November 27, 2014

Tradition Continues with 2014 Boise Street Challenge

Everyone is invited to our traditional Boise Street Challenge. This year it takes place in East Boise maze of neighborhoods.  Format of the event follows conventions of a score course, where controls may be acquired in any order, and there is a time limit to meet or points are deducted.  In the Street Challenge, there are a few more twists:

- the area is much larger than a normal club meet, the map barely fits into 11”x17” page at 1:20000 scale, covering almost 25 square kilometers.
- there are no traditional orienteering controls, but rather multiple choice questions (ex. A, B, C) to be answered at the control circle location, points are added if answer is correct, points are deducted if answer is incorrect to discourage guessing.
- there are 40 controls, each worth 10 , 20, 30, or 40 points depending on the difficulty reaching the location.
- there is both a bike and run class of competition, bikers will have less time vs. runners, to make the mass finish easier and level the competition a little bit, for runners 3 hour time limit, for bikers 2:30 time limit, for runners 10 points deducted for each 5 minutes above the limit, for bikers 20 points deducted for each 5 minutes above the limit.
- you will traverse city streets, potentially with traffic, your upmost caution, attention, and execution are required.
- canals and Boise river “squeeze” traffic to few crossable points, these are shown with a passage signs on the map, use them wisely while designing your routes.
- it may be impossible to collect all controls in defined limit time so plan accordingly.

Map for the event was created from google Boise imagery, aligned to magnetic north, and scaled to 1:20,000. With additional highlights of canals bisecting the area, safe passages (shown with double purple lines), impassable cliffs, and Boise River – the area creates plenty of navigational challenges matching the name.

Date:  Saturday, November 29
Time:  Registration (each is required to fill out a form) opens 9am, maps passed out at 9:30am for study, competitor last instructions and group photo 9:50am, mass start at 10:00am sharp.
Start/Finish LocationNear Columbia Village recreation center at 3655 E Lake Forest Dr, South of Trail Wind Elementary School.
Classes:  Foot (3 hour limit), Bike (2:30 limit),
Cost:  $5 per map, free to CTOC members.

What to bring:  a couple pens or sharpies to circle your answers and plan your route, dress accordingly to the weather for a few hours outside, water as you need while on the course, cell phone for emergencies, compass to keep your map oriented (we have some for rental at nominal $1 fee).

Refreshments and water will be provided at the start/finish.

We hope to see out there enjoying outdoors!

Yours,

Sergey Velichko

November 19, 2014

Boise Street Challenge date moved to Saturday November 29

Due to weather prognosis and unsafe road conditions for both foot and bike traffic we are moving the Boise Street Challenge to Saturday November 29. 

We hope that the weather will improve and ice will be gone from roads by that date. Plus we all will have a very good opportunity to shed extra pounds after Thanksgiving!

This year Boise Street Challenge will explore pristine plains of East Boise with plenty of route choices and points to find. Meet center will be in Columbia Village with mass start 10 am November 29 sharp. We will post later exact directions to the meet center.

Hope to see you all there enjoying outdoors!

Yours,

Sergey Velichko
The 2015 Boise Street Challenge Designer 

P.S. Please distribute this message to anyone who might be interested.

November 17, 2014

Stewart Gulch Results - REVISION

A math correction on Bill Leahy's time has lead to a whole new lineup in the Intermediate class. Zach Clayton came in first followed by Jeff Black in second place and Rob Landis in third place. Bill Leahy is now in fourth place. Congratulations to Zach, and thanks to Jeff and Bill for the emails.

November 3, 2014

Stewart Gulch Results


Jerry above the city
 
This was our first opportunity at directing a meet and we didn’t quite know what to expect. After frenzied preparations we worried that no one would show up due to the dreadful weather forecast. At first light we set off in opposite directions to set the course. We anxiously awaited the storm that luckily never came. But the orienteers did come, more than expected prompting an emergency copy run to Kinko’s thanks to Jeff Black.
 
Mikayla heading down to the old Dodge

The Beginner Course was the only option to stay out of the steep hills. Vimean Rath had a hard time choosing which course to attempt but decided to go for the beginner. She came in with first place by a mere 30 seconds and will definitely try the intermediate course next time. Adam Wirth took off with his son Mac and they blasted through the course finishing second. That wasn’t enough for Adam who then headed off on the advanced course. The trio of Rikke Holtkotte, Maja Lillevoll and Robyn Olnes had a good time out on the course and will hopefully be back for more.


 
The Intermediate Course was the choice of the day with eighteen attempting the challenging course. Of those, only five found all of the controls within the two hour time limit. However it was a bit more challenging than planned due to a control being misplaced. Club veteran Bill Leahy was first in with Zach Clayton from the Riverstone School team close behind in second place and Jeff Black rounding out third place. We had out of town guests, Rob Landis (4th), Griffin Curtis (7th), Will Snyder (10th) and Peter Wolter (11th) joining us from the Community School in Sun Valley. They are planning their own event in Ketchum in November. Maybe there will be some orienteering school rivalry developing? Qiming Zhang planned it just right coming in just before the time cutoff having found all of the controls and finishing in fifth place. Melanie Wright came in just a few minutes before the cutoff and decided to take a gamble and head back out to grab one more control. The gamble didn’t pay off but luckily it didn’t cost her either. Mikayla Rose didn’t know there was a deadline so she came in late losing her points but did a great job finding most all of the controls. 
  
 
Bill finding the checkpoint
    
The advanced course ended up being a tight competition with under a minute between club veteran Ben Brock in first place and world class adventure racer Michael Tobin in second place. Adam Wirth with his beginner course warm up came in third with Michael Bading following in fourth. John Murray timed it right finding all of the points and coming in fifth with thirteen minutes to spare. Jay Morgan came in sixth with 150 points, wonder how he would have done if he hadn’t of promised to be home early?


Jay heading uphill, over 3000' for the full Advanced course

We thank you all for bearing with us on our first meet and hope everyone had a good time. As you know or may have learned, a score-o competition really ups the ante, it’s not just how fast you are or how well you navigate, strategy also comes into the picture. Someone left a compass at the meet. Please contact us and we will get it back to you.