Orienteering race (Extreme O) 2:24:14 [3] **** 9.88 km (14:36 / km) +125m 13:44 / km
spiked:25/25c shoes: 2017 Inov8 ArcticClaw 300
Mal Harding Extreme O, an annual tradition of GAOC after their Navigator Cup, organized by Joey Ciza, Linda and Chuck Ferguson, Shelley Pennington, and others. It took place in the same park as the two Classic days of races. This was the third one we've competed in. Temp about 26 to start, getting up to upper 30s, maybe.
We did Short Course 1 (I suspect the only difference with Short 2 were different first few controls, to spread teams out a bit). There were three different Mal Hardings* on the course, which needed to be moved from one control to the next (if you found him at one control you carried him to the next). We saw all three at one point or another (and had to take the green one twice).
*stuffed animal with a photo of Mal on it, in a slippery zipper bag
Challenges included:
--Following bearings for a defined distance to a control or clue
--Finding the properly numbered control on an island or small defined area with a number of flags in close proximity
--Using a map with sections missing except for around the point (island O?)
--Using an aerial map to find several points
--Corridor-O
--Plotting a point using grid coordinates to find a control location
--Traversing through a very deep gully with muddy puddles, some of which apparently were waist deep(!), and steep sides
--Photo O to identify sequence of clues to next point
and the final indignity
--following a rope *under* a tarp through an icy muddy section and then across a thigh-deep section of stream
Fortunately that was very near the end (<400m).
No culvert crawls this year or maze Os as we've done in years past.
It's always fun. Could be more fun if it wasn't so darned cold.