Jane Kayley-Burgess looks back at her run
I love orienteering in Wales. Wherever you are, you know it’s going to be tough and no preparation seems enough. Saturday was just like that. I’d printed the map (Carreg Goch being the only day of Croeso that we missed last time) and outlined the index contours in red pen so I knew what the area looked like. I had a plan (keep in touch with the map, take it steady) and had the final details off pat.
Then the hailstorm came. I’d taken off my cag because I was warm after the climb to the start and the sun was shining. As I stood in the start lane someone said ‘That cloud is ominous’. Someone else said ‘It’ll blow over quickly’. A third person said ‘Forecast says 1% chance of rain’ so I left my cag off. HUGE mistake. It hailed for about half of my course. My entire run for the first five controls consisted of thinking ‘I should put my cag on. This is irresponsible. It will stop in a minute. I should put me cag on…. repeat for 35 minutes’. The part of my brain that should have been orienteering was so focussed on how unpleasant and faffy it would be to have to stop and put my cag on that I had very little capacity to map read. Actually hitting each control spot on (well, apart from number 1) was just down to so much luck and the odd moment of clarity.
And who cares? I ran down the final hill in the sunshine and the loveliness of a really tough, well planned course on a great map on a beautiful area more than made up for a very average performance and a pile of wet clothes. Give me a hailstorm over a mud bath any day [leading on to the Relays the following day].
Sal adds: for those who weren’t there, we parked at The National Showcaves Centre for Wales, which looked like a fun family day out. I was excited to see the huge dinosaur replicas where we parked, and the String Course around the standing stones looked pretty unique!
Results on SportIdent here. DVO top 10s as follows, very well done all!
Results and photos on the BOC page here.
