Grin and Bear It

Our final meet of the year is almost here: Saturday, December 4th.

While this might appear to be just another easy park meet, don't be too confident. I have a little variation in store this time, one that requires you to keep your eyes wide open and possibly even take a bearing (hence the title of this entry) to find the control. Even in good ol' Ann Morrison. I'll spare the suspenseful details until the day of. But for those who have done this orienteering thing before it will be good practice I think.

For traditionalists, or if you're just getting warmed up to the idea of orienteering, I'll have a beginner course handy too.

The park had a couple inches of snow this weekend that looks like it may just hold. Don't count on tracks of your fellow orienteers given all the wildlife out there!

Start: Ann Morrison, by the bridge (our usual)

Date: Saturday, December 4th

Time: start times between 11-12:30pm, course closed by 2pm.

Courses: special combined interm/adv, and classic beginner

If you aren't a member, don't forget a waiver in advance to save some time.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Jeff Black

It was a dark and stormy day...
24 intrepid souls braved the relentless downpour and possible hypothermia to compete in this year’s Boise Street Challenge. We had a good turn out despite the adverse conditions, I’m sure everyone was hoping the rain would at least be off and on, not just on. Lee Scott finished in an astonishing 2hrs. 9 mins. after getting all the checkpoints. He was able to go home and "take a shower to dry off" before the rest came in. His bike odometer recorded about 20 miles for his route. Several new faces showed up for this fun and unusual event and they all did very well, hopefully they will also make it to some of our more traditional events with hopefully better weather. Russ provided cake and refreshments in honor of the Marine Corp’s birthday, and thanks to a camper van we were able to provide hot drinks.

Our answer cards were not up to the challenge of the continuous rain and made scoring very difficult, I’m sure the conditions caused some wrong answer results. I apologize, but I had to go with what we had. Most people had to reconstruct their answers on a new card after finishing, from the indecipherable pulp that their original cards had become while trying to think straight with hypothermic brains. Andy had the idea of recording his answers on a Blackberry type device, unfortunately not everyone had that option. I had to dry out Sergey’s answer card to read it, it must have been hard for him writing with one hand while holding an umbrella in the other. Sergey's route is posted to left. Bill Leahy succesfully disputed his wrong answer on #41, which come to think of it would change the results for Bill P. also.

After the weather conditions for this meet and my last meet at McCall’s Bear Basin this summer (which came close to being a Ski-O) we’ve decided that I should only put on a meet in areas or times of extreme drought.

The results are below, consult the master score sheet scan to find out who got what checkpoints (in case the scan appears too small here, I'll also post it to the Yahoo group photos section). We scored groups and individuals in the same categories for simplicity. In case of tied point scores the earlier finisher was placed ahead, times listed on results sheet are time of day. All the penalties listed on the master score sheet were for wrong answers, no one wanted to stay out any longer than they had to so there were no late time penalties. Medals were awarded to top finishers, Jill/ Matt, Roy and Sergey will have to pick their’s up some other time. Also there was an umbrella left at meet site.

A great big thanks to Russ and Andy who checked the controls before hand and averted what would have certainly been some problems. And everyone appreciated the generosity of Mike Shuman and Shu’s Running Co.for the gift cards we gave away in the drawing.
See you next time for traditional orienteering, Sat. Dec. 4 at Ann Morrison park.
A big thanks to all the hardy souls who showed up a competed!
- Karin Didisse, meet director

Results
Name, Time In, Total Points
Bike Division:
1. Lee Scott - 12:39 - 780pts.
2. Melanie Schuster & Greg Davidson - 1:05 - 760pts.
3. Michael Bading & Merril Hayden - 1:22 - 760pts.
4. Jay Morgan - 1:04 - 710pts.

5. Andy & Elijah Hill - 1:29 - 640pts.
6. Doug LaMott - 1:26 - 620pts.
7. Bob Didisse - 12:11 - 380pts.

Elite Foot Division:
1. Jeff Black - 1:29 - 770pts.
2. Sergey Velichko - 1:26 - 730pts.
3. Bill Leahy - 1:26 - 700pts.
4. Renee Kline & George Yates - 1:28 - 500pts.
5. John Murray - 1:21 - 460pts.

