A Bad Day at the Races

This weekend was the Winter Cup, and for a change it was actually in winter – unbelievably, it even rained on both days. That’s not an excuse for my orienteering, just a fact of life.

Day 1, Menahamiya – totally new terrain, very steep and muddy. Roni’s VJ Falcon fell apart and she quit, barefoot, around the middle of the course. I was running H35 because, I quote my whatsapp to a friend: “I’m fed up with these shorty courses and to hell with the medals”. Even this was only 6 km, but with 310m climb it felt like more. I had no problem coping with the distance, but the mud was terrible and some of the contouring was like walking a tightrope. My orienteering was actually quite solid, and I finished in 71:09, 6th place in the category and more or less as expected.

Day 2, Ein Tzur – a new map of well-known terrain that had never been mapped in such detail. Roni stayed at home with the two toddlers and I took Alon (7.5) with me. He waited around with an O-friend while I ran, and then I took them around the children’s course, which they enjoyed very much.

My run was simply “a bad day at the races”. As usual, my performance was on par with the amount of pressure: no pressure, so no performance. I felt as if my compass was messing with my head, and had difficulty reading the details around some of the controls (that’s partly due to my eyesight and wet glasses). By control 18 I was fed up with myself and couldn’t be bothered to try and attack it properly, with predictable results. I finished the 5.8 km course in 76:50 and dropped to 8th overall, but I should have run 10 minutes less. The course, by the way, planned by Shachar Hershman, was very good, except for the start which was an invitation to skip the start triangle.

Note 1: Ages of top 8 in H35: 50, 40, 38, 46, 46, 39, 44, 50 (in that order). Our courses are too short, and the H40, 45 and 50 categories are getting it easy. I’d love to hold a special “Real Age Championship” in which you have to run your real age group.

Note 2: I need to work on my technique. The eyesight issue is affecting my orienteering style and I need to adapt and train this new style, otherwise I’ll mess up again. Day 1 suited this style so I performed well, day 2 was different. I have time – there’s no important race coming up, as I’m the planner for day 1 of the Israeli Championships.