Saturday initially looked a bit uncertain given the number of clouds skidding across the sky at regular intervals, but that didn't stop a large group from savoring the challenge of an orienteering meet at the hilly Hull's Gulch. Temperature, by and large, was perfect for being outside in the Boise foothills. The meet director was a bit late in starting on time, but with patience came starts, and with starts came finishers… A complete mix of newcomers and the experienced took to the beginner course. The course routing was a little strange due to last minute changes to avoid a difficult climb, and in my premeet haste I missed adding map routing to a control further up the trail. No punches for that one, but the course still offered plenty to those who tried it. Carol Kendall (daughter of club member Frank Kruesi) and her daughter Erin left with lots of questions and came back with a few answers. Chris and Hayden Panike did their first round in prep for orienteering merit badge. Jason Gibson came fresh to try from Andy's O class the prior week, planning to return for next time perhaps... Pete Feeley and family arrived to give the sport a try (although had a bit of confusion as control codes were not explained by ye old meet director to be different from the map control order…) Andy and Elijah admired the dog leg from controls 2 to 3. The Cullum family split into competing teams, and blitzed into the finish only seconds apart. The intermediate drew some of the beginners still game for more, plus several more experienced looking to get their shoes dirty. As mentioned in the pre departure instructions, control 3 was on a "distinct tree", being more like a "distinct sage", but that didn't make it any easier for some. I could blame it on the usual fuzziness of the Hull's Gulch map, but the meet director will also endeavor to place more meaningfully next time. Matthew White was one who missed said control, but enjoyed the confusion so much he went out again for the advanced. Rob Barrett also gave it his best shot. Masha Velichko, shadowed by her father, tackled her first intermediate course and was more than up to the challenge. Dave Bergset and brother Eric (a newcomer to the sport) found all, sweaty but smiling. Chris and Hayden took an immediate graduation from the beginner ranks and tagged them all, leaving them with enough experience to challenge their fellow troop members in June. Carol Kendall went out herself after much pondering for which course to tackle, and despite not finding the last few controls made it back to the start perhaps ready for next time. Advanced drew an unusually large amount of interest this time around, and much to the satisfaction of the course director competitors were fairly equally divided in the controls they struggled with. The map can indeed be partly to blame (if they would stop building those pesky houses on the upper ridge that might help keep things current), and with the infamous "cliff" #3 control creating the most common confusion (director also announced pre start that this was a fuzzy control but there should be no questioning when it was seen; next time it will have a code to match…) Yet the 5-6 leg made for many varied route choices, as well as 6-7 and 7-8, judging from the conversations at the finish. Ivana Radlova cursed the map and her "slow" legs, but found them all in good time. Michael Tobin, fresh from his rogaining victory, gave the course a good blitz. Bill Pilcher leveraged his prior experience to finish with a big grin of satisfaction. Dan Herring and son matched their ultra/adventure running legs to the hills and finished solidly. Karen Didesse tackled the course as prep for Tahoe in a couple weeks, and had plenty to say about control #3 placement, but finished in good time regardless. Luke Studebaker took the direct route on leg 5-6 and had the bloody legs to show for it - his grit continues to show up. Bill Leahy of the Boise Aeros and daughter Lexy clearly enjoyed the challenge (and father keeping up with speedy daughter), to quote: "this was the toughest one yet." Lee Scott found the course challenging but enjoyable, only missing the solitary #8 tucked away at the top of a gully. Matthew White went out again, not deterred by his intermediate experience, and found them all to make up for it. Travis Jones took off to leave his son in charge of the windshield wipers and finished in short order before the fluid ran out. Sergey left last, but made up the time in spades, and complimented the meet director for his "mature course design", a good sign in the end. Next month we have two meets, an adventure style O meet on USGS maps near Cascade, and a traditional park meet in Julia Davis. The routes await! Jeff Black Beginner course: 1.5km, 45m climb --------------------------------------- Chris, Hayden Panike 20:00 Rochell, Dan Cullum 22:30 Jim, Natalie Cullum 22:45 Jason Gibson 25:00 Andy, Elijah Hill 38:00 Carol, Erin Kendall 42:00 Feeley family 1:18:30 Intermediate course: 4.5km, 225m climb ---------------------------------------- Dave, Erik Bergset 1:23:00 Masha Velichko 1:32:45 Chris, Hayden Panike 1:37:00 Matthew White 1:03:00 (DNF, missed #3) Rob Barrett 1:30:00 (DNF) Carol Kendall 3:07:00 (DNF) Advanced course: 6.4km, 335m climb ---------------------------------------- Sergey Velichko 0:50:54 Michael Tobin 0:59:00 Matthew White 1:19:30 Ivana Radlova 1:22:00 Luke Studebaker 1:29:20 Karen Didesse 1:33:25 Travis Jones 1:34:45 Bill Pilcher 1:48:30 Bill, Lexy Leahy 1:48:15 Herring team 1:52:00 Lee Scott 1:29:20 (DNF, missed #8)