Sprint Relay

Our club relay this year was a sprint.

The event was initially scheduled for January (in the forest), then postponed to March, then May, June 15th, and finally June 22nd. And at this time of year it had to be a sprint because of the heat.

I don’t think our only major relay race should be on a sprint map, and lots of people agree with me. I participated only because the club needed me. The event was on the Tel-Aviv University map, which is flat and very easy, so for any team with three competent orienteers it was basically a running race, and the fastest runners won.

After the event someone actually suggested that we can have a sprint relay like in international championships – two women and two men – but here it would have to be three men and one woman in each team.

For the first time, I could run in the Senior category (50+), and we had a strong team and finished second – in my opinion, on more technical terrain we would have won. Our women’s 7-year winning streak was ended because we had to put a first-year youth on the anchor leg, and she made a large mistake (but she’ll be great in a year or two). My route is below – nothing interesting and no mistakes (the GPS went crazy between the buildings, so I drew it manually).