Preparation

It was the Middle Distance Race at the JK Orienteering Festival today.  We were manning the JROS (Junior Regional Orienteering Squads) tent to publicise the work done by JROS in supporting and developing juniors.

We had early runs today so it was up with the Club Tent, up with the JROS tent, up with the display boards and then we were off to the start.  I found it really tough today, it was a brambly wood with those long trailing brambles which wrap around the shins and trip you up as well as drawing blood.  We also had to do a fair bit of contouring around a series of spurs and the ground was very wet, resulting in much sliding downhill!

We both dropped down the results today.  Tony had a bit of a nightmare on one control and lost several minutes, finishing 27th out of 86 to achieve a Silver time.  I dropped several places on yesterday to finish 31st out of 59 and a Bronze time.

After running I donned my Photography hi-viz and went out in to the forest.  My blip is of the competitors preparing to run at the South Start.  Folks prepare in very personal ways.  Some are looking at the blank maps to try and get a fix on the area before starting.  Others are focused ahead to where they will be going, visualising their route.  Some are chatting to friends and clubmates, others attempting to push over trees to stretch those leg muscles, or in the case of elite competitor 442 from Ireland, springing in to the air!