May 26, 2010

Rabbit Creek Orienteering & Crawdad Feast Results


The 7th annual Rabbit Creek Orienteering Meet was well attended by not only orienteers but, also for the first time, by crawdad aficionados.
Thanks to Russ the crawdad feast was great and a few lucky crawdads even found their way into the Rabbit Creek pond. Maybe next year we will be self sustaining!
Unfortunately for those of you competing in the crawdad feast, it appears that Russ neglected to weigh the crawdads as they were dispensed to each participant. Because of this oversight it appears we will have to consider this portion of the competition as simply a fun match this year.
Fortunately Bill did remember his responsiblitly to record the times for the orienteers on the classic O-courses. Therefore at least that portion of the meet was a success!
Sergey smoked the advanced course, with no close competetion (1:06) and achieved his goal of exactly cutting in half the time of the chief crawdad cook, Russ Pilcher, (2:12), who ran the course the evening before. It would have been awesome if Sergey would have run the course forwards and then backwards in the time that Russ ran it once, but then he probably wouldn't have gotten any crawdads from the cook.


However, second place on the advance course was hotly contended with Jeff Black taking the honors at 1:31. Jay Morgan 1:34 and Bill Leahy 1:36 were hot on Jeff's tail. Jason Pilcher and John Murray completed the course in respectable times. Joe Walker ( I originally thought that "Walker" was his last name not his prefered method of locomotion) brought up the rear but that was only because he was distracted by a herd of beautiful wild horses.
The intermediate course was won handily by Eric Bergset 0:54 again with no close competion. As in the advanced course, second place was very close, with Karin Didisse 1:39 taking the honors for 2nd place followed closely by Jeff Decker at 1:41, Brad Lowe and Dawn Caldwell at 1:42 and Joey Davis with Erin Lane at 1:43. David Bergset with Neva Suarez and Charlie Solomon also did a great job on the Intermediate course and both possibly would have been in the running for crawdad champion had Russ been keeping tally.

Jeff Black went back out on the beginner course and pulled it down in 0:13 but was disquaified because HE IS NOT A BEGINNER!! Dondi Black, Linda & Lexi Leahy and Robbie Solomon were great sports and took in the beginner course around the ranch too!


Advanced:
Sergey Velichko 1:06
Jeff Black 1:31
Jay Morgan 1:34
Bill Leahy 1:36
Russ Pilcher 2:12
Jason Pilcher 2:21
John Murray 3:07
Joe Walker 3:48
Intermediate:
Eric Bergset 0:54
Karin Didisse 1:39
Jeff Decker 1:41
Brad Lowe
& Dawn Caldwell 1:42
Joey Davis
& Erin Lane 1:43
David Bergset
& Neva Suarez 2:06
Charlie Solomon 2:46
Beginner
Jeff Black 0:13
Dondi Black 0:26
Linda &
Lexi Leahy 0:58
Robbie Solomon 0:58

Bill P. (converted to blog post hastily by Jeff)

May 12, 2010

Rabbit Creek O meet & Crawdad Feast

Sunday May 16th
Murphy, Idaho
Classic Course: Advanced, Intermediate and Beginner
Starts 10AM - 1PM
All you can eat Crawdads, Potatoes & Corn
Feast starts at Noonish
Until the food runs out
also
Lots of Lousiana Beer
Not necessary to run to participate in the Crawdad Feast!
We have some excellent prizes donated by
Shu's Idaho Running Company
The prizes will be won by drawing
watches, jackets, gift certificates, etc
Each person or group actually running the race will receive one entry for the drawings
must be present to win
Russ, will also be providing unique gifts for all participants in the course
One gift for each person or group entered
The gifts are top secret, only Russ knows what they are!
Come take your chances!!
Bill is in charge of course design
Russ is in charge of food and beer (his specialties)
Directions to the event from I-84:
Directions:
From Boise take I-84 west to Nampa (exit #35). Turn Left and proceed to 3rd Street S (Caldwell Blvd). Turn Left on 3rd Street S (Caldwell Blvd) and proceed to 12th Ave. Turn Right on 12th Ave. Follow 12th Ave. south and it becomes Hwy 45 as it leaves Nampa city limits. Follow Hwy 45 across the Snake River. Soon after crossing the river, bear to the left and it becomes Hwy 78. Follow Hwy 78 to milepost 29. Immediately after passing the "Murphy" city limits sign turn to the Right on "Old Hwy 45" follow this for one block then continue straight and it becomes " Rabbit Creek Road". Follow Rabbit Creek Road for about 5 1/2 miles to J & S Road there is a lone mailbox and a BLM sign there that says "Road Ends on Private Land in 1 mile". Turn Left on J&S Road and follow this road approximately 1 1/2 miles to the house and sign in area.

