Ås by Night & Fog Cup (29/11/2022)
Category: Competition
Distance: 4.75 km
Time: 47:10
Average HR: 150
Maximum HR: 178
My best Night-O orienteering in a long while! This was a simulated first leg relay mass start, so we all ran slightly different courses but the planner had tried to make them as equal time as possible.
I ran the track around to #1, until the point where I could see the junction in front of me, then I had full control while people were running in all directions around me looking for their forking.

Found the long cliff along a bearing to #2, ran a few meters on the path then continued the bearing until I could see the reentrant leading towards the control. Here I climbed up on the left shoulder since the pair of boulders were drawn above the index contour.

I had a few people to my right as I crossed the first marsh to #3. When I tried to stay a little bit on the left side of the valley I saw that a couple of other runners were moving past me in the bottom, so I realized that even with the green vegetation on the map, following the routes used by local deer and moose was faster. Hit the control perfectly.

#4 & 5 were also forked but I just kept to my own routes and hit both these and the easier #6 very nicely.

Some transport to #7, I saw that the 3-4 guys in front of me took a left near the path junction but I took the safest route, via the open yellow knoll and the creek bend just before the control.

Ran along the ridge to #8, until the saddle point where I dropped down to the marsh. I misread the map into the control, thinking that the form line leading towards the boulder was leaning in the opposite direction. Lost just 10-15 seconds since I spotted the flag/reflex almost immediately.

Nice (and safe/easy!) route to #9 but I started to get very tired from all the soft ground. I was careful when I climbed up across the ridge and dropped down to the control: It is possible that it was located on the wrong cliff, the one below on the edge of the green but I spotted it from the first cliff so I didn't lose anything here. I did see some lights searching further SE along the hillside though, and the split times show that I suddenly lead the race at this point.

My only real "mistake" was to read the map indicating that the hillside towards the last control was OK and it would save me two extra contours of climbing to avoid the road. In reality this steep hillside was covered in dense clusters of trees and near-cliff slabs, so I lost about a minute here! OTOH the three much younger guys in front of me would certainly all have beaten me in a sprint finish!
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Ås by Night & Fog Cup (29/11/2022) Ås by Night & Fog Cup (29/11/2022)