KM Stafett H150 (01/09/2013)

OK first leg of the Oslo/Akershus county championship relay:

We started together with the H135 class who had the same course, so the tempo was a bit high going up the paths towards the first control, but I managed to hang on around 4th place until the pack started to split up for the gaffling. I think I found a near-optimal route towards my control, avoiding the worst of the clusters of windfall.

2. Made a slight left bend in order to avoid the green and use the small knolls as checkpoints.

3. Similar strategy here, try to run where the going was easiest, when I hit this control (which turned out to be common to all) I was in second place just a few steps behind the leader.

4. I considered going due east to the path but decided that the forest was runnable enough that it made more sense to go straight. This worked OK for a while, but when I passed a control on the boulder underneath the line to the first control I made a parallel mistake and assumed it to be the boulder near the end of the indistinct path end: From there I would turn a little left in order to locate the semi-open with paths into it from both ends, but when I thought I did so I suddenly realized that the main path system was just below me! This was lucky since it allowed me to recover quickly and use the ride to approach the control. Probable time loss: 30-45 sec?

I believe I was still leading at this point, but so far there hasn't been any split times uploaded.

OK to #5 and #6, still leading at that point.

7. I wanted to find the ride near the left edge of the felled area but got too far inside it and had to slog up through meter-high grass partly covering branches left behind from the logging operation, this probably cost me 20-30 sec.

Transport to #8 and the arena passage, then the vegetation boundary was very obvious towards #9 and with another control on the huge boulder it was easy to link the boulder with the open spot and the control.

10. Started out too far left, just looking for the easiest passage through the dense planted forest, but when I hit two streams instead of one it was easy to correct and aim for the stream.

11. Scary control! Had good direction past the path and the next stream but then I got pushed a bit too far right and when I passed the yellow open spot I read that as being the white spot located on a spur just to the left of the line. Lost about 30-45 sec here and got passed by a couple of teams.

12. Started running directly for the road but then I found a line through the forst, probably residue from the original planting, so I followed that until I realized that it was going parallel to the road instead of getting closer.

I believe I handed over to Jon Iver in 3rd or 4th place, maybe 20-30 sec behind the overall leader, but as the first team in the H150 class.