Idaho City Motala across the ages

Alecia, Belen, Eloise, coming through the start-finish area.

One of the things I love about orienteering is that it is a sport for the whole family, from the very young to, well, the other end of the scale. I love that children, parents, and grandparents can all participate in a common sporting event. Saturday's Motala at Idaho City was a wonderful example of this. We had 31 competitors on the top of our wild Idaho hill last weekend, from about 15 families, depending on how you count. Families competed together as teams and tested themselves in rivalries against one another. As much as we are all missing soccer, lacrosse, and our usual Memorial Day weekend destinations this spring, I for one, was thrilled to see so many young people out for this event.

Our socially distant mass start.

The results are shown below. Two teams did one loop. Christy and Scott Morris had a tough draw getting one of the toughest (and the longest, except the final) loops first, which kept them busy for a while. John & Eli Arambarri made short work of the beginner loop. Three teams completed two loops. We were happy to see Cat's son Miguel out with his mom for his first (I think) CTOC event. Four teams completed three loops with Sam and Dave Murray finishing on top. John Murray and Innes Wright each missed a control on one of their loops and so their time for their four complete loops was counted. Matt Robinson turned in a very respectable CTOC first-time performance making his way back into orienteering.

Getting through all 5 loops (6.25km, about 300m climb) in the 2-hour (with some leeway) time limit took some advanced navigational skills and a lively pace. Seven competitors (6 solo and 1 team) pulled it off. Sergey showed us what a world class time looks like (coming in 35 minutes ahead of #2 Chris Slavin). Liam Murray and Katrina Wright represented Boise High upcoming Juniors very well, besting their parents and grandparents for the day. Ole proved that hip replacement surgery isn't keeping him out of the top tier of competitors. Finally, the Ford family adapted with a mix of team members on a couple of loops to get the most out of the course and the day.

Liam Murray, demonstrating his lively pace

Sergey, demonstrating his post-race skill set for Chris.

Katrina, showing the results of her cliff-slide method of reaching controls

Thanks to my co-director John Murray for map planning and course flagging, Innes, Katrina, and Penny for help with scouting and just keeping me company on the drive and course setting, and Norma Bailey for photos. Hope to see everyone out at the Queen Mine event on June 7!