The NWOC Rogaine Series started today with the first race in the recently mapped Riverhead Forest. I was happy to pick up second place behind training partner Cameron Tier and will be out to win next week if my left achilles holds up.
The area used was pretty small so I planned to get maximum points from the start and didn’t worry about planning cut offs. Most of the route planning was straight forward but there were some options in the middle of the race. The main things to consider in addition to distance were climb and the slower running areas. I think I did this pretty well and I’m happy with my route choices. Check out my GPS route here on my DOMA page. I ran 9.24km to get all 30 controls and I would be surprised if someone ran shorter than that as I was smooth through all the controls accept for over-running number 40.
I would make this one small change if I did it again. My GPS Route is in red and the preferred option is in blue.
The start today was fun as usual and I grabbed my moment of glory getting to the first control first, and by taking a different route choice to most people. Cameron Tier quickly overtook me and stayed ahead of me most of the time. We made a different route choice after my sixth control, number 41, but appear together to punch my fourteenth control, number 32, at the same time.
I think my route through the second part of the course was better than Cameron’s but his superior speed today meant he took the victory by half a minute by getting all 1200 points in 63 minutes.
I am supposed to start training again tomorrow but if my left achilles doesn’t improve I might have to have another week of resting.