What are orienteers really thinking about when competing?

"James' Fort is so open and fast that this was always going to be a quick race. I started near 7pm and I knew Josh had done 21-ish minutes so the plan was to aim for an ambitious 18-minute run.1. There was a route choice to the first control so picked the beach option, as I thought it might be busy in front of the pub. Ended up yelling at people to watch out as I thundered up the narrow path to the beach. 2. Was unsure of routes through the fort so decided to go the long way around. Probably a bad choice but don't seem to have dropped that much time. Gerald later told me that he went directly up the crag through the green and in to the fort, he had the fastest time on this leg, but I didn't fancy this route as I know how easy it is to get stuck in green (after last week's escapade at Watergrasshill!). 3. & 4. Spiked 5. Used the paths around the fort but went out of my way a bit to access them. Failed to notice a short path on the map that would have been a more direct way to access this "ring road", dropped 30 seconds to Josh as a result. Prayed that there would be a break in the veg at the Eastern tip of the fort, to let me out, and there was. 6. & 7. Spiked 8. Had already decided to use the path (Motorway) to the North of the fort so just put the boot down on this leg. This was actually the longest leg on the course and I flipped over the map and planned all the remaining legs and I motored along. Quick look at the watch, 8:30 elapsed, on target! Elephant tracks to the control (a signpost), though it seemed to be in the wrong place on the map relative to the nearby ruin.

9. Down the hill again. Some tracks trodden through the green where some poor souls had ventured through the brambles, that would have been a very bad idea.

10. And back up the hill. Bad route choice after that, plan was to take the East-most tunnel in to the fort, but taking the West-most would have been the best way to go (although Gerald lost part of his scalp doing this). I was a bit confused when I got to near where I thought the tunnel entrance was, as I hadn't visualised what the area would look like. Took off up the narrow trail and on to the fort's Eastern rampart, which is where my tunnel entrance actually was. No need to use the tunnel now as I was in the fort.

11. Headed out of control #10 in the wrong direction, realised it after about 5 seconds but if you look at the Routegadget this is where Josh passed me. #11 was a butterfly control.

12. Spiked

13. Plan was to take the "ring road" again and emerge to the South of the control, but finally noticed the little path (slip road!) as I passed by. On the map it's obscured by a veg change. Met the Short course winner Sean Bosonnet at this control and we raced back up the hill after punching it.

14. Another glance at the watch told me I'd about 3 minutes to get myself back to the finish, so put the boot down. Straight through the fort, this is where I got back ahead of Josh because he went the long way around. I only gained back about 15 seconds though, he must have been flying.

15 (& 16) & Finish. Bang bang bang. Even punched an extra control at an earth wall corner on the way back, just in case! Made it back with just 18 seconds to spare, some small consolation for the 40-second defeat I suffered to Josh in our head-to-head in Galway last weekend :-)" by Rob McEvoy (Team UCC)

Since Rob and Josh have both uploaded their routes to Route Gadget it is possible to recreate the 2012 battle at James' Fort. So the video below allows you to watch them chase each other around James' Fort. It really was so close and this demonstrates the benefits of efficient route choice.