Queen (Mine) for a Day

Sunday was ladies' day at the Queen Mine meet. Ever so aptly named, the Queen Mine drew five women to tackle the steep slopes and rough ground. Only Jay Morgan failed to get the memo that men were not welcome. But, we let him run with the women anyway.

Everything was all Wright. Although it was labeled a beginner course, it was really an orange-level  course that Katrina completed in 32 minutes and 12 seconds, no small feat considering that the grass was taller than she was in a few places. Katrina navigated at a level way above the beginner class while Melanie was out racking up a very impressive winning time of  1:15:32 on what was euphemistically designated as the intermediate course.

A few words about that intermediate course: It was intermediate only in that it lacked the gratuitous extra horizontal distance usually inserted only to gratify our indefatigable ultra-runners. Anywhere else in the country a course with 400 meters of elevation gain and loss would be regarded as excessively challenging. The Queen Mine's steep slopes and rough ground do present a challenge. And that terrain challenge is not without its navigational challenges either as it traverses re-entrants, rock features and is punctuated by dense vegetation.

Melanie Schuster followed Melanie Wright with a solid performance at 1:43:52. Due to injuries we hadn't had the pleasure of Kerry Davis's company for some time. As a bonus Kerry introduced her friend Natalie to our sport as they worked the course as a team. Kerry and Natalie finished in 1:55:06. It just wasn't the guys' day with Jay Morgan at 2:27:00. As for me, I'm a guy too. It showed as I took two-and-a-half hours to pick up controls.

Much thanks to the Wright girls for picking up the orange course. Mike Teller was kind enough to help me carry equipment to the start and, more important, to keep me company with good conversation. Greg Davidson and Melanie Schuster carried almost all of the equipment and supplies out and waited for me to return from control pickup which they followed up with some planning for the next meet.

Our next meet is the ever popular Vampire-O on Saturday, September 21. Thank you to Melanie Schuster for securing permission for us to use Eagle Island State Park. Mike Teller and I will begin field work on the new map this week. As we've begun mapping and planning we've become increasingly excited about Eagle Island both for our Vampire-O and maybe for a daytime classic. Thanks to Greg and Melanie for directing Vampire-O. It's going to be fun.

John Murray
Meet Director