JK Report from Steve Whitehead

JK day 1.

The sprint in Perth City Centre was fairly straightforward so fast running and keeping your brain in gear were the order of the day. City centre sprints are not as tricky as those on university campuses but they do give the sport a much higher profile with the local shoppers and nosey tourists! There were some legs in narrow twisty-turny alleys.

JK day 2.

Loch Rannoch forest is far from straightforward so this day was the highlight. Physically tough but not unduly so. Technically challenging certainly with lots of lumps and bumps and some rock detail, all in forest almost free of paths to follow. About  a third of the course was in thick forest ("walk") and I made two small mistakes after leaving this and trying to speed up in a downhill section of white/run forest..... better to just keep walking fast maybe.

JK day 3.

Same forest but further east and much more windblown in the supposedly "run" forest..... so the areas show as paler green were the fastest as the trees were packed so closely together they couldn't fall over. In the white areas it was a question of jogging a few paces and then climbing over a large fallen tree trunk.... and repeat. Have I mentioned the water? It had rained the whole of the previous night so the area was a marsh, and the marshes were lakes, and there was an unmapped stream in every re-entrant; to be fair the mapped streams were easy to identify as they were torrents flying over the rocks. Lots of steep slopes and small crags and knolls and hidden re-entrants. Great orienteering but REALLY tough. Oh and there were hail storms and blizzards throughout the day. Well done to Maria and other club tent bearers. We needed the shelter.

 

The organisation throughout was super anyway but, given the conditions, it was fantastic.

 

I didn't put my name down for a relay team which was a good thing as I was shattered by the end of day 3.... hats off to my fellow club members who represented the club on day 4!

 

Steve