Intermediate Foot Division:
1. Jill & Matt Score - 1:28 - 370pts.
2. Bill Pilcher - 1:28 - 310pts.
3. Roy Meade - 12:28 - 260pts.
4. Masha Velichko - 12:33 - 210pts.

Boise Street Challenge 2010

It's time for the annual urban Street Challenge! Meet Sunday Nov. 7 at 10:00am., mass start at 10:30 - 3 hour time limit. The start this year will be in Julia Davis park near the footbridge to BSU, utilizing a slightly different and perhaps better area than our previous meets. Participants can do it on foot or bike, single or in groups, and will try to get to as many checkpoints as they can within the time limit or shorter time if prefered. Entry fees are $10 for non-members ($2 discount for pre-registration), free to members. Please pre-register by sending an e-mail to me with your name so we have an idea how many people to plan for, payment due at the meet. kbdid@ctcweb.net

Participants will be given a map of downtown Boise and surrounding area with 33 checkpoints marked on it, they will have to navigate to the checkpoints and figure out their route to visit as many as possible during the time limit. At the checkpoints the participant will read a question on the back of their map that can only be answered at that location, then circle one of 3 multiple choice answers as proof of visiting the correct location. The checkpoints are worth different point values based on distance from the start/ finish area. Highest total point scores win, awards to top finishers.

Participants are responsible for their own safety, this takes place on public streets.

Suggested Things to Bring:
watch, pens, compass, cel phone, refreshments for during course (or money to purchase enroute), reading glasses?, helmet if biking, bright colored weather appropriate clothing.

Hope to see you there!- Karin Didisse, meet director

Vampire-O Results

City of Trees Orienteering Club held its Vampire-O at Simplots Sports Complex. The event format was a night score-o with the twist of having a vampire chasing participants and taking their score card. Once “vampired” the victim would surrender their score card along with all their points and in return receive the vampire card worth zero points. Much like a game of tag while orienteering.

The weather was scattered lite rain with breezy 50's temps. But that did not prevent a decent turn-out. 10 individuals and 4 groups participated and all decided to run the vampire-o which was consider an advance course. Sergey and the Erb group chose to carry a one gallon jug of holy water to avoid being “vampired”.



The vampire-o course had 18 control points and a 40 minute time limit. Hill group (Andy & Elijah) volunteered to be the first vampire. Peter Beckner (the youngest individual and his injured Dad tagging along) also volunteered as the first vampire but spoke a moment too late. The mass start began at 7:25PM with the vampire starting 3 minutes afterwards. The start was pretty interesting to watch. Participants scatter in all directions into the darkness (pitch black) and most of them having their headlamps off!

As participants began to cross the finish it became apparent that control #32 was missing. Not surprising given the large crowds of soccer players that were still leaving as our event was starting. The missing control was located the next morning up in a nearby pine tree. Still attached to the pole & flag.

Sergey Velichko finished first with a blistering time of just over 28 minutes. Unfortunately, Sergey missed control #45 which dropped his score to 160. Lee Scott, Jeff Black and Jay Morgan found all the points (except #32) for a score of 170 each. Lee Scott took top honor for finishing ahead of the others with a time of 32:40. Masha Velichko took first in the female division. Hill group finished first for the group division. In the end it was Peter Beckner as the vampire who was first to be vampired and wasn’t able to attack another before the time expired.

Kudos to newbies Matt & Jill Score, Erb group and Lexy’s friends Emily & Zach who took on the vampire-o for their first experience at an CTOC orienteering event. Also, Betty Boop (alias) who missed the mass start but still managed to bag 9 controls and avoid the vampire with just 15 minutes.

THANKS
A big thanks to those who helped with the event: Donna Goodwin (co-director), Bill Leahy, Lexy’s group, Hill group & Segery for helping pickup the course.

