September 25, 2010

National Orienteering Day Meet

September 12, 2010
Veterans Park, Boise, ID

Sunny Saturday at the Veterans Park started for us with a big surprise of hundreds people going via courses for Run and Walk for Autism http://www.asatvc.org/. First thoughts were about how we would manage to have our meet in parallel and where to park our car to unload meet equipment. Thanks to generous help from many people we were ready for the first start right in time. We even received a helping hand from Mrs. Boise who is, undoubtedly, an expert in unfolding canopies for big events. By 11 am crowds started to dissipate and by 11:30 we were left in the park all alone to see people enjoying nice fall weather and challenging courses. The motto of the day was “Speed and execution”. And, of course, refreshment galore.

Beginner course had 8 controls around the park which attracted a number of first comers, as well as some experienced ones. Carolyn and Suzanne finished course with smiles and big plans for orienteering. Suzanne is exploring a possibility of embedding orienteering into her class curriculum. We will definitely help her in this initiative. Toby was happy to stroll along the course with map in his teeth pulling Dondi behind. Angela with precious Julia and Emery came to practice orienteering skills and found all controls with those wonderful punches. We hope to see you again enjoying courses at our future meets.

Grueling Intermediate course with more than 4 km length and 18 controls saw Donna and Jeff taking honors to finish it completely under 1 ½ hour mark. David started but had to finish it prematurely to catch on other day activities.

Our Advanced course which was one men relay with two loops, as always, created quite a competition among our hardcore participants. First loop circled Veterans Lake and second ventured to Willow Lane Park. Some even managed to cross lake using strategically placed rocks and logs! Undoubtedly, it helped Jay to take second place winning merely 45 seconds over Lee. First place went to Jeff with excellent execution of the first loop and solid finish on the second. Ole showed forth time of the day, Merrill and Michael pair was next. John is progressing from meet to meet and will start challenging our top brass pretty soon. Bill Pilcher with two acquaintances explored all corners of both parks. They all received quite an exercise for 10 legs combined. Bill Leahy finished first loop but had to leave early.

Special thanks to Ole for helping to collect controls and club belongings after the meet.

Next meet is our famous Vampire O! Shone your favorite flashlight for some night action! Hope to see you all there.

Your meet directors,
Masha and Sergey Velichko


Results
Beginner Course: 1.35K, 8 controls (in no particular order)
Carolyn Flynn 25:45
Suzanne Wolfkiel 25:45
Dondi and Toby Black 21:30
Julia, Emery, Angela Withers 43:00

Intermediate Course: 4.17K, 18 controls
Donna Goodwin, Jeff Decker 1:28:00
David Murray DNF

Advanced Course (Motala – one man relay)
Loop 1: 2.57K, 10 controls
Loop 2: 3.82K, 12 controls
Loop 1 Loop2 Total
Jeff Black 15:10 24:55 40:05
Jay Morgan 20:30 27:40 48:10
Lee Scott 17:55 31:00 48:55
Ole Bergset 20:25 33:54 54:19
Merrill Hayden and
Michael Bading 24:09 40:15 1:04:24
John Murray 28:01 55:43 1:23:44
Bill, Molly, Dazzle Pilcher 35:48 1:10:08 1:45:56
Bill Leahy 27:10 DNF DNF