Thomass Stars

Venue: Sudden Tract, Cambridge ON
Terrain: hilly woods, trails, marshy ponds, some ice
Weather: overcast, a bit below zero

A most excellent day in the woods on a course laden with a great many delicious features. Sudden Tract is littered with ponds and marshes linked by little isthmuses (I used that word out loud during the race!), and tons of very quick elevation changes, making for great navigational choices despite the small area.

Today I was joined by my racing buddy and all-around tough girl ES, for whom this would be the very first orienteering race, having received a single beginner's clinic from me in a city park the week before, haha. We had agreed that she would just shadow me and try to follow along on the map, but after an initial sprint, plans quickly changed!

Route Link

Not that Thomass races aren't already terribly unjust, but they decided to really stick it to us "elites" by making anyone with a handicap of 0 to 2 run an extra prologue loop of 680m of trail prior to heading to control 1. Catching up to the earlier starters was very satisfying! Also satisfying was me and ES being the first women runners, and in 20th/21st positions coming back to the start, despite sliding around on the ice while the guys in O-spikes rushed past us.

ES later told me that despite all her trail and hill-running experience, it was kind of unsettling to run with a crowd of people completely off-trail, down muddy leafy hills, with brambles underfoot and branches in the face. Somewhere between Controls 2 and 3, she waved me on to keep going by myself while she hung back. I trusted that she has both brains and brawn and would be okay out there, and pressed on.

I had a very clean run through the first half of the course and through the Thomass box - I'd only remind myself to really pay more attention to contours and avoid any unnecessary climbs - I did much better with that in parts of  the second half of the race. I did make a silly mistake coming back out of the box, as the last and first controls were right next to each other, and I just went and punched number 6 again. I thought I was doomed, but apparently because I then immediately punched 7, all was well. Phew! I did overshoot 8 a bit, but at least I bumped into ES, and she seemed in good spirits, so I was happy to keep going.

The last few controls were straight-forward, but I really paid attention to avoiding climbing - there are so many spurs and saddles in this area, you can basically have your pick of routes. I sprinted back in and waited for ES. After a while, I ran back out along the course and eventually met her again right on track at the bottom of the map. I shadowed her past the last two controls (no helping!), and with one small glitch towards the end, she made it back, all by herself - no small feat for a first-timer in the real woods. And she wasn't last, either! I'm so proud!

--Distance: 7.4K
--Duration: 57:12

p.s. I did get hit with my running cramps again as I started in the Thomass box, and although I was ahead of the lead woman in my age group, I had to slow down and quickly lost her. I'm so sick and tired of this; can't wait for the results of my ultrasound next week.