[usa2003ardf] 2M Competition

[Adam Scammell]

2M Competition: Wednesday 4 th September

The big event is upon us. I woke up very drearily at 6am. I had
organised most of the equipment last night. I had however forgotten the
Sport Ident (electronic timing) and map holder, I got them out soon
after waking up. Breaky was a very quite affair, everyone keeping to
themselves. This has become the norm though, no one wanting to give
anything away. I said hello to Karel and his wife, two competitors from
the Czech team, I met them at China at the WC, then again in Germany
last year. We were informed to be on the buses at 7am as they would
leave very promptly. I packed my bags once back at the room. I had
everything prepared and laid out on the floor from last night.

We were all on the bus on time, however it was a further 15 minutes
before any of the 7 buses left. The trip only took 10 minutes, the
start was beside a main road. We were ushered into the holding
compound, about 10minutes later we were taken in groups up to the
equipment compound \ start area about 100M away. This however was done
in reverse order by country, so we had to wait for everyone else.
Competitors were called up for their start 15 minutes prior to start
time. Bryan was soon off on his way. I learned that Gyuri would have
the same start time as me. We both therefore had a very long wait ahead
of us. This however was to our advantage. It is common to start the
best competitor last. Latter in the day after 200 or so people have
been on the course the tracks into the transmitters are well worn.
After a long rest I prepared myself. An example of a well-worn track
was evident up the centre of the holding area (I should have taken a
photo). I was just one of many adding to the track.

I was soon off to the starting area also. I joined the que to clear and
check my Sport Ident stick. There was just a short wait here then I was
able to collect my receiver and get my map. There was a few out of
bounds area’s to mark, then I added the start / finish exclusion zones.
I was prepared enough to start my stopwatch 1 minute prior to
departure. This gave me ample time on the start command to turn on my
receiver and synchronise it.

I headed off down the start corridor. I made a navigational error soon
after this, taking the wrong track, this wasted 5-10 minutes for me. I
found Tx 5 after 18 minutes. I had taken reasonable bearings however I
was unsure of their validity as I had one for Tx 5 towards the finish.
And it certainly wasn’t that way. I quickly headed off for Tx 2 I
wasted some time on this one. I was in the wrong place at the wrong
time and didn’t get too good bearings for it. I was fairly slow, I did
however find it when it was off. I then headed northwest to Tx 4 I
should have found this one much quicker too, however I lacked
confidence. I then headed back through the centre of the map, stopping
short of Tx 3, then making the difficult trip up the hill. I was
reasonably quick to Tx 1, however I again should have been quicker.