The Crater Club
Well I had my first really bad day of the competition today when I ran out of time to complete the task. In short, I bombed out.
After walking for an hour to find a road during which I got fairly lost I grumpily presented myself for the GPS download, was rude to the Meet Director about the task setting, ate alone under a private black cloud at the taco van and am now sulking in my room and refusing all callers.
I’ll have to apologise to the affable Karel (the meet director) tomorrow for not being very nice even though I’m right as they set a task that didn’t really give enough time for everybody to have a fair attempt at finishing it. If you got stuck, even for ten minutes, then there wasn’t enough day left to be able to get to goal. This seems a shame in a competition where, in general, the organisation and task setting has been spot on. I fear the reality of a fairly average day and limited daylight was forgotten in the pressure to set ever longer and more impressive tasks which look good on the press releases.
Oh, and to all the people who’ll say ‘wah wah wah you should have flown faster then’ I’ve got a couple of words for you. Sod off!
A cup of tea has helped but I fear the only cure for my incredibly bad mood will be time, darkness and sleep.
To make matters worse I’d got fed up with waiting for the retrieve to turn up and so had set off on my own, leaving the other pilots in the field where we’d all landed together. After getting lost several times, attacked by a multitude of different mongrel dogs, trying to take a short cut across a gulley only to find it full of water at the bottom and finally finding the main road the van that stopped to pick me up contained all the same pilots I’d abandoned an hour earlier. The driver had evidently found them and they’d told him about ’some Pom’ (the other pilots were from the Australian and New Zealand Teams) who’d ‘gone off on walkabout’ and they’d then spent ages driving around looking for a sulky Brit pilot who was, at the time, trying to claw his way back out of a gully whilst fending off a pack of feral mutts.
So here I am. Muddy, stung, mosquito bitten but, I suppose, ready to fight another day.
I bet Kat’s happy that I’m 8000 miles away tonight so she doesn’t have to listen to the moaning.
Mark H
Discussing the task
Keith McCullough shows off his best side
Crowded skies
Related posts:
February 6th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Bummer, long task and long day. Chin up mate. The brits are in the best position since I can remember at a cat 1 comp.
Well done the lads
K
February 6th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I second that kell,Chin up mate you have done a truly wicked job out there,well done mark.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
well you write well despite your mood!
nice one I’ve enjoyed the blogs
Nick (an aussie / kiwi)
February 6th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Well done, fantastic result for Team UK. So long and thanks for all the blogs!
Andy
February 7th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Hey Mark
Thank you for the great reads every day!
Made following this competition a lot of fun – very interesting to see it from so many very different angles.
Sorry you had bad day. Everyone sounds very tired, and yet you continue to do an exceptional job which is appreciated.
Snippets of Mark Hayman’s Blog keep cropping up in conversation Down Under. You have quite a fan club
Great job!