The Great Race.
Ilze has already reported on our decision not to compete in Race One in Jessolo Lido, due to the amount of time it took to get there, we wanted to save ourselves for the night race, after all it was the main reason we came.
Well rested we set off just after dark and rode the No.1 down to Arsenale, changed and left our bags in the hall and went back out onto the Riva degli Schivioni to the start.
I was off first at 8:09pm and Ilze later at 8:47pm. As it was a Sprint event distances were quite short and I had hoped to be back in time to see Ilze away.
If you are not an Orienteer you can go away now as here comes the technical stuff , full of jargon and will only make sense whist looking at the map. Trying to concentrate in the start lanes whilst being distracted by those gorgeous views across the canal was a bit of a problem, second was finding the “Clear” control. It is actually placed inside the 5’ min box after check in. Good idea as we always have it outside and can be hidden by the mob.
Away on the long beep and “God, it’s a bed sheet!!” and nearly stuffed the first control, best route choice is inside the triangle and look at the font size for No.7 which is on my line. Ilze, along with many others, went there first. Along to just below 7’s segmented circle, left to the canal and then north, right at campo and left over canal was the plan but ran into a street party, Credence Clearwater cover band and 300 people. The head cam was working well and not bothering me so this will make good pics, I meant to approach the control from near the printed 1 but made my first mistake by turning just after the two wells, I knew right away because the calle was so narrow but pressed on rather than go back. Not much time lost and there was No 1, control 57, inside corner of a small paved area, took a deep breath and relaxed. It had been a long and painful wait for this, but the grin was a million miles wide. I knew how to do this but concentrate, picking out the small details in the dark is difficult, so simplify, see the straight lines and go.
And so it went, the only real error came between controls 5 and 6. Emerging onto the narrow campo, under the red line, it was a high traffic area, restaurant tables out and a bit of bustle and I missed the first turn left, it was behind some tables that also concealed the little change of angle, so when I went ”one, two left” I turned up the wrong one, realised straight away and went back. When I later reviewed the head-cam you can see me dodging a waiter where I should have turned and a check of the time elapsed meant I lost 48sec. As it turned out it did not cost me a place.
Finished off well, back through the street party, sounded like “Proud Mary” and home safe in 26min+ and in good time to see Ilze away.
A quick change and then back out to the “Arrivo” to wait. Then there she is by the water feature at control 11 and putting on a turn of speed at the end which means she must be confident and then that big grin when the print out at the download says its all OK.
For the record. I was 7th out of 12, I beat Swedes with a broken leg. (That is my broken leg, not the Swedes). Ilze was not last and Lachlan Dow was also 7th in a hot M21E. See the team photo.
The only pity was that it was so short, I know that it was a Sprint format for the three events but when you see the rubbish that was put out for the first and the last event, you will see what I mean.
Back at home and not in bed bed until midnight and then up again at 6am for the three hour cruise.
Jessolo Lido and Eraclea Mare may be famous beach resorts but why did they bother to map them for a sprint? The logistical effort required to get competitors from Venice, over to the Liddo and then back.  On day three, to bus them to the start, and then bus them back from the remote finish to the assembly area, may well have been worth it for significant and interesting terrain, but not this.
Still we burbled around and I ran along the beach for one leg just to look at the sandstorm barrier, had a good time in the 22mins and 7th again. Pete was consistent and Ilze dropped a place but still finished, it was too fast for her, no challenge, just a drag race.
Other tech stuff, results were put up from laptops and a projector and were hard to read. Not live results but manually refreshed, no radio control. The down load tent would have given Ian a heart attack, we were not sure if it wasn’t meant to be one of those fancy Italian art installations. Hats off to Toffe and Jim Russel, we do it better.
As I finish this off, the water in the street outside has started to go down. Just a mini accqua alta so Ilze has gone out for more milk and coffee and will blog about it later.
Pete.

PS.  We never had the opportunity to put in to practice Lachie’s  advice for passing plump Venetian ladies in narrow calle.  “If they are in their down jackets there is always an air gap between them . Whoosh”