February 18, 2023

The Control is at the Bottom of the Cliff - Black Rock Canyon

Last Sunday was a beautiful, nearly spring-like day to be out rambling around the desert of south central Idaho. Thank you to everyone who came out! We had 24 participants on 1 map, with options for three official courses. 

Canyon  entrance with small open archway on left
I really wanted to hang a control in the small archway on the left, but it was a little too high to reach without a step ladder.

This was the first meet on this new map! Great to have a place outside the city parks for a winter meet, don't you agree?  The map was mostly computer generated, but AI doesn't get you all the way there. After a day spent in the field John and I agreed that the cliffs on the map we were using did not accurately represent what we saw in the field. Below are the two versions that demonstrate why having LiDAR data is so beneficial, but field work is invaluable.


    Orienteering Map with some cliffs <<< Map 1
Orienteering Map with lots of cliffs <<< Map 2


To keep it simple, we used one map with all three routes, which left folks lots of options and choices when out and about. At least 8 of the participants/teams changed maps, going both shorter and longer. 

The changes back and forth in courses represent the many challenges and pleasures found out on the course. It seems that while the contours could have been a bit darker to make more obvious, some of the more obvious clues for controls were missed, such as the trail leading from near control 2 and 3 and the control description for 6 indicating the location at the bottom of the cliff. The undulating terrain made for good compass practice, also while allowing reliance on the map features for some controls. Check out Sergey's winning route below the results table. Did you have any additional comments on the map or this location? Please let us know, as I hope we will use this area again!

This wasn't a bad place to hang out while waiting for over 2 hours for the first finishers. I had lovely sunshine, beautiful views, and Norma's pleasant company. I could occasionally make out a number of folks wandering around looking for a control with my binoculars. Thank you, Marcella, for the group picture below of Ted, myself, Innes, and Dipesh after they had all completed their courses and we were waiting for other finishers. Whether you were out for a stroll or have a more competitive day, I'm glad you made it out.



Results are shown below. They are sorted by overall times since the times were "all over the map." There were enough course changes that I feel like I may have missed something like a DNF, so please let me know if I did. As mentioned previously many folks started on one maps and then changed courses. 


For those of you that are curious, Sergey has provided his route. He made a mistake between control 10 and 11, misreading the contours, before getting back on track. Notice his use of the trail between control 2 and 3 that should have made it straightforward.



Need a refresher on the control description symbols? Check one of these links (or search for others(=):

Most of the credit for the map and courses goes to John, whether he wants it or not. John, thank you for your company, patience, and good humor.

Thank you to Ted for helping pick up over half the controls and doing a bit more exploring off the map on the way back to the start.


Best wishes
Anyone noticed the sand graffiti in the canyon. ;-)

January 30, 2023

2023 Ribbon of Jewels O-Meet Report

For our January O-Meet write up I am going to keep it short and sweet. This was a great showing for the City of Trees Orienteering Club's first meet of 2023. Below are some data points, acknowledgements, and the Ribbon of Jewels Score-O results: 

50+ - Total meet participants 
25 - CTOC members signed up for our 2023 season
10 - Approx. # of 1st time orienteers 
4 - Age of youngest participant 
1 - Avocado found on the course

Thank you to the following individuals who supported me as Meet Director: 
Sergey - OCAD 8 consultant and map printer, plus 75% control collection post-event 
Melanie - Registration table pinch hitter as I was running behind schedule setting up the final controls
Vicki - Wonderful companion to traipse along the Greenbelt with at the crack of dawn and provided the refreshments at the registration table
Aubrey and Terra - 25% control collection and great friends to crack a cold one with post-event 

Thank you to everyone for showing up, celebrating the great outdoors, and sharing in this unique sport!  Our next meet is slated for February 12th south of Bruneau at Black Rock Canyon.  You can find all meet info for the year via the Meetup app under City of Trees Orienteering Club.  
 

December 11, 2022

Not so Frozen Fort Boise

Early morning while setting controls, a strong gust of wind sailed me across the patch of ice covering some of trails on the ridge. Uh-huh! - I thought - that would be tough and challenging for advanced participants. Not only find those orange flags but also firmly stay on feet while crossing these icy patches and also going down one very steep particular slope. Behold, time came and couple first people appeared at the meet center set in the Memorial park. Thank you Kevin and Jon for helping to set the place and much needed canopies! And than the crowd was non stop untill all scattered across urban and bottom foothill area of the Fort Boise. Our old SI punching stations failed the night before thus we resolved to use old and trusted pin punching that worked, as always, marvelously. Few newcomers went to try Sport course after finishing successfully their first orienteering course. I think some even may be ready to try next time our intermediate version in an urban park.

Intermadiate course saw most of the competition with Eric posting the best time while Kirstin did it fully on memory. On advanced course it was very nice to see Jeff coming back for some grass and dirt running and competing with Doug for the first spot. As we didn't keep seconds and rounded to minutes, both posted same time a littly bit over one hour. Isaac and Jamison warmed up on the beginner course and successfully finished the advanced course with very respectful time.

Some happy finishers!



