Chris Curtis Web Site

I was looking forward to this event. I remembered Lancing Ring from the last time we were here. Basically, it is a chalk hill between a housing estate and open countryside, now a nature reserve and popular area for walking dogs. Although a small area, it has a lot going on, with many open areas framed by very tight thickets, mixed with more open woodland and two areas below the hill. There is an old quarried area too, where I became very lost last time.

The weather is still remarkably warm for late October, but it was very grey, with uniform cloud across the whole sky, and the sea itself a featureless mid-grey. There was a queue for the start on the green course, mainly because although the first control was very close to the start, the “distinctive tree” was surrounded by impenetrable hawthorn with only one, not very obvious, way in and lots of runners kept reappearing near the start looking puzzled. Fortunately, the control went fairly smoothly for me and I was away, feeling quite relaxed but moving quite well. The navigation was very smooth, as I kept close map contact, worried about how easy it is to become lost there. The course was good, with a huge variety of terrain and challenges in such a little area. There was even some “park-O” across an open field at one point.

My fitness felt better this time, and I managed not to slow down too much in the middle. The only poor leg was from the last control (20th!) to the finish, where I convinced myself I needed to gain height up the slope and went up a couple of paths uphill, and had to come back down again before just following the obvious path which took me straight to the finish. I lost three places doing this and came 8th – my highest placing ever. I would have been fifth if I had not lost the plot in the last 200 metres so it just underlines what I am capable of with a clean run and a bit of determination.

A good result and a very pleasant run.

The map and peoples’ routes are on the SO routegadget.

Everywhere was wet and though it is still very mild, there was an October feel to the weather. As I drove southwards I hit an area of astonishingly heavy rain. During the 20 minutes or so it lasted, I had to have the windscreen wipers on their fastest speed and still could hardly see. The roads were rivers, with genuine flooding in many places and I seriously thought about turning back.

The rain was ending as I arrived and the storm cleared quickly to give sunshine. I feared another storm, but although the ground and trees were very wet, there was no further rain.

I had a good run navigationally: I was never lost and made some sensible route choices. My fitness was poor though. Although it was quite physical with the soggy paths, fairly steep slopes and lots of bending and curving to get round trees, I was puffing and panting too quickly and felt fairly lacklustre. Still, I finished within the hour and was fairly pleased with that. I got to the first control in 43 seconds – quite a contrast to the 17 minutes of last week’s disaster. Overall, I finished 14^th. With the exception of last week, I seem to be placing higher than I was. I hope I can keep it up.

The leaves are beginning to thin on the trees and there is some colour in the woods, though we have come nowhere near a frost yet. The fungi were very impressive today, with lots of large bright red, white spotted traditional “fairy” toadstools as well as some yellow and white ones.