organizer so that they would save a map for me.

When I finally arrived they asked me to please change from the 4km to the 3km course so they would not have to wait quite so long for me to return, I was happy to accept this.

I ran OK to #1 & 2, partly following the elephant tracks from the mass start, but to #3 I changed my mind a couple of times, leaving hte first path I hit because I wanted to take a more direct route instead of going back through the starting triangle. However, when I found the correct path, I failed to see the path junction where I had planned to pass between #6 & 7, instead I did end up back at the start, then went around and back to my original plan after a 2-3 min time loss.

#4 is where I lost a bit of interest when careful orienteering and full control as I passed the path, rounded a couple of cliffs and went uphill by the boulder, failed to locate the control.

Everything seemed correct, I checked pretty much everywhere within the circle but it was only after a Long course runner spotted it far to the SE that I got to stamp the EMIT punch.

Tried to restart my run after this 6 min time loss, went OK to #5 & 6, but I completely lost it leaving that control: I did a proper 180 degree error, thinking I was aiming a bit to the right of the line to hit the path closer to the open yellow. After about 3-4 min of postholing in deep snow I realized my compass error, turned around and then finally hit a trail from previous runners and following this dropped into a control which I promptly punched (believing it was the last control), then when I checked the code I realized that I was back at #5!