I was hesitant about orienteering as I had already jogged round my first park run the same morning, but I haven't orienteering much this year, and it was only at Cleeve Hill. Of course, once there I was very glad I had gone.
Parking and assembly was in a new field, right on the edge of the common. There weren't many there when I arived so no hassle and no queues to start. I walked and occasionally jogged around the green course. The planning was good, crossing the quarries three times and avoiding the more open golf course. In particular there was a difficult route choice to make between controls 3 and 4. I was surprised to leave Gary Wakerley leaving control 4, and see him as he was approaching control 6 and I was en-route to 9. I kept checking my map to see if I had missed a control. Also a tall fit runner who started a minute in front of me passed me three times towards the finish, the final time commenting "I can run, but I can't navigate".
The weather was beautiful; plenty of sun, and the gorse was all in bloom. Lovely.
Results
19th out of 41 starters (2 dnf).
16:01 mins/km (but remember, it is Cleeve Hill, ie. open)
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