Results:

Beginner 2 km, 10 controls
Dipesh Patel 0:28
Isaac & Jamison 0:33
Dave & Sean 0:46
Kevin Mcdowell 1:09
Jon Favey 1:09

Sport 3.6 km, 14 controls, 30 m climb
Dipesh Patel 0:47
John & Eli Arambarri 0:47
Cat Stauffer 0:56
Dave Byrd 0:58
Dave & Sean dnf

Intermediate 4.2 km, 17 controls, 60 m climb
Eric Thomson 0:31
Kirstin Severud 0:36
Innes Wright 0:47
John Murray 0:51
Torin & Jackson 0:51
Karin Didisse 0:58
Andrey & Jonah 1:19
Jerry Stewart 1:33
Heather, Matt, Namey 1:37
Scott & Christy 1:39
Roy Tsuda dnf

Advanced 5.7 km, 22 controls, 110 m climb
Jeff Black 1:04
Doug Lamott 1:04
Dustin & Heidi 1:24
Melanie Wright 1:34
Isaac & Jamison 1:55
Ashley Boyd dnf

See you out there in the wilderness and urban parks enjoying outdoors! Next year schedule of events is being finilized. Some already published at our ctoc-boise site. Expect at least one meet per month.

Cheers,
Sergey

December 4, 2022

November Course - New Map!


 

I must admit, when I woke up event morning and looked at the weather and it said “17 but feels like 11” I wanted to crawl back under the covers. But instead, I headed out to lay controls for event.  Arriving on site it was very quiet, even the geese were still asleep huddled together to keep warm. We took this time to move around campus and enjoy the morning as the sun welcomed us with a sea of frosted sparkly grass. 

Despite the chilly morning several brave souls (most waited for more sun) came out and participated.

I was a little overzealous this month and created 3 standard courses (Beg, Int & Adv) and one Urban course.

The advanced course consisted of 20 controls and when placing them this morning I had to call a last minute audible and move one due to an unforeseen water feature.  I didn’t figure anyone was up for some wading on a 17-degree morning.  We had 4 runners who were up for the challenge, and all gave impressive times, all finishing with 10 min of each other.

Name

Course

Out Time

In Time

Duration

Jason Russel

ADV

11:17:00 AM

12:07:00 PM

0:50

David Bergset

ADV

10:38:00 AM

11:31:00 AM

0:53

Melanie Wright

ADV

11:06:00 AM

12:03:00 PM

0:57

Dustin Thomas

ADV

11:23:00 AM

12:23:00 PM

1:00

Bill L

ADV

DNS

 

DNS

 

The Intermediate course consisted of 14 controls.  While many of them overlapped the Advanced course I tossed in a few different ones and had runners going in different directions. However, that didn’t stop participants from making quick work of this course.

Name

Course

Out Time

In Time

Duration

Innes

INT

11:05:00 AM

11:37:00 AM

0:32

Marcella

INT

11:00:00 AM

11:54:00 AM

0:54

Michail

INT

11:13:00 AM

12:16:00 PM

1:03

David B

INT

DNS

 

DNS

Johnny S

INT

DNS

 

DNS

Janice McEnroe

INT

DNS

 

DNS

 

We had 11 teams participate in the urban course with 5 getting all the answers.  While this year was a little tamer than last year there were still some “tricky” questions.  These questions just show how different people think (I focused on the words while others on the images/pictures)

Name

Course

Out Time

In Time

Duration

Points

Fords

Urban

10:13:00 AM

11:06:00 AM

0:53

34

Ashley

Urban

10:11:00 AM

11:18:00 AM

1:07

34

Chaitanya

Urban

10:33:00 AM

11:59:00 AM

1:26

34

Cat S

Urban

10:42:00 AM

12:13:00 PM

1:31

34

Pete P

Urban

10:20:00 AM

12:12:00 PM

1:52

34

Karin D

Urban

10:47:00 AM

11:46:00 AM

0:59

33

John S

Urban

10:55:00 AM

12:19:00 PM

1:24

32

Leslie

Urban

10:55:00 AM

12:19:00 PM

1:24

32

Donna P

Urban

10:10:00 AM

11:57:00 AM

1:47

32

Kim/Roy

Urban

10:10:00 AM

12:15:00 PM

2:05

30

Darla

Urban

10:10:00 AM

12:15:00 PM

2:05

29

Lynette

Urban

DNS

 

DNS

DNS

 

Last but not least the Thank You list:

·        A big thank you to April Rice and the Department of Admin leadership team for allowing us to host this event on their campus.  We are hoping to use it again in future years.

·        John Murray:  This was a new area for us which meant a lot of map work needed to be done but as always John stepped up to the plate and got us a workable map in a very short amount of time.  He also took many phone calls from me and had a side by side tutorial on using the mapping software.  His knowledge was extremely valuable in understanding what may make some good control locations to force some route choices.  We will see how much I retain come Nov next year!

·        David Bergset: After finishing the ADV course in a great time he hung around the start/finish and kept me company while waiting for everyone else to finish.  It was good to catch up with him since we no longer work together.  Then he offered to help pick up controls while he drank his still warm coffee, which was appreciated!

·        Karin Dedisse:  She arrived at the parking area before I had and graciously helped set the CTOC sandwich boards and carried some of the equipment to the starting area while I frantically finished putting out the last controls.  Also, a thank you for taking the lead on ordering new CTOC jerseys (the first in 10 years I’m told).

·        Scott Cockerham: As his daughter I have gotten him into some weird adventures and Orienteering is no exception.  He helped scout campus with me several times over the last few weeks with no complaints – even when we went out the afternoon it was snowing like mad!  I appreciate all the hours he spent walking and suggestions while putting this course together – now you don’t need to worry about it for another year!