I ran through the spectator control and received a not very crucial energy gel which I ate, then continued out of the arena. During my time there I heard something that distracted me and mentally offset me for the next control which I then messed up. It was one of the only controls that I messed up and actually unintentionally lost contact with on this course. To top it off I ran right to the correct rock at first, but then turned around and tried to relocate because I thought that I had lost contact, and eventually came back to the exact same rock to find out that the control was apparently right behind the spur which the rock was on.
After the fiasco with the rock at control 18 I was caught by a Latvian guy, and as I was in a foul mood after making a mistake, I bee-lined straight to the next control as the Latvian ran sharply left. I found out why the Latvian ran left in about five seconds as I approached a cliff, and as I was still in a foul mood, I didn't let it stop me and breached it quickly. From there I continued straight up the spur to the control. The Latvian reached the control just moments before I did, therefore I don't think that I lost a lot of time with my route choice. We ran to number 20 on a bearing and he just missed the control a bit to the left giving me the opportunity to catch up and pass him.
To number 21 we ran down straight to the second trail that leads around the left side of the cliffy hills and cut off from it where there was the knoll with the cliff. From there we ran on a bearing and were able to catch up to Giacomo Barbone from the American team, and a New-Zealander who helped us finish the attack to the control. At this point I tried going solo at the next control as I took a different micro route choice through the terrain that gave me a little bit of extra distance, which unfortunately dissipated after a slight hesitation before 22, leaving the New Zealander to get to the control first. After that my instinct was to run down through the saddle and right of the lake until I could cut up to the control, but alas I was sucked up to the hilltops by the other people I was running with. Through this area I lost contact a little bit and was trying to relocate on the run as the New Zealander and possibly the others navigated. I had a rough vision of where we were as the Latvian and Kiwi ran through the re-entrant filled with green, leaving me to avoid it a bit by swerving to the right. A bit further up the Latvian began breaking away from the same direction and navigating by himself, while I believe that I relocated on the hills right after the trail.
I cannot remember who hit the control first, whether it was me, Giacomo, or the New Zealander but it doesn't really matter because what I do remember is that I had already made a plan beforehand, so when I punched the control, I hightailed out of there on a bearing as fast as I could. This was the point where I knew that it would be crucial to pass these guys, otherwise it would be too late afterwards. I recall that Giacomo was relatively close behind me and that the New Zealander cut down to the right while I headed straight for the side-hill, from where I ran to the power line. There I unfortunately made a mistake where I lost a couple of seconds and had to turn back to the hill that I had overshot slightly. This allowed the New Zealander to get back into the lead as he did not lose any time, and therefore did not wait around long at the control before he ripped it to the finish. I believe I hit the control first but Giacomo passed me on the way to the go control. From there the New Zealander had about 3-4 seconds on us, and because I didn't feel that I had earned the dignity of beating all of them in the finish sprint I just settled on passing Giacomo, which I did successfully, and came in right behind the New Zealander. The Latvian runner was behind all of us. Unfortunatly they all beat me bcause they passed me elsewhere on the course, but the good news was that I they had passed through the spectator control 5 min before me, which meant that I made up 5 mins on them in the last loop.
Thus ends my epic of the long distance World Cup race in Halden, but if you did not fall asleep throughout that race analysis, and would like to read more of such tales then come back tomorrow (unless you are reading this after June 10) for another exciting article about the sprint relay where the Canadian team was leading at one point in the race, ahead of the top runners of many much more sophisticated countries orienteering wise.
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