NOD

Saturday, September 13th was National Orienteering Day. The City of Trees Orienteering Club held their monthly meet at Veterans and Willow Lane Parks. Three courses were set up: advance (39 controls), intermediate (20 controls), and beginning (9 controls).

It was a beautiful Idaho day that enabled us to enjoy the company of many familiar faces and to also meet new people. Overall we had 36 individuals participate on the courses. It was a nice turnout that made for a successful NOD. Thanks everyone!

On the beginning course we had three parties that wanted to race the course and five teams that wanted to learn to navigate and enjoy the park (recreation division). I believe everyone in this recreation division was new to orienteering and each of them found all 9 controls. On the racing side for the beginner’s course, Linda and Lexy tore thru the course in 10:48. Coming in second was the Tobin clan with Jenny pushing her two young ones in a jogger in 13:40. And amazingly, not very far behind, 7 year old Nicholas Byrne ran the course by himself and completed it in 13:59. Way to go Nicholas! (With a performance like this we may need to bump Nicholas up to the advance course.)

On the intermediate course we had three parties that contested the racing division and three groups that participated in the recreational division. On the recreation side, Kelly and Austin wetted their appetite on the beginning course and decided to tackle part of the intermediate course. The Leibowitz’ (dad, son, daughter) went out and nabbed 9 controls. Joann and Joe got all 20 controls (this team seems ready for some foothills and forest meets). In the racing division, ever dominant Masha finished first in 55:15. She was followed by Jim and Nicholas (he ran this course first and wasn’t tired so that’s why he did the beginning course too). Next in were Donna and Jeff.

The advance course seemed to be the popular course of the day – though maybe that wasn’t what the participants were thinking when they were out on the course. There was lots of mud, scratches, blood, and wet running shoes for folks on this course. A couple of the seasoned orienteering vets thought that control #5 (control #10 on the int course), on the east end of Veterans park, may have been slightly misplaced. Perhaps this is the way to slip up Sergey – he thought the river cleanup crew took the control and thus missed the control. Even though he missed the control (remember he was actually at the location), Sergey ran a blistering 48 minutes flat.

Jeff Black finished first in a strong 58:55. Michael Bading came home with a 1:02:22 and Lee Scott took third. Exciting orienteering also occurred from 4th place thru the end of the field - finishing times were a little closer together and participants were passing each other back and forth at times while on the course.

Congrats to Brad Lowe, the only entrant in the recreation division on the advance course. He found all 39 controls.

It was great to have two new experienced orienteerers on this course, Attila and Carl. Both finished with great times in parks they’d never been in before.

THANKS

Many thanks to our sponsors: Mike Shuman of Shu’s Idaho Running Co. for the goodie bags and the hydration packs we raffled off; and Doug LaMott and TML Heating and Cooling for the flashlights we raffled off and the refreshments he provided. Both Mike and Doug also helped get out the publicity on NOD.

Thanks to Doug LaMott and TML Heating and Cooling for sponsoring CTOC baseball-style caps which were available for sale at the NOD. The caps are $5 for members, $10 for non-members. These will be available at our next meet, or contact me if you’d like one before then.

Thanks to Brad and Doug for help in setting up the registration area. Thanks to everyone who helped give instruction to beginning orienteerers. I’m also grateful for the control pickup by Ole, David Bergset, Jeff Black, Jeff Decker, and Donna. This task was even more difficult since wire cutters were needed to snip off the zip ties I used to keep our controls from disappearing during the river cleanup. Then there was the help with registration area tear down that many people helped out with – thanks.

Thanks to Andy Hill for aligning control numbers on the map and printing all the maps.

So again, the CTOC and myself thank all of you for making NOD a success.

NEXT MEET

Our next meet is on Sunday, October 12th. This will be a Metrogaine – an urban orienteering meet. For a meet like this controls are placed throughout downtown and the surrounding area. There is a circle on your map where the control is located but there isn’t actually a control at that location. Instead there is a question on your map for that control and the answer can only be found when you get to the control’s location (for example: what is above the garage at the NW corner of 8th and Fort St. When you get there you find out the answer is a set of elk antlers.) Your answer is how we know you went to that control. Each control is worth a certain point value. There is a three hour time limit. You get as many controls as you can in that time frame. You can enter either a run/walk division or a bike division. There will also be a beginning course set up near the race start. (While this is a general description of a Metrogaine, the meet director may have a subtle variation of it. But it will be close to this format.) Come out and enjoy – this will be fun.

For additional information see our web site at:
http://www.ctoc-boise.org/ctoc/index.htm

MISCELLANEOUS

For all the new faces we saw at the NOD, and even for folks we always see, please provide me with any feedback you might have on our meet. Did you learn how to navigate? Did we give you enough instruction? Was the meet what you expected? Was the cost appropriate? What could we improve on? Negative or positive, I’d like to hear any feedback you might have for us.

*Note - A couple of participants asked me about the orienteering clue symbols that were on the back of your map. I find that this web site:
http://www.williams.edu/Biology/Faculty_Staff/hwilliams/Orienteering/clues.html
gives a very good explanation of them.

Meet Director, Bill Leahy
RESULTS

Beginning Course, Race Division (9 controls)
Lexy & Linda Leahy                   10:38
Jenny, Mikella & Jack Tobin          13:40
Nicholas Byrne                       13:59

Beginning Course, Recreation Division (in random order)
John Conners and Jan Salisburg       (9 controls)
Kelly & Austin Carlen                (9 controls)
James Rosenberg (& his dog)          (9 controls)
Megan Doherty & Ted Benner           (9 controls)
Tom Walton & Bill Bell               (9 controls)

Intermediate Course, Race Division (20 controls)
Masha Velichko                       0:55:15
Jim & Nicholas Byrne                 1:03:42
Donn Goodwin & Jeff Decker           1:27:00

Intermediate Course, Recreation Division
Joann Leon & Joe Novak               (20 controls)
Bob, Monica & Mitchell Liebowitz     (9 controls)
Kelly & Austin Carlen                (4 controls)

Advance Course, Race Division (39 controls)
Jeff Black                           0:58:55
Michael Badding                      1:02:22
Lee Scott                            1:08:00
Ole Bergset                          1:11:34
Michael Tobin                        1:13:07
Doug LaMott                          1:13:57
David Bergset                        1:16:32
Attila Nagy                          1:23:15
Carl Laniak                          1:32:00
Jay Morgan                           1:35:25

Advance Course, Recreation Division
Brad Lowe                            (39 controls)
Sergey Velichko                      0:48:00 (missed #5)