May 8, 2016

13th Annual Rabbit Creek Results



A score course always makes things interesting and this event was no exception. On May 1st twenty six orienteers took off to try their skills at three different courses. There were several that came in and risked going back out for more. A seemingly simple control visible from the road thwarted many. It seems that the consensus was a good time had by all. We thank Bill Pilcher for once again hosting us at this unique location. 


I managed to talk everyone into the Advanced Beginner course so the Beginner course was not used. Norma and John went out together and cleared the course in a bit over an hour coming in with first place. It appears that Norma was in charge of navigation and learning fast. We had a new group come try orienteering all the way from Rupert. Bettina, Jessic & Vanessa found all ten controls and made it back well before the time limit to claim second place. Hopefully we will see them at future events. Katrina went out and made it back quickly but had to go back out to find PA and UA, however UA remained elusive. 
 
Carrie, Lauren & Erin at LL
Intermediate was the course of the day with thirteen attempting it. Carrie Magnuson brought two new people with her and finished in first place. Their after race celebration was somewhat hampered by realizing they had found something more than all the controls, ticks. Melanie Wright came in with second place even though she was one of the many that went out a second time to find the elusive UA. Lori, Brad and Jereme came in with all controls for third place. Jerry Stewart came in early and took a gamble that paid off going out for one more control and got back exactly in time. John Murray had a big day going out on the Intermediate course after doing the Advanced Beginner course with Norma. We had two additional new orienteers try their first course. I convinced Denise and Caroline to take on the Intermediate course and they did great getting all but one control within the time limit. Greg was out checking on the elusive UA control and said he had never seen Denise move so fast. Orienteering must bring out Denise’s competitive side. Innes Wright was another who came in and went back out for the elusive UA. We heard him muttering that all would be ok as long as he beat his wife back, he didn’t. I would bet that both Innes and his wife will soon be struggling to keep up with their daughter Katrina. Dondi, just back from a recent ultra event went out with her dog Toby and got 12 controls. 


On the advanced course competition was fierce for first place. Sergey came in a mere 22 seconds ahead of Ben Brock. I bet had Ben known that he was merely seconds behind Sergey he would have come sprinting in. Jeff Black came in at third place while managing to get several nice photos. Michael Badding came in and went back out for the elusive UA and got back in time. Ole also came in and then took off again for some more controls. Jay just beat the clock coming in with under a minute to spare with 17 controls. Bill Pilcher came in at two hours and when he heard the time limit was three hours went back out for more.  
Bill and his trusty dog
 
Ole heading for TA





Helpful tips: Dondi highlighted the controls in bright orange, especially useful in a score course where you might miss one. It’s pretty depressing getting back to the finish and realizing that you missed one control on the far side of the course that you would have had time to get while out there. Michael highlighted fences in yellow and power lines in green, a great way to quickly spot landmarks. Approach can matter, the somewhat elusive UA was not visible from the top of the cliff but very visible from below the cliff. It’s always a hard call to decide how long to spend looking for a control.
  

Jeff’s photos have been posted to the CTOC yahoo group site at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ctoc-boise/photos/albums/1255767509
Katrina and Norma enjoying all the great food