Chris Curtis Web Site

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Parham Woods is a very nice area with a lot of variety in a small space, along with some technically tricky ground and more than enough to confuse the unwary.

I was fairly fast to the first control, but was thrown by how wet my route was to the second and spent time trying to avoid getting my feet wet. Once I just decided to run up the flooded ride (and once the water in my shoes had warmed up) it was fine. After that, things were OK, though my navigation was not as sharp as I wanted and I found it a struggle compared with recent events. I did not feel at my best, vaguely ill and out of sorts, but I was around in 52 minutes for 19th place, which was better than I expected.

The woods are still quite wintry in appearance. There were daffodils in places, but no primroses yet. There was a little sunshine, which made a big difference to the cold wind.

It was a glorious morning. The gales overnight had moderated into a strong breeze with bright sunshine and a perfectly clear sky. Ideal conditions for a run on the South Downs – today at Southwick Hill .

There was a steep uphill walk to reach the start, then more uphill to control 1, then it was a matter of running around typical low scrub, into small pockets of woodland and across sheep-nibbled grass. The landscape is very different to our usual orienteering haunts and you needed to concentrate every second. I had to have two tries at control 2, and stop for a comfort break about half way round, but otherwise things went smoothly and reasonably fast. The two minutes I lost, however, took me down at least 9 places to 18th so I missed out on a top ten place. I was not helped by the fact that I had left my new O-shoes behind and was running in an old pair of trainers that were in the car but I was feeling good, even if my gps recorded a record heartrate of 213 after a couple of long uphill runs – against my normal maximum of 190 or so.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I cannot think of anything I would rather have been doing. The wind blew the winter cobwebs away and the sunshine felt very good. Add the views of a deep blue sea a mile or two away and the beauty of the downs landscape and things were just great.