Glen Artney - May 20, 2012

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It was hot, very hot. I should have taken some water with me. I also should have had a little more to eat before I stepped off. I probably made some poor decisions on account of this oversight.

I'm glad I got an early start. It took me just over 4 hours to finish the blue course. That's 1 hour longer than the person who finished just ahead of me. I did have some help. I had company when looking for the first 5 controls but then I was on my own for the next 5. I started to see people again starting with the 11th control.

Some of the controls were well hidden. I found the 12th one fairly easily because I approached it from an odd angle. If I had taken the fastest route to it then I would not have spotted it from quite so far away.

In looking at the results I'm surprised by how many DNFs and MPs there are by experienced orienteers. It wasn't easy but I didn't think it was that difficult. It was more physically challenging than it was navigationally challenging.

Course: Blue [20 controls; 10.1 km; 420 m]
Time: 4:01:36 - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Balls Bluff - May 12, 2012

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It was hot. There were bugs everywhere. I brought a tick home with me.

The course wasn't too difficult although I still managed to make a couple mistakes. I committed my biggest error when I was looking for the 3rd control. The map may be partly to blame; it ain't perfect. My mistake probably cost me 5 or more minutes.

I ran into what might be some unmapped re-entrants when I was looking for the 7th control. I think I ran into the same problem last time I was at Balls Bluff. If I had just stuck with the trail instead of trying to take a short cut I probably would have found that control faster.

Course: Red [16 controls; 7.2 km; 255 m]
Time: 2:19:42 - WinSplits - RouteGadget