okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Like a sprint leg
8 to 9 from the middle course I posted yesterday felt a bit like a sprint course leg. Two things made it feel "sprinty." First, you had to pay attention to the uncrossable fence that affects routes that go left of the straight line. A route that jumps out at you when you first look at the map involves going through the cemetery. But the uncrossable fence takes that option away. Second, because of the big, rocky hill with a lot of green, you could look pretty far from the straight line for a good route choice.
Both of those things feel like the sort of decision you face in a sprint race.
For the record, I went left of the straight line. I tried to minimize climb and headed to the trail that is a bit west of the 5th control. From that point, I followed the uncrossable fence and followed it all the way to the big trail that gets you near the control.
Someone told me that the course setter had tested different options and found my route (or something similar) to be the fastest. I was mostly motivated by wanting to avoid the climb and was a bit unsure of the green.