NEXT MEET
Our next meet is Sunday, November 7th. For more info see our blog site at:
http://ctoc-boise.blogspot.com/

RESULTS:
Mens:
Total / Penalty / Time
Lee Scott 170 / 0 / 32:40
Jeff Black 170 / 0 / 35:09
Jay Morgan 170 / 0 / 40:37
Sergey Velichko 160 / 0 / 28:00
Bill Leahy 140 / 0 / 40:10

Womens:
Masha Velichko 150 / 0 / 40:40
Karin Didisse 120 / 0 / 37:43
Betty Boop 90 / 0 / 15:00
Donna Goodwin 80 / 0 / 40:30

Groups:
Andy & Elijah Hill 120 / 0 / 40:22
Matt & Jill Score 110 / -10 / 42:53
Pat Parker, Adam Forbes, Will, Katie, James Erb 105 / -5 / 41:47
Lexy Leahy, Emily, Zach 90 / 0 / 36:35

Vampire: Peter Beckner

Click here for more photos

CTOC 2nd Annual Vampire-O

What’s a Vampire-O, you ask? Well, it's a lot of fun, it's has a Halloween theme and it's orienteering at night. And yes, it’s will be at night because everyone knows vampires only come out at night!

Date: Saturday Oct 23, 2010 (Sat Oct 22, 2011) (Sat Oct 21, 2012)
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Simplot Sport Complex East (parking lot off S. Quamash Way) Simplot Sports Complex East

Vampire-O (score-o format, mass started with one more vampires starting 3 minutes later)
Beginner & intermediate courses

Bring your headlamp and warm clothes and enjoy a fun night of orienteering.

FAQ:

1) So, what is Vampire-O?
It's like playing a game of tag while orienteering! One or more participants are selected as "vampires" at the start of the event. The "vampires" leave 3 minutes after everyone else had a mass start. Vampires carry a "vampire" card, worth zero points. When they come within five meters of another orienteer and yell "vampire attack!", the "victim" must surrender his or her punch card (along with all of its points) to the vampire, who then receives the Vampire card. The victim then becomes the vampire (but cannot immediately re-tag the original vampire, of course). It's all done at night with flashlights.

2) After a vampire attack can the victim attack his/her original vampire? If so, what are the rules for doing so?
"No immediate tag backs", just like in third grade. ;-> Cards tend to get traded back and forth pretty quickly, so this usually isn't a problem. You can attack someone that attacked you as long as you unloaded the card you got from them and are now carrying a card you got from another vampire later on. Vampires can't attack vampires of course - they'd just end up swapping cards...

3) I understand the course is score-o format. Is each control worth the same number of points?
Each control is worth the same amount. Identical control point values also makes scoring at the end that much easier - and it will be a bit hectic with a score-O mass finish.

4) Are teams allowed? If so, how does it work if the team is the vampire and team members have both slow and fast runners can the faster runner go after a victim alone or do they need to stay together as a team?
Teams are allowed. The team should stay together, within reason. The rule is "do the right thing" during the event. Teams should stay within vocal range if they get a bit separated, but should travel together whenever possible.

5) What if I want to run the vampire-o course but don’t want to be bother by the vampire. I just want to run the score-o course.
You can run the course but you will need special holy water to protect you from vampires. If you choose this option then you will be given a 1 gallon jug of holy water and you must carry it at all times during the event.

6) Will there be a beginner and intermediate course?
Yes, there will be a beginner and intermediate course. Participants that wish do the beginner or intermediate courses will be give a special garlic bracelet (glow in dark bracelet. The kind you see at the county fair). This will protect you from the vampire. Beginner and intermediate participants should come early to avoid the mass start of the vampire-o.

7) Because its at night do I need to bring a flashlight?
Yes, you should bring a flashlight or a headlamp.

8) Do I need to dress up in a Halloween costume?
No, you do not need to come in costume. However, you can if you wish.

National Orienteering Day Meet

September 12, 2010
Veterans Park, Boise, ID

Sunny Saturday at the Veterans Park started for us with a big surprise of hundreds people going via courses for Run and Walk for Autism http://www.asatvc.org/. First thoughts were about how we would manage to have our meet in parallel and where to park our car to unload meet equipment. Thanks to generous help from many people we were ready for the first start right in time. We even received a helping hand from Mrs. Boise who is, undoubtedly, an expert in unfolding canopies for big events. By 11 am crowds started to dissipate and by 11:30 we were left in the park all alone to see people enjoying nice fall weather and challenging courses. The motto of the day was “Speed and execution”. And, of course, refreshment galore.

