Boggy long qualification-day 1

Our apologies for lack of pictures today-but the truth is that it was just too wet to be taking out a camera or iPhone.

We took advantage of the shuttle bus system, parking in the familiar car park from the first day when we registered. This is easy to recognize because it is very close to the big soccer stadium with a rounded profile. Even we are now able to pick the stadium, but for the second time I thought we were approaching from the north, rather than from the east.  Luckily Trevor was more on the ball.

Having parked,  we just needed to walk up to the edge of the stadium and hop on to the next bus-15 minutes or so later we were being dropped off about 500 metres from the arena in the pouring rain.

Picture 3000 orienteers trying to make a spot for themselves in drenching downpour.  Poor Bo had to wait for one of the latest starts,  but needed to be there for Kirsten's start just after 9 am.  This  meant that he faced about 4 hours of standing in pouring rain before he could run.

There was no break in the rain for the first hour and a half-so most of us were forced to brave the elements and head off to our starts through the deluge. By the time we were at our start getting wet was no longer a problem as we couldn't get much wetter.

My map for today

My apologies for the crumpled and speckled map-it is not looking too bad actually considering the many times it was on the ground or underwater.

As expected it was pretty hard for us to navigate in this type of terrain, despite a good lesson at the model event yesterday, so we were both slow and careful, and still managed to getting somewhat out of touch with the map at times. 

Even the 250m long finish chute contained sections where you could put a foot in the wrong spot and go up to your knee in the mud! It certainly made for some spectacular spills for those observing the fun. That was nothing to the marshes on the map, which were an absolute delight of cold, muddy water as we splashed across them searching for our elusive controls.

Our results will be added to those of tomorrow's run to decide who runs in which final but we expect that there is no way we will be making the A final. That is fine, as there is a very long walk to the start of the A final as well as a harder course-and judging by the tiredness of our legs right now, we will have had quite enough by then. 

Our current results are looking like this:

As soon as we had finished we abandoned our post in the forest and headed back to the shuttle bus, and our car, making a beeline for a hot shower.

Now the rain has stopped,  the sun is shining and our shoes are drying out as best they can, along with our backpacks on the front deck, while our clothes rotate in the dryer, having undergone a much needed wash. Even if there is no more rain, we can expect to look almost as bad when we finish tomorrow as the marshes will no doubt still be marshy and the water will be in evidence everywhere.

Looking down towards my feet after we got home. Note the brown speckled appearance up to my knees from the marshy mud. Our shoes may never be the same again.  

Luckily we both have starts after 12 tomorrow, so we might be able to have a bit of a sleep in before we head to the event. I'm praying for sunny weather, as the event is enjoyed so much more if everyone is not busy just keeping as dry as they can.