Thomass Eliminator

Venue: Morriston Crown Forest
Terrain: flat, forest, over-grown meadow, brambles
Weather: sunny and hot

The final race in the Thomass series, and always my personal favourite. There are 3 consecutive courses, where the first round eliminates all but the top 20 competitors, the second round eliminates another 10, and the final 10 vie for top ranking. Those eliminated still run the other courses but will automatically place in the lower tier based on their time. Trying to initially qualify makes for a mad sprint, and you have to keep your wits about you. I've managed to qualify top-16 twice before.

Before starting, we were advised that there are many controls out there in similar spots, so we have to check the numbers just in case (this came in handy!) We took off fast, and once again I managed to run with the elite men for control 1. By the time I was leaving control 2 and heading into the Thomass box, I must have been running with some guys who were dropping a few controls, and I mistakenly skipped one of the ones I'd planned to do (but didn't realize it). We were all going at break-neck speed, and there were 8 total box controls (6 for me), plus 4 point-to-point, in a very tiny area. It was madness. I saw a few elite guys hesitate here and there, and I think a few people punched controls from another course.

I just hammered through this sprint, and when I got to the finish, I was shocked to be ranked 5th! The elite men hadn't come in yet. That's when I re-checked my map and face-palmed. I'd skipped that first box control but then also skipped the last two that were in my plan. So I was missing one! I fessed up to the race director that he shouldn't count me as 5th, and headed back out to get one more control, plus the other two point-to-point ones again, or otherwise it would have counted as a mis-punch. I was hopping-mad. Add to that my running cramps coming up after the hard sprint, and I hobbled through the forest dejectedly, coming back to the finish in time to see the real top-20 being led off to start their second loop. Grrrrr!

Route Link

But such is the life of an orienteer. You gotta pick yourself up and try to rank as close to 21st as possible from then on. The second loop was in the western part of the map, which was much more over-grown than the map colours would have you believe. I changed my strategy after the first box control after taking one look down a thick marsh. No way; I took a trail instead and hit the box in the opposite direction. The elite guys, now finishing their loop, were running against me, so maybe this wasn't the best idea after all? I did get stuck in one spot as I couldn't figure out the thick brambly area. But I kept calm and re-oriented from a known feature to get back on track. I made good lines towards the rest of the controls and even sprinted against another lady for the finish.

The third loop was back in the east and was much more woodsy again. I managed to pass a few people, but suddenly got turned around leaving the box. Still can't quite explain how I did that, but thankfully my spidey-senses kicked in and I realized my direction was off. I quickly realized I'd hit a trail in the wrong direction and ran back and continued to the finish.

--Distance: 7.6K
--Duration: ?

I know I didn't manage 21st place, but still waiting for the official results to come in. The most important results were the ones that would determine the series winners based on overall points. It was a tight race in the women's category, and was decided by one mere point - a tie-breaking point earned by one of the women after another competitor made the same mistake I did in the last box and lost his ranking! Crazy. Very exciting finish.

Up to this race, I was sitting in a tie for 18th in the series. Since only the top 4 races count, this one would not have given me any points, so I might have dropped lower. We'll see, hopefully soon.

This race was also the second time my buddy ES did an o-event, and once again she did the whole thing by herself! Unfortunately my initial mistake cost her as she was basically following along on the first loop; and while I went out to fix the mistake, she just decided to wave it off and do loop 2. But she did find all the ones she meant to, and we didn't need to go looking for a body. :)