Selection trials had been held to determine the coveted place on leg 3 of the DROC womens team. Sarah was already locked into the Moderate leg 1, but Sammy and I had been doing the same course for the last 3 days. Sammy clearly had the edge over me on speed, and her navigation has improved a lot, so she was slotted into the Easy leg 3, and I took the Very Easy leg 2.  Pete, Wayne and James teamed up to form a second DROC team, on the harder Veterans course.

I’d run on this map a few years ago, and placed 2^nd (miraculously). I remembered it as very runnable, open with scattered boulder clusters, so I was looking forward to returning. We weren’t on the same part of the map this time, the grass and scrub was longer, and there were more contours, some of them quite steep.  We sat gaping at the finish chute, which started at the top of a huge slope, and plummeted down.  Different techniques were discussed, and I decided quite quickly to deploy the classic Bum Slide, which I have mastered over many events, and which has always proved reliable when all else fails.

Sarah went off in the mass start, anxious about getting back early enough to avoid the dreaded second mass start.  She had a bit of trouble with the first loop before the spectator control, but duly appeared up above us after 30 minutes. I sat back and relaxed, expecting to wait another half hour or so, but she popped up at the top of the finish chute after 20 minutes, catching me on the hop. Flinging off my jacket and grabbing my stuff, I raced to the start line just in time to tag her.

My course, as expected, hugged the fence line, meaning I had to clamber over, under or through half a dozen fences and gates.  Little kids are much better at that than me! It was also steeply up and down so I couldn’t run, until we finally got to the corner of a paddock covered in stubble, that was more or less flat. I ran a good proportion of the second half, trying not to think about the dreaded chute.  Over a final fence, punch no 100, scramble up a sharp slope, emerge onto a flat patch of grass, then … don’t hesitate, just sit down and slide!  It worked a treat, and to the cheers of the crowd I got to my feet at the bottom, where Sammy was waiting.  I tagged and she was off for the final leg.  We saw her running strongly towards her first control, then in what seemed like no time she was back, skipping down the big hill.  All three safely round, no mispunches, and not last. I call that a good day out.

In the washup of the NZ Champs, Simon was our only medallist with a second in the Sprint, so we do have some bling in the house.  We are waiting to see if they let him back into the country with it.

Day off tomorrow. Don’t expect us to surface before lunchtime. Steam Punk awaits.