Orienteering Route Choice
I thought I would say a little more about the route choice between controls 11 and 12 at the Buxted Park-O. The results are out and analysing the splits (with winsplits) shows that this leg was where I lost a lot of time and a few places.
Looking at the leg (ignoring the scruffy copying of the course – my red pen was on the blink!) there are two obvious route choices – marked in violet – either towards the railway fence to pick up the path through the open area, or through the open woodland along the stream . The former looked like the better choice being shorter and with a fence and then clear path to follow. It also had a good attack point close to the control. The run through the woodland by the stream was attractive on such a hot day.
What I actually did is shown below:
I did not quite go far enough to find the path and came onto the rough open instead of open area looking for it. The rough open was a nightmare of thistles and brambles, so I painfully crossed it and came down the stream, which was an easy and open run. Having had one encounter with the rough open, I stayed on the path round to the control, rather than cutting the corner past the marsh from the end of the path.
Looking at the map at home, in the comfort of the armchair, the tunnel under the railway from which the path emerges is so glaringly obvious that I should have headed for the railway fence, stuck with it like glue and then come down the path. Other runners found it and said it was a good path, though not quite so obvious on the ground as on the map. I ended up with the worst of both worlds, losing time through changing my mind and through the painful slow crossing of the rough open, though the run down the stream was pleasantly cool and enjoyable.