May 3, 2010

Stuart Gulch Meet Results

Thanks to everyone who showed up to run the Stewart Gulch East map. It was a beautiful day, which seemed to bring a little comfort to the fact that the day started out rough even for the meet director, and that each course was pretty demanding to say the least.

As I started out to set the course early on Saturday morning I was filled with energy and excitement since this was my first time designing courses on this map. I knew I had everything ready, maps, control flags, tables, sign-up sheets, water, snacks, etc. And since this map has pretty tough terrain I made sure to give myself extra time to set the courses. With the back of my car filled with all of the necessary 'O' equipment I made my way to Hillside Jr. High School to start setting the West half of the map. The air was crisp, the sun was rising, and I could tell it was going to be perfect weather for orienteering. With the first two hanging controls in place I headed off to pound in the first of the post controls with my trusted 5 pound sledge hammer in tow. It was at this point when I felt a shift in the air.

As I pounded in the first post and reached over to grab a control flag to hang I realized that I had forgotten all of the unmarked control flags for the post controls (did I mention earlier that I "knew" I had everything?). After a brief moment of some very "creative" words for my forgetfulness, I decided that all I could was continue setting the course. But I new my time was now severely limited. I made it back to the car and grabbed a handful of unused hanging controls (which would add an extra level of confusion later) and started back out to run the Western half of the map for a second time.

I finally made my way to the start where I met our trusted Jeff Black who was there to co-direct. I couldn't unload the meet center materials from car fast enough. Needless to say, I got the rest of the courses set and we only had a 30 minute delay.

Now onto all of those who actually paid money to run these courses. You all deserve a cold drink, a medal, maybe some new shoes, and maybe your sanity back. All three course were very challenging for their respective levels. Out for his first orienteering meet, Scott Hall started things off on the Beginner course followed up by Dondi Black and Toby, and then Angela Withers and her husband and two young girls.

Hats off to Roy, Ethan, and Kirsten Meade who were eager (and the only ones) to tackle the Intermediate course. Unfortunately, this course proved to be quite a challenge and a the Meade Family headed in early to mend some wounds.

The Advanced course, now known as the "Man-Maker", was not to be taken lightly. With several long stretches between controls, route selection was crucial. Although, I'm not sure any single route selection was better than another. Jay Morgan was the first competitor to head out on the Advanced course but soon ran into trouble at #4 where he was joined by Ole. The two of them worked together to finally get onto #5. Bill Leahy and Dennis Keogh tackled the course as a team while Bill gave some instruction along the way (which included some creative route selection which I'll get to later). Jeff Decker was up next with Sergey quick on his heels, just edging out Jeff Black by three minutes to take first. While Sergey didn't have a whole lot of comments on the course, Jeff seemed all to eager to let me know what he thought of the "Man-Maker". And finally, not to be outdone by anyone, the Brothers Pilcher raised their flag and prepared to out "O" each other. Bill took to the start first but as soon as he hit Hillside Jr. High School he decided that he'd had enough. Russ completed the entire course and is awarded with the "Man-Maker Man of the Day" award for not only finishing the entire course, but for also being the only competitor on the Advanced course to stay officially "in bounds". Choosing to take the much harder route in order to avoid the "out of bounds" section along Hill Road and next to the golf course. Not only that, but Russ (and the other competitors) also dealt with the confusing control markers since the post controls also had labeled hanging flags.

Despite the rough start to the day and the very challenging course I think everybody that showed up had a good time. There were very lively debates about the course and how us locals choose to respectfully disregard out of bounds sections on our maps. I'm sure tales of the "Man-Maker" will continue to grow increasingly hard to believe over the years and we can look back on this time say that we were there on that faithful day.

Again, a big thank you to all of you that showed up to compete and a special thank you to Jeff Black, Jeff Decker, and Russ Pilcher for keeping us all honest.

We look forward to seeing at the Rabbit-O/Crawfish Feed on May 16th.

RESULTS

Beginner Course
Scott Hall
37:42
Dondi Black
54:20
Angela Withers & Family
1:20:00

Intermediate Course
Meade Family
DNF

Advanced Course
Sergey Velichko
1:10:55
Jeff Black
1:13:30
Jeff Decker1:50:55
Bill Leahy & Dennis Keogh
2:03:00
Ole Bergset2:08:00
Jay Morgan
2:09:00
Russ Pilcher
3:05:00
Bill Pilcher
DNF