After weeks of rain, the odds of having a decent day for orienteering at Hull's Gulch seemed pretty low. Even your humble correspondent was well and truly drenched while setting the controls for the Advanced & Intermediate courses on the previous day. However, the weather took a major turn for the better Saturday, which dawned sunny and warm, with just a hint of a breeze -- well- nigh perfect weather. Strangely, the easier courses were pretty much deserted, with only Masha Velichko opting to run the Easy course -- the remaining orienteers, in an orgy of runaway testosterone, all opted for the downright nasty Advanced course. 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 the somewhat steep terrain made this course more physically challenging than the flat stuff in the city parks. As usual, 'tho, Masha made it look easy. The Advanced course was set to be pretty much a "Contour Reading 101" course, with most of the legs offering some sort of tradeoff between distance, climb, and navigational ease. As many of the competitors found, the straight-line course at Hull's is not usually the optimum route, and the tempting trail route is often the bait for a trap involving a lot of extra climb. The after-run debates over the best route choices was quite interesting, with some of the route choices being ones that even the course setter hadn't anticipated. In terms of time, Sergey had another fine run, coming in a few minutes ahead of the calculated "best" time. Jeff Black and Patrick Harper fought a tight race over the second and third positions. Everyone else turned in respectable times, although Jeff Decker had a bit of trouble finding a couple of the controls. It all comes with practice... Mark your calendars for the next meet, June 4 & 5, on the newly minted Rabbit Creek map. Come for the "classic" meet on the 4th, the long-distance "Rogain" on the 5th, or stay the night and do both! It promises to be a fun weekend in a very interesting area! Andy Hill ----------------------------------------------- Final results: Easy: 1.6km, 60m climb, 6 controls ----------------------------------------------- Masha Velichko 26:52 Intermediate: 3.49km, 140m climb, 7 controls ----------------------------------------------- No Takers Advanced: 6.91km, 400m climb, 10 controls ----------------------------------------------- Sergey Velichko 53:34 Jeff Black 65:25 Patrick Harper 66:50 Bill Leahy 74:58 Matt Herring 84:00 Doug Lamott 93:50 Lee Scott 94:10 Jim Cullum 108:50 Jeff Decker DNF For your course analyses here is best routes for the advanced course by Sergey. Alternative routes shown with dotted line. Minimize distance and climb!