ranking @ 大樹下 19/10/25

Haven't done any middle/long course since early this year, that one was only an easy course of Color-coded event, whereas this one was somewhat harder. It's almost two decades since the last race at this venue, only the eastern part was used this time. The first half of the course had controls not far from the road, with the exceptions of the last few ones, that was the time when I did two mistakes. The first one was mistaking the burnt patch of earth as bare rock. As I couldn't find any such symbols on my map, plus that the other two competitors were retreating, I began to wonder if I was really wrong with my judgment. I could see clearly that was a control down below the bare earth, but couldn't see its marker number. That patch looked steep and slippery, so I didn't want to take the risk until one of the competitors returned and headed towards it from below. The next one cost me much time again, I had just crossed a gap and was heading up along a small trail towards those boulders which were probably where my control was, then I noticed that no one followed. I retreated and descended some metres, only to find that my previous choice should be correct. Yet, even though I was just above the boulder where my control was, I wasn't able to see it. Thinking that it might be another one around, I moved on till a small patch of open ground. After checking the area around, I retreated back to that boulder, only to find that several others had caught up by then. Fortunately, when I finished the race, the van had not departed yet. I was able to take it back to the event center, without having to pay another $20.