September 30, 2008

Coming up: Boise Metrogaine

For the glorious fall month of October, we are holding what has become a traditional event for our club: the Boise Metrogaine. What makes this event different from our normal club meet? It now covers all of downtown Boise and some of the surrounding neighborhoods and parks, using questions as "controls" that can only be answered by actually being there. You may be surprised at what small details you never noticed before in our fair city! For those of you who remember the Score-O style of orienteering, this is similar in that you can choose your own route and find controls in any order. You are only limited by time, in this case 3 hours maximum. Some controls - typically the most distant - are usually worth more points, and there is a stiff penalty for overtime.

If you try to get them all, keep in mind this is BIG: last year it was estimated the total distance for the quickest course was around 20 miles, completing all controls. Besides the usual running and hiking options, a bike class is available too.

Given the sheer scale of this map and the time involved, a beginner orienteering course in the park will also be offered for those looking for a more relaxed event. You can show up anytime after the mass start of the metrogaine (where everyone leaves at the same time), although the beginner course will be closed by 1pm.

Date: Sunday, October 12th
Start time: Mass start at 10:30! Plan to be at the start no later than 10:15 for instructions.
Time limit: 3 hours. (Meet directors will pack up not long after 1:30pm.)
Location: Starts at Ann Morrison park, by the bridge over the river.
Course design: Jeff Black
Map: USGS 1:20000 with minor additions

Hope to see you on the 12th!

Jeff Black

September 25, 2008

Membership and Fees

Membership dues allow the club to pay expenses for conducting meets (maps, equipment, etc.), keeping you updated on the club activities (web, mail, fliers, etc.), and pay OUSA for meet insurance and support. We try to make this sport affordable to all people. Joining the CTOC and OUSA gives you a chance to be part of the orienteering community.

Fees for the meets:
Local meet fees (excluding A and B meets):
  • Single meet (day) dues: $10 per person/team, free for members
  • Single Junior (up to 20 years old): $5 per person/team, free for members
  • If more than one map is needed for a team, a small additional fee may be needed per the discretion of the meet director depending on printing costs.
A, B meets:
  • $5/day per person, club member discount
CTOC membership:
  • Regular $45 (pays for all local meets).
  • Family $65 (pays for all local meets).
  • Associated $15 (no discounts at local meets) - voting power only.
Membership renewal on January 31 of each year. Monthly Pro-Rata for membership fees:


MonthRegularFamily

JAN$45$65

FEB$42$60

MAR$38$54

APR$34$49

MAY$30$44

JUN$26$38

JUL$23$32

AUG$19$27

SEPT$15$22

OCT$11$16

NOV$8$11

DECFullFull

CTOC membership gives you the opportunity to support your club in addition to discounts at any local meet in Boise and nearby clubs in Washington (and some other clubs around the USA). Taking under consideration that CTOC conducts more than 10 meets per year that can save you money.

CTOC membership online form or download the PDF here, print it, then submit it to us together with membership fee at the next meet.

OUSA membership:
Being a member of OUSA gives you opportunity to support orienteering in the USA.  This includes programs for new maps, A meet equipment and loans, and Junior programs (such as having a national coach visit our Riverstone students for specific training, which happened in 2014).  You also get a discount at all A meets around the country and a subscription to the Orienteering North America magazine, which includes many maps and events from all over the world as well as training advice and strategies.

September 22, 2008

NOD photos

Photos from the National Orienteering Day meet Sept 13, 08.

September 16, 2008

Meet Results: NOD Results - 09/13/08

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 gives a very good explanation of them.

RESULTS

Beginning Course, Race Division (9 controls)time
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)time
Masha Velichko 0:55:15
Jim & Nicholas Byrne 1:03:42
Donn Goodwin & Jeff Decker1:27:00
Intermediate Course, Recreation Division
Joann Leon & Joe Novak 20 controls
Bob, Monica & Mitchell Liebowitz 9 controls
Kelly & Austin Carlen4 controls

Advance Course, Race Division (39 controls)time
Jeff Black 0:58:55
Michael Badding1:02:22
Lee Scott1:08:00
Ole Bergset 1:11:34
Michael Tobin1:13:07
Doug LaMott1:13:57
David Bergset 1:16:32
Attila Nagy1:23:15
Carl Laniak1:32:00
Jay Morgan1:35:25

Advance Course, Recreation Division
Brad Lowe 39 controls
Sergey Velichko0:48:00 (missed #5)