Route choice to two...

The first leg set up a route choice to number two. Mikell and James took different routes (James' route is noted with JS -- he went left of the lake).

When I first looked at the second leg, I thought Mikell's route was clearly better. But, I was not sure because James had a 25 second lead by the fourth control. So, I went out and test ran the two routes. I wore a heart rate monitor to try to keep my effort constant when I ran each route. I ended up running James' route 5 seconds faster than Mikell's (but I also ended up running his route at a slightly higher heart rate). Fritz Menninger was with me and also tested the two routes. He ran about 15 seconds faster on Mikell's route.

So, our test runs seem to suggest that the two routes are very similar -- certainly neither route is significantly faster. I like Mikell's route because it is a bit flatter, is on trails nearly the entire route, and offers a slightly easier approach to the control.

But, I still wonder how James ended up with a 25 second lead by the fourth control. I think, but really can't be sure, that James ran harder than Mikell in the first few legs of the course.

There is not much to say about the third leg. Both Mikell and James ran the trail and dropped down to the cliff.

The next leg brought the runners through a spectator control.

Michael Eglinski

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