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The Thomas Kids in Hot Pursuit of a Control |
Sunday's meet saw an enthusiastic
introduction to orienteering by the Thomas family and breakthrough
performances by Dondi Black and Steve Raeder as well as an expansion
of our map inventory to include Bogus Basin.
The Intermediate Course was a subset of
the Advanced Course penetrating the same dense brush and tackling the
same steep slopes. Forewarned by the mapper's and course setter's
notes no one chose to run it. However, Elijah and Andy Hill did
attempt the Intermediate Course, unaware that they had been given the
wrong map. They asked for the Easy Intermediate Course that avoids
some of the heavy brush and steep slopes. Instead they got the not
easy Intermediate Course map. It took them into the rough stuff after
the second control. Whether it was the wisdom that comes with
experience or just good judgment the result was the same. In a
display of prudence uncommon among our kind they bailed.
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Caution Speeding Orienteer
Greg Davidson Powering Up |
Then there was the group who opted for
the Easy Intermediate Course and actually received the corresponding
map. Dondi has spent a lot of time at orienteering courses. When
confronted with this accusation she simply pleads that she is married
to Jeff. Sunday that excuse evaporated as she turned in a very
credible performance on the Easy Intermediate Course. In an entirely understandable coincidence Toby achieved a corresponding improvement in the K9 group. Good job! Most
of you probably don't know Steve Raeder. He got one of those
confounding introductions to orienteering last year at the Bear Basin
score meet. Like others before him he came back anyway. And he handled the
course well enough to take top honors. We look forward to seeing a
lot more of Steve in the future.
Looking at the times you would not
expect the Advanced Course was a short 4.2k. That's as the crow
flies. Obstacles, mostly dense brush, lengthened the actual distance.
Steep slopes and unstable footing slowed progress. This was not a
runner's course. Sergey foreran the course on Saturday and set the
standard. Five other competitors followed Sergey on Sunday and all
turned in respectable times, evidently without any catastrophic
navigation errors.
Special thanks to Sergey for his gentle
encouragement and his assistance directing on Sunday.
There's not another meet so
lighthearted, so kid-friendly and so punctuated by clever betrayals
than the Vampire-O. Don't miss it at Simplot Fields October 27 at
7:00PM with Jeff Decker directing.