Beginner course had 8 controls around the park which attracted a number of first comers, as well as some experienced ones. Carolyn and Suzanne finished course with smiles and big plans for orienteering. Suzanne is exploring a possibility of embedding orienteering into her class curriculum. We will definitely help her in this initiative. Toby was happy to stroll along the course with map in his teeth pulling Dondi behind. Angela with precious Julia and Emery came to practice orienteering skills and found all controls with those wonderful punches. We hope to see you again enjoying courses at our future meets.

Grueling Intermediate course with more than 4 km length and 18 controls saw Donna and Jeff taking honors to finish it completely under 1 ½ hour mark. David started but had to finish it prematurely to catch on other day activities.

Our Advanced course which was one men relay with two loops, as always, created quite a competition among our hardcore participants. First loop circled Veterans Lake and second ventured to Willow Lane Park. Some even managed to cross lake using strategically placed rocks and logs! Undoubtedly, it helped Jay to take second place winning merely 45 seconds over Lee. First place went to Jeff with excellent execution of the first loop and solid finish on the second. Ole showed forth time of the day, Merrill and Michael pair was next. John is progressing from meet to meet and will start challenging our top brass pretty soon. Bill Pilcher with two acquaintances explored all corners of both parks. They all received quite an exercise for 10 legs combined. Bill Leahy finished first loop but had to leave early.

Special thanks to Ole for helping to collect controls and club belongings after the meet.

Next meet is our famous Vampire O! Shone your favorite flashlight for some night action! Hope to see you all there.

Your meet directors,
Masha and Sergey Velichko

Results
Beginner Course: 1.35K, 8 controls (in no particular order)
Carolyn Flynn                   25:45
Suzanne Wolfkiel                25:45
Dondi and Toby Black            21:30
Julia, Emery, Angela Withers    43:00

Intermediate Course: 4.17K, 18 controls
Donna Goodwin, Jeff Decker      1:28:00
David Murray                    DNF

Advanced Course (Motala – one man relay)
Loop 1: 2.57K, 10 controls
Loop 2: 3.82K, 12 controls
                                Loop 1          Loop2           Total
Jeff Black                      15:10           24:55           40:05
Jay Morgan                      20:30           27:40           48:10
Lee Scott                       17:55           31:00           48:55
Ole Bergset                     20:25           33:54           54:19
Merrill Hayden and
Michael Bading                  24:09           40:15           1:04:24
John Murray                     28:01           55:43           1:23:44
Bill, Molly, Dazzle Pilcher     35:48           1:10:08         1:45:56
Bill Leahy                      27:10           DNF             DNF

Bear Basin Results

Our good luck with meet day weather ended this weekend with cold drizzlie conditions for the Bear Basin orienteering meet. We had a good turn out nevertheless and no actual reports of frostbite, but maybe a bit of hypothermia. It was discovered that the mountain bike trail making faeries had been busy with two new trails suddenly appearing a couple of days before the event right in an area that I had a couple of controls. Too late to map the trails, I had to simply warn people that there were unmapped trails on the map. This caused people to not trust any of the trails and caused some problems for a couple of the competitors, this and time constraints led Jeff B. to a rare dnf (did not finish). The trail faeries also have been busy turning old forest service roads into single track bike trails (quite a trick!) so there will be lots of changes on the Bear basin map in the future.

McCall local Ben Hipple tried the intermediate course with very good results beating out an entusiastic Andy and Elijah who might have been somewhat slowed down by good huckleberry picking found at one of their controls. The advanced course had some close competition between Ole, Lee, and Bill. Dondi took her mother Frankie and dog Toby for a tour of Litttle Bear Basin, unfortunately unable to find some of the controls on what turned out to be a difficult beginner course, which I have dubbed "Short Intermediate" because of it's difficulty. Luckily no new people showed up to try it.

