[start] [beginner]


Greetings fellow O'ers,

It appeared the weatherman was not entirely accurate for clear skies on Saturday, given the passing clouds and occassional spatter of raindrops. It may have scared a few off. Most O'ers, however, commented how much more pleasant the running was…we held off the significant showers just until the very last runners came in from the advanced course.

On the beginner course, we had Micaela Fisher, a BSU student who came per Dondi's recommendation. They went out together with Sage to break in the course and tackle the single hill I included as a sampler of what Stewart had to offer. She finished easily and decided to try the intermediate on her own too…

I sent my codirector Bill off a few minutes after Micaela so at least two got the benefits of a highly sophisticated course setting (and perhaps create a bit of competition.) By the end it became interesting, as Bill clambered down the reentrant towards the Go control in the trees, Micaela was in sight a couple hundred yards behind. Both finished within a minute of each other.

The Advanced course brought many of the traditional competitors back for a face off. A dynamic duo new to the foothills, Ray and Jeff with a bit of prior park experience, learned some new lessons about route selection but still managed to find them all and come back smiling just as some real rain began. Looked to me like they were ready for the next big woods meet. Lee Scott maintained his usual solid pace, but I had the entertaining view of watching him clamber straight up to the Go control at the end. Bill Leahy arrived early and smoothly previewed the course, avoiding any critical mistakes but generally feeling like there was a few more optimal route choices around…he was fairly confident he cinched the win and left early to catch his daughter's basketball game. Yet only a short while later Doug LaMott finished and shaved another minute off Bill's time to take the glory. My bet is that Sergey could do this course under an hour, and it looks like he'll be there this weekend to review the advanced course for those wanting to trim those extra minutes…

Congrats to all the finishers. Special appreciation goes to my codirector Bill Pilcher, who saved me considerable setup time on the west side of the map and handled east side pickup with me in the rain; Doug LaMott, who went back to the west side no less than twice with his truck to pick up those distant controls, including one on intermediate that was pulled from its location and tossed in a gully; and Dondi who helped record finishers while taking extra photos I use here in the meet report.

Final results:
Beginner, 1.6km, 65m climb, 6 controls 
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Micaela Fisher (and Dondi Dawley)  0:31 

Intermediate, 4.6km, 340m climb, 9 controls 
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Bill Pilcher                       1:08:30 
Micaela Fisher                     1:13 

Advanced, 6.2km, 495m climb, 14 controls 
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Doug LaMott                        1:16 
Bill Leahy                         1:17:30 
Lee Scott                          1:22:30 
Ray Honovich & Jeff Decker         2:15 
For the Riverstone students - there is one more meet in the foothills that goes on the spring interscholastic challenge! Feel free to come on back to Hull's Gulch in May! In the meantime, Bill P. is finalizing the details on the new Rabbit Creek map for early June...

Your meet directors,
Jeff Black and Bill Pilcher

Click on image to get full map. For your course analyses here is best routes for the advanced course by Sergey. Minimize distance and climb!