After a week of cold and rainy weather, the clouds parted Friday just in
 time to dry out the Boise foothills surrounding Hull's Gulch in time for
 Saturday's meet.  Saturday dawned clear and crisp, and developed into a
 beautiful spring day, with temperatures in the 50's and light winds (at
 least in the morning - late starters risked being blown off the
 ridgetops).
<br>
<br>
The Easy course was a 1.6km classic loop, with navigation totally on
 paths.  Most of the controls were also on or visible from the trails, but
 one towards the end of the course was hung out of sight on the northern
 edge of a large tree (the trail was on the southern edge) to keep folks
 on their toes.   A couple new faces came to join the grizzled veterans,
 with Keith Gerald leveraging his leg-length advantage to eke out a win
 over veteran Masha Velichko (no doubt slowed down by having to haul Daddy
 Sergey around the course).  Newcomers Joe and Joanne Leone used the
 course as a warm-up for the Intermediate course.  The field was rounded
 out by a couple of thundering herds, first veterans the Andersons and
 Judy Beeson, followed by Rick Smith accompanied by at least four young
 ladies (hard to get a good count...they moved pretty fast).
<br>
<br>
The Intermediate course also saw a mix of old and new faces.  After
 finishing up the Easy course barely breathing hard, Keith Gerard and the
 Leones immediately took the next step up.   And it was quite a step -
 length more than double that of the Easy course, climb nearly triple, and
 legs much more technically demanding, with trails only usable on less
 than 25% of the course.  Rounding out the pack were the Wades (ready for
 the Advanced course, but short on time), and Bob Didisse, accompanied by
 the control-sniffing Golden Retriever, Piper.  Amazingly, even though
 yours truly managed to seriously mess up the control descriptions (and
 thereby send most of the competitors on some wild and wooly goose
 chases), everyone still finished smiling (I think they were smiles,
 anyhow, although Piper's was accompanied by a deep growl that made the
 smile less than convincing).
<br>
<br>
The Advanced course upped the difficulty level to new heights, with
 controls on a number of technically difficult features, a number of
 direction changes, lots of length and climb, and a jumble of sprint-y
 100m legs and gut-busting 1km ones.  There were some early starters who
 wanted a bit of a warmup before the Race to Robie Creek later in the day.
 Jeff Black and Dave Bergset both turned in excellent times.  Joell
 Ramirez bailed early the first time through in order to make Robie, but
 came back the next day to simultaneously run the course and pick up
 controls.  For a while it looked like Mr. Black was going to be Alpha
 Orienteer for this run, but Sergey, fresh from the steep slopes of the
 Flying Pig championships in Cincinnati, turned in yet another shockingly
 fast time.  Rounding out the standings were Karin Didisse (handicapped by
 the lack of the control-sniffing Retriever), and the Stones, who had a
 bit of trouble with the ninth control, but otherwise had an excellent
 day.
<br>
<br>
Due to Robie, the post-mortem course analysis and beer & pizza swilling
 meeting at Lucky 13 was significantly smaller than usual (OK, it was just
 me and the Didisses), but the Chicken Cordon Bleu pizza was quite
 excellent.
<br>
<br>
Thanks to Sergey and Joell for the after-meet control pickup.  Much
 appreciated, guys!
<br>
<br>
Mark your calendars for the next meet, on the Julia Davis Park/BSU map.
 Due to National Orienteering Day, this meet is quite a bit earlier than
 usual - May Fourth.  See ya there!
<br>
<br>
Andy Hill
<br>
<br>
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Final results:

Easy:  1.6km, 60m climb, 6 controls
-----------------------------------------------
Keith Gerard                   22:40
Masha & Sergey Velichko        25:10
Joe & Joann Leone              26:08
Jennifer, Katelin, Austin      35:50
   Anderson & Judy Beeson
Rick Smith & Company           37:00

Intermediate:  3.5km, 165m climb, 8 controls
------------------------------------------------------
Jim & Justina Wade             72:00
Keith Gerard                   75:55
Bob Didisse                    78:00
Joe & Joann Leone             107:30

Advanced:  7.0km, 350m climb, 13 controls
-----------------------------------------------------
Sergey Velichko                61:46
Jeff Black                     74:20
Joell Ramirez                  88:00
Karin Didisse                 112:20
Dave Bergset                  115:30
John & Kris Stone             121:32 (missed #9)

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