British Orienteering Campionships Relay Day

Having had 3 undistinguished individual performances yesterday we were determined to put things right today. Anxious to not let the team down I opted for the last leg so that if the knee did not survive then my two partners would have had their runs.

Helen went out on the mass start always a challenge as you need to focus on your own run and not get distracted. The planners have a devious method called gaffling which is designed to catch people out who decided to follow. So you may have the same controls for a time but then switch on to a different group of controls later in the course. Jill set off in third place and as the weather deteriorated I stood in waterproof jacket searching the horizon for her to reappear and hand over. Fortunately for me the rain eased and I handed over the waterproof as Jill finished. I did not have a clue where we were but decided to take it steady, check every code to avoid mispunching (a problem when there are a lot of controls out in the wood) and tried to keep moving across the terrain. I had checked out the final control and discussed with Helen how she had found the course. She did mention a path towards the end that had not been mapped and this was just as well as I hesitated at the same point wondering if I had gone too far. 

Pleased with my run overall although the knee was not too happy! As I ran down the finish lane I heard that we were the second placed team so absolutely delighted. 

Now time to get the knee sorted..... I hope!