Greeting fellow O'ers: Pictures attached: 1. Bill Leahy discusses route selection with Jeff Decker and Donna Goodwin; 2. The Kapuscinski family prepares to start; 3. Sergey finishes hard for first place on advanced; 4. Elijah sprints for control #2 on beginner. Gorgeous weather prevailed on Saturday, much to the satisfaction of those who decided to pick the CTOC National Orienteering Day local meet over the many other options available that weekend. The usual sort of three courses awaited them, with a few twists and turns yet for the advanced course even on the tried and true Veteran's Memorial Park/Willow Lane combo map. A wide variety of newcomers to the sport tackled the beginner course, which for the first time in this director's memory stretched across a bridge just into the deep woods of Veteran's. Doug Cooper, eager to get some orienteering training in for his firefighting job, took first place for his first time out with the club, not even looking mildly winded - must be all that training I hear about. Elijah Hill, however, gave him a real run for his money by giving the gusto on his own after commenting how nice it was to have an O meet on a summer day. (Indeed.) He took second by only 3 minutes. Then we have one of the two scout troops who arrived that day, the first being led by Malcolm Heslin, accompanied by Scott Chapman and Barbara Chaney, and they studiously cranked through the course without a hitch. Right after them came Philip and Liam McLain, with just 20 seconds more. Unya and Mark, who were spending their time at Andy Hill's place and could easily be cajoled into a new adventure, came back more than happy. And then there was Mike and Kathy Kapuscinski, with their two kids (one on wheels, one in pack), who found the course nice and easy (a good sign for the meet director, really) and definitely plan to come back for more at the next opportunity. Beginner: 1.25km, 0m climb, 7 controls ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -- Doug Cooper: 20:00 Elijah Hill: 23:00 Malcolm Heslin, Scott Chapman, Barbara Chaney (troop): 29:00 Philip and Liam McLain: 29:20 Unya and Mark: 36:20 Mike, Kathy, 2 kids Kapuscinski: 42:35 Then...we have the intermediate contenders. Near the remains of the day, this became an increasingly interesting event as certain controls (#3 and #10) disappeared under mysterious circumstances, never to be seen again. Hence early starters had some distinct advantages in their winning placement, perhaps. Jeff Decker, equipped with full GPS tracking, had only a few small overruns (those computer records cut no slack) but handily nabbed first place given his ongoing marathon training. Doug Cooper, for whom the beginner course was merely a warmup, apparently enjoyed the intermediate course too despite a few nicely hidden flags and came in second. Masha was a solid third, even after realizing she punched the first beginner control rather than intermediate and ran back to grab the right one (ok, they were very close, but it was really a key code reading test!) Ken and Peter Beckner finished at a nice run, and the elder of them remembered that 80's music played by a competing event only yards away perhaps much too well. (Not Masha's favorite music either.) And the scout troop headed by Malcolm made the second trip too and found the more technical controls rather intriguing. Perhaps...they will be back for more. Then came those who had to play detective for waylaid controls...the Hill clan (Andy and Elijah), Unya and Mark (also out for a second round), and lastly the second scout troop led by Mike Palmer all finished their course but duly noted certain controls were no longer in play. In two other cases fate played a critical role...Donna Goodwin was nabbed by a mean hornet and bailed for ice, but rest assured she will be back again. Dondi Black was given some detailed guidance as to the nature of the #3 clue description (not quite correct), and so eventually concluded it couldn't exist. The technical, out of the way #9, was also bypassed in favor of getting back home to hit up that lingering homework...or maybe it was those Terra Chips that Karin brought that were disappearing fast. Regardless of circumstance, all on intermediate got plenty out of their experience - on a more technical course than usual, reaching into Willow Lane for something a little different than last year's beaten path. Intermediate: 3.43km, 0m climb, 12 controls ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - Jeff Decker: 35:31 Doug Cooper (2nd course); 39:38 Masha Velichko: 56:00 Ken and Peter Beckner: 58:21 Malcom, Scott, Barbara (2nd course): 1:34:47 Elijah and Andy Hill (2nd course): 1:41:00 (#10 missing) Unya and Mark (2nd course): 1:43:15 (#3, #10 missing) Mike Palmer + 4 (troop): 2:17:00 (#3, #10 missing) Donna Goodwin: 48:00, DNF Dondi Black: 1:01:00, DNF Advanced, with its full course reaching end to end and loop to loop on the map, was as technical as could be for a park meet and nearly buried a control or two in some of the remaining wildlands of the parks. Experienced competitors happily strode to the challenge, but came back with a nice scratch or two for their speed. Sergey Velichko decided to memorize the 19 controls and took his usual sort of first place, but Lee Scott made up considerable speed and skill in the past year and came in less than a minute behind him, albeit cursing the infamous #16 which required a near crawl. They set the bar high. Kristin Ritzenthaler, fresh off her bike ride to the park, turned in a very respectable time 6 minutes after them, while Bill Leahy came within inches (so to speak) of matching her time as his speed work paid some dividends on the long stretches. Ole Bergset was challenged by a few surprise locations where few had gone before (#16 included) and came in not long afterward, with his son David close behind. Finally, Jay Morgan made a return visit after a few earlier meets and remained unswayed by the technical challenge. Hopefully future meet directors can keep coming up with a surprise or two on our city maps... Advanced: 5.44km, 0m climb, 19 controls ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ------ Sergey Velichko: 39:10 (memory) Lee Scott: 40:30 Kristin Ritzenthaler: 46:00 Bill Leahy: 46:26 Ole Bergset: 59:36 David Bergset: 1:04:45 Jay Morgan: 1:26:26 Stay tuned for the Metrogain next month, where Karin promises to bring the metro back in the game. Start time is 10:30 sharp at Ann Morrison (usual start location). A traditional course will be offered at 11am, too, for those seeking sanity in their lives and less distance. My deep appreciation goes to those who collected and saved as many controls as possible for another day: Ole and David Bergset, and the scouts led by Mike Palmer for the last afternoon run. Special thanks to Bill Leahy for helping me with setup and takedown while I continued to recover from a bad bug earlier in the week, and to my codirector Karin who made the trek down from McCall with plenty of food and Hydrolite/Gookinaid /TBD (and those Terra Chips!) for all. Mike Shuman from Shu's Idaho Running Company generously provided four race packets that were awarded at various points during the meet, which were so full of running goodies I suspect the recipients are still finding things to use. That bodyglide sample might very well come in handy for another advanced control #16. Until the next control, Jeff Black Meet Director