The forest is very nice to run in – a 1000 year old forest with very wide rides seperating pockets of varying runnability and visibility. Although some sections were rather “scraggly” and unpleasant, there were some great sections, especially near the end, with grand old trees and little vegetation for late summer.
Ran the M21S course, came 4th out of 8 runners/7 finishers. Time was 63:09 for the 6.92km course with no significant climb – 9.1mpk pace. Winner took 48:15. I had one very bad (9 minute) mistake coming into 14 – which was in thick, low visibility forest from which I had to relocate twice, compounded by then leaving the control 180 degrees in the wrong direction…
2 replies on “Hatfield Forest SOS Regional Event, 18 September”
I first went in from the north west, but went in too late, and ended in the darker green to the south, which had a few unmarked ditches… I then came out on the south west path, relocated around to the east side and went in that way – but again I was too far south, so had to go back out east and relocate. Finally found it by plunging north into what I thought was the dark green but was actually the control site.
There were unmarked ditches to the south – that’s what threw me. I then mistaked “13” on the map for “15” and headed north-east out of the control!
From what direction did you attack control 14 – there seems to be a couple of reasonable choices, from the East and NW…