Thanks for the good turnout and to helpers on control pickup: Andy, Elijah, Bill P., Ole.
- Karin Didisse

Advanced 6.3km
Sergey Velichko 51:48
Ole Bergset 1:21:25
Lee Scott 1:38:42
Bill Pilcher 1:40:39
Russ Pilcher 2:04:17
Jeff Black dnf

Intermediate 5.8km
Ben Hipple 1:07:40
Andy & Elijah Hill 1:50:15
David B. & Neva dnf

"Short Intermediate" 2.2km
Jeff D. & Donna G. 1:08:10
Dondi B. & Frankie & Toby dnf

Upcoming Bear Basin meet info

Here is some info about the upcoming orienteering meet at Bear Basin near McCall SUNDAY 8/29. Starts are from 11am- 1 pm and we'll be meeting at the new Bear Basin Trailhead off of Club Hill Road:To get there go up to the highest point on highway 55 (a couple miles headed west out of McCall) and turn north (right) on Club Hill Rd. for 1/2 mile, the parking lot is just off to the right where the road makes a sharp turn left.Come on up and enjoy the nice weather, beautiful forest and huckleberries! We'll have three courses with the longest being around 6.4 km.
- Karin Didisse, meet director

New Blood Draws Some Blood

BSU / Julia Davis / Ann Morrison Score course

Saturday, July 17

Attendance for the July meet was pretty thin, even for a mid-summer meet.   However, those who did attend had the pleasure (and some pain) of seeing what a brand-new course designer (Elijah Hill) had to offer.

The Beginner course was a standard 1.6km loop in Julia Davis Park.   Newcomer Liam Murray blazed through the course in just over 30 minutes (give him a couple of years to get some leg length, and Sergey better look out!), but was narrowly edged out by Ellen Crosby.

The meat of the meet :-) was a 16-control score course spread over both the BSU / Julia Davis and Ann Morrison maps, with a calculated optimum route of 8.45km, maximum number of points of 200, a time limit of 45 minutes, and a 5-point-per-full-overtime-minute penalty.    Unlike the usual score course, where the most “valuable” controls were the most distant, the point value of the controls was intentionally biased with a number of close, high-value controls to make it easier for a slower but more strategic thinker to outscore someone trying to bag all 16 controls.   Not sure how this worked out in practice – it may have been too complex of an idea, but it was an interesting twist.   In an upset victory, Jeff Black took a calculated risk to go overtime in order to bag an additional 20 pointer, and the resulting net 5 points (20 points minus the 15 point overtime penalty) was enough to edge out Sergey, who was unable to find one of the Ann Morrison controls in a very, very vague area of the map (he did, however, find pretty much every bramble in the area).   Bill Leahy did an excellent job of time management to come in just under the penalty time.    Unfortunately, Masha came in early, not knowing how to get from Julia Davis to Ann Morrison…bit of an oops! from a course design standpoint.

Thanks to co-meet director Lee Scott for lending a huge hand with both control setting and control pickup on meet day – this would’ve really painful without his help.

Thanks to everyone who came out – see ya in McCall – Sunday, August 29th!

Andy & Elijah

Hey!  Can’t forget the meet results --

Beginner
Name	Time
Ellen Crosby	31:20
Liam Murray	32:17

 

Score
Name	Time	Raw Points	Adjusted Points
Jeff Black	48:12	200	185
Sergey Velichko	44:25	180	180
Bill Leahy	45:30	135	135
Masha Velichko	35:04	100	100

And no meet report is complete without some cool pics!

Liam Murray punches in a the final control on the Beginner course…

 

Sergey tries to remove all billion cheatgrass seeds from his shoes while Masha plots a course to the nearest Starbucks….

Coursesetter Elijah Hill finishes strong after picking up the Beginner course…

Score Orienteering Meet -- Saturday, July 17, 11AM -- Julia Davis Park

Please join us this Saturday, July 17, for our monthly orienteering meet. The start for Saturday's meet will be at the usual spot in Julia Davis Park (just north -- zoo side -- of the "Friendship Bridge" -- the bridge in the middle of the park connecting Julia Davis and BSU).

There will be two courses: a standard loop course for beginners, and a score course (covering Julia Davis, BSU, and Ann Morrison) for everyone else. Advanced runners will be given a 45 minute time limit, while Intermediate runners will be given 90 minutes.

Elijah Hill has come up with a very interesting score course, so come on out and see what the latest course designer has to offer!

Hope we see you there!

See the club website for more information on this meet and for general information on orienteering and the City of Trees Orienteering Club.