As a side comment I have picture of my knee to start with. Looking good after I had cleaned it up. Its messing up the training a little bit this week, hopefully will be able to get in a decent run this afternoon.
Back to the racing; Toby has just sped off in what look like the wrong direction in the final leg of Sprint Auckland Day. He ran North East out of the start triangle. He held a 77 second lead over Michael and 87 seconds over Duncan heading into the race. Standing at the finish I was wondering if it would be enough. We couldn’t stretch to radio controls today so had no feedback on time until some runners reappeared for 4 and 5. No sign of Toby, was it a route choice or was he haemorrhaging time! Michael came in ahead of Toby, Duncan was just behind. It would be close! While we were doing the maths Gene stormed in with a quick time, had he perhaps done enough?
Toby was safe! His lead from throughout the day was enough. He finished the day on 65.18 ahead of Duncan on 66.03 and Michael on 66.09. To show the loss on the final leg, Gene ran the fastest time of 6.33 while Toby ran 7.27! Toby said he had seen the 1 of number 11 and headed off to control 11 first. As he got the control he realised and took off to 1. An exciting finale to an awesome day of orienteering. We headed up to Michael’s place afterwards for a barbeque and debrief. So many controls and route choices to talk about. Gene outdid himself with the setting and everyone stepped up with some tight racing. I can’t wait for the next Sprint Auckland Day, maybe some sprints in the forest next time.
Tom Reynolds 
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