November 13, 2012

Caldwell City Challenge Meet Report


Seventeen hearty souls (which equates to 34 soles) participated in Sunday’s (Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2012) “The Caldwell City Challenge”, a 60+ % increase over last year’s meet.  Seven used pedal power and eleven relied solely on foot power.  Three participants completed the course with perfect scores which required them to visit all 36 points and to correctly select the answer the course setter (me) considered the best choice. How did the meet go?  Well, afterwards, our very own Sergey renamed the event: “The Caldwell Metro-ROGAINE” (Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance).  Completing this course required accurately navigating over 20+ miles.  The main goal, however, was to have fun!
2012 Course Map

My sincere thanks go to my brother Bill who provided course vetting and printing services for our waterproof maps and clue sheets.  Also to my spouse, Caroll, who provided the post meet pot of chili and the coffee, tea & apple cider.  I provided the warming fire, the USMC Birthday cake, the SPAM & Tabasco Sauce, M & M’s, and Marine Corps Cups hoping this would eliminate any complaints (I was wrong).
The course setter learned several valuable lessons this year.  One was not to use porta-potties as a control feature (they have a tendency to disappear overnight).  The meet director (me) assumes full responsibility for the two mispellings on the clue sheet and any/all ambiguity some experienced with the many possible answers on the clue sheet.  The main lesson here was not to rely on a course vetter from the same gene pool as the course setter.

The attached photo shows that our missing Porta-pottie, Control #43,  was found in McCall.  Although the correct response would have been "White", I ended up giving the full 40 points for any response: "Red", "White" or "Blue" (I also gave 40 points even to those who didn't make it to the porta-pottie).
Control #43
I have carefully considered all protests from various competitors and have dismissed all except the one presented by Ben Brock.  Ben was the only protester to submit a protest in the appropriate format: i.e., photographic evidence and a money order in an appropriate amount; hence, control 51 allowed for ‘B’ or ‘C’ as correct responses.

A more complete set of meet photos can be seen here (yahoogroups).

Here are the "Official Results":
"On Foot" Division
1st        Sergey Velichko 
2nd       Jeff Black      
3rd        Ben Brock
4th        Karin Didisse
5th        John Murray
6th        Jereme Richardson, Lori Mangum, Brad Macintosh
7th        Nancy, Henry, Randy Jensen

"On Bike" Division
1st        Jay Morgan
2nd       Bill Lehey
3rd        Andy Hill
4th        Wayne Herbel & Sons
5th        Michael Bading (note:  Michael actually had the best time on the course and would have won but didn’t notice the two suns on the fence and went with the stars on the house instead; DARN!) 
Challenge winners Sergey and Jay.  Jeff shared Sergey's Spam in 2nd place.

Results Table

Thanks to all who came!  I only hope you had as much fun participating as I had hosting.


Russ Pilcher
Meet Director

November 7, 2012

2nd Annual Caldwell City Challenge

Sunday, November 11, 2012
You’re Invited to join us for the
City of Trees Orienteering Club's (CTOC)
2nd Annual Caldwell City Challenge

Start and Finish will be at the home of Russ Pilcher

618 Birch Falls St
(Near the corner of 10th Ave and Linden, call if you have problems finding it: (208) 965.9343)
Caldwell, ID 83605


Registration Opens: 10:00 am
  Maps handed out at: 10:30 am
    Start time: 11:00 am ("eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month", in recognition of Armistice Day and our celibration of Veterans Day)
      End time: 2:00 pm

You will be provided a detailed Caldwell City Map with 36 locations circled. Your goal will be to find/visit as many of the 36 locations as possible within a 3 hour time period. At the various locations, participants will read a question on the back of their map that can easily be answered if at that location. Participants will circle one of 3 multiple choice answers as proof of visiting the correct location. The specific location visited will be worth different point values based upon the distance from the start/finish area. For those competing, the highest total point scores win. There will be “On Foot” and “On Bike” categories.

You can be a competitor or a non-competitor. Baby Strollers and pets on leashes are welcome. In other words just come, enjoy the City of Caldwell, and have a good time.

Entry fees are: free to members of the City of Trees Orienteering Club and to Veterans, $5.00 per map for non-members (individual or group). You may want to bring: a watch, a compass, a snack and a cell phone. (Some compasses will be available to borrow)
Hope to see you there! — Russ Pilcher, Director

Please let me know if you have ????’s. Email: rp1020@sbcglobal.net; (208) 965.9343

November 2, 2012

Vampire-O Results


We had another nice turn out for this year’s Vampire-O. The cool temperature and overcastted sky with occasional light sprinkles was no deterrent for the determined vampires.  It began with a mass start of nearly 30 participants heading in all directions. For two years running, David and Liman Murray volunteered to be the first vampire and began their hunt 2 minutes after the mass start. It was a busy night for vampires and in total the vampire card traded hands 6 times.  It was good mix of experienced and newbie orienteer’s who were caught by the vampire and then captured another to pass the vampire card.

 
Students from River Stone Int'l School Outdoor Ed Program

Jenny Chu and Jeannette Thornton were first to finish with great time of 32min 47sec well ahead of the near competitor fellow River Stone classmate Triston Rericha. The River Stone students and teacher had a good showing at this year’s vampire-O by claiming the top 3 spots.  There was a usually high number who went over the 1 hour time limit. This was primarily due to the meet director not clearly calling out the limit. Therefore, I felt it was only fitting to reduce the penalty time to only -2pts/min.

 


Our final vampire of the night Ethan Dixon
As individuals and teams crossed the finish there were plenty of stories, laughs and drama to go around. About how two individuals would dance around control points waiting for it to clear thinking that the other was the vampire. There was a group who resorted to combat crawling to control points. Our final vampire of the night was Ethan who was able catch a victim but did not realize he needed the pass the vampire card that he had left behind.
 
 
Congratulations and many thanks to you and Donna for once again hosting a great, pre-Halloween, Vampire-0! I'm not sure how, but you arranged the perfect weather. The dark, threatening cloud cover portended doom while at the same time prevented a waxing gibbous moon from exposing the ever lurking vampire. I particularly enjoyed the costumes you and Donna donned: i.e., two delicious looking, great smelling (at least one of you was), unsuspecting victims. I thoroughly enjoyed this orienteering meat; I just couldn't get my fill which explains why I stayed out on the main course so much longer than most. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to sample some of the vampire's blood. Oh well, there's always next year (hopefully).  W. Wolf
My co-director and I really enjoyed the evening with lots of new and familiar faces. No one seemed to enjoy the event more than the kids. The vampire-o has become a light hearted, family and kid’s friendly event. But then again, maybe it’s the free Halloween candy.

A big thanks to Jeff, John and Ben for helping with course pickup.

We hope to see again at our next event Caldwell Street Challenge with Russell Pilcher director. It is sure to be another fun event for all!
 


Click the result to see a larger verison