The runners made a good showing on the course, but there were some scenic detours beyond exploring a new area of the map. The hikers also seemed to enjoy the course once the orientation part of orienteering fell into place. I'll take a minor amount of credit on confusion with some miss-numbered controls.
If you were a British soldier in World War I, you might have marched to “It's a Long Way to Tipperary”. Saturday a different song came to mind:
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| Photo by Carrie Magnuson |
It was a long drive. I know. I drove it in November to vet the terrain. I drove it again to vet the course design and set the controls. And, of course, I drove it again on Saturday. In each case the drive and the work were much easier and more enjoyable than they otherwise would have been without the company, advice, and collaboration of Kirsten. What I heard from several of Saturday's participants was that they also thought the orienteering on this terrain was worth the drive. Notably, Karin and Bob Didisse drove all the way from McCall. Maybe I shouldn't whine so much about the distance.
As much as I enjoyed mapping the Oreana venue and exploring the terrain, I do regret that I never had the chance to run a course there. Oreana Hills is eminently runnable with great visibility. I am gratified that many of you shared my opinion.
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| Photo by Kirsten Severud |
As I was saying, it was an unusually savvy array of participants. All were experienced. All had started by 11:02. All had progressed far enough by 1 PM that we were able to begin pickup an hour before the course closed. As a meet director I much appreciate the convenience of an early control pickup.
We had two new CTOC participants: Robert Rich, who moved from and orienteered in Michigan and Jacob Drew, who comes to us from orienteering in the Austin area. Jacob finished first in the Intermediate division. Importantly, he graciously hung around until he could help with pickup. Kirsten picked up the Advanced end of the course. Much appreciated by the meet director.
A further note about Kirsten. She appears in the results as second in the Intermediate division. That's maybe a little misleading. Several factors need to be considered. First, she had the distinct advantage of having set the course as well as having been on the terrain twice before. To make it more interesting she claims she really wasn't in the INT division. Instead, she was in a division of her own creation, the TNI division. That's INT spelled backwards, the same way she ran the course. She also ran the first (last??) 4 controls from memory and other legs without consulting her map.
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| Indian Paintbrush |
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They also found flowers. It's a little early for flowers in the high desert.
I don't know that congratulations for wedding plans belong in a meet report. They are going in anyway. Carol Baumbauer and Peter Auman are getting married next month. You seem to be a great couple. Congratulations. I do question scheduling your
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| Showy Townsendia |
For the rest of you, Rabbit Creek will be on Sunday, May 17 directed by the estimable Kirsten Severud.
John Murray (with a lot of Kirsten's help)
Meet Director
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| Kirsten's long distance photo of Bill Leahy |
2026 started off with a bang! 15 brave souls came to enjoy the sunshine on a chilly January morning. We haven't used this area for a meet since Nov 2023 so it was time to bring it back. I chose to limit the meet to the Simplot complex itself in hopes of making a very runnable course. Plus with it being January and not knowing what the weather was going to do I was hoping for a safe bet, and man did it pay off.
It is a very open area so finding fun spots to place controls was a slight challenge, but with the help of my Dad we walked the area several afternoons and came up with what we thought was a decent and speedy course. It has been a while since I've set a course with actual controls and I forget how much work it is! We set the bases the day before and then only had to set the flags and e-punches. Thankfully I had some great help the morning of and we were able to get it done with time to spare.
The weather cooperated with us big time - the inversion blew out, there was no wind and the sun made an appearance. John was the first out on the course and the rest of the competitors trickled in as the morning warmed up. With it being January it was membership renewal time so it was nice to see some familiar faces as well as many new ones. We had a very first timer (Welcome Tim!) who took on the beginner course and got a real hang of it and then took on part of the Sport course (on his own time). We had a good showing across the courses and man times were tight among the running competitors.
A big thank you to a few people:
We are going to be at Fort Boise/Mountain Cove O-Meet on Sat, Feb 21 at 10am and if we are lucky enough there is a rumor that we might have a girl scout with some cookies available to purchase! Hope to see you all there and don't forget to renew those memberships!!
2026 Simplot Results & Winsplit Results
Advanced (5) 4.9 km - 26 controls
1) Ted Smith 26:59
2) Dustin Thomas 28:36
3) Sergey Velichko 28:59
4) Helle Beattie 37:15
5) Cat Staufer 1:25:56
Intermediate (3) 4.1 km - 19 controls
1) John Murray 44:07
2) Heidi Thomas 45:47
3) Donna P 1:39:00
Sport (6) 3.4 km - 16 controls
1) Max Haustia 49:42 (missing punch)
2) Cassandra Swann 52:22
3) Jerry Stewart 1:12:56
4) Crabtree Family 1:28:20
5) Asker Beattie 1:29:14 (incorrect control punched)
6) James & Sander Beattie 1:30:00 (incorrect control punched)
Beginner (1) 1.1 km - 9 controls
1) Tim Kesinger 56:06
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| Start view point |
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| Terrain |
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| Kendyl and Naomi |
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| Orbweaver spider |
It was the night before Granite Peak and all along the Payette
smoke filled the air just as all of the controls were set.
Up on the mountain top as day descended into night
Andy took a photo that made it alright.
Photo credit to Andy Hill who took this photo on Saturday morning.
I know that our sport has the reputation for going forward in daunting weather. I have directed meets in the snow and in triple digit temperatures. Where I draw the line is health and safety. Air quality in Cascade was decidedly unhealthy. I wavered until Friday evening on whether to postpone the meet. The much better air quality on the mountain decided the question. Andy camped there on Friday night and took the photo that illustrates the enormous difference between the air quality in the valley and on Granite Peak.
For me the highlight of the meet was Eloise's breakout performance. In national orienteering competition Eloise at age 14 would compete on an orange course. An orange course design encourages navigation using large features, trails and linear features (streams, fences, etc.). Effective navigation on the Granite Peak Intermediate Map requires contour reading, vegetation reading, and a higher level of topographic awareness. In addition, it is longer and more physically demanding. Her third-place performance against older and more experienced orienteers speaks to her expanding capabilities. Bear in mind that she was alone in truly rugged and wild country. A note about the terrain needs to be emphasized: There is only one road bisecting the map. There are no trails.
David and Alecia brought their friends, Daphne and Will Kemper, to get their first taste of orienteering. Will is a long-time competitive cross-country runner and the North Junior High XC coach. I hope that the distraction of a map and compass on unfamiliar terrain enhanced rather than distracted from the experience.
I am also grateful to Andy on two counts. He picked up the northern intermediate controls. Also he critiqued the map. Among his many observations, the bare rock and cliffs should be simplified and the distinct trees should meet some clearly stated standard. As the mapper I know that the designation of distinctive trees wasn't even up to the standard of haphazard. My apologies to those of you who struggled with those trees.
Put our next meet on your calendar. On Saturday, September 27 Sergey will direct a meet on a the new Idaho City Southwest Map. Check out his extensive mapper's notes on Meetup.com.
Also anyone inspired to compete at the top levels should consider the Orienteering National Championship Meet in the Boston area October 11-13.
John Murray
Meet Director
RESULTS:
1 Hour Time Points Penalty Total Points
John M. 52:42. 110 0. 110
Bob D. 1:04. 80. -20. 60
2 Hour Time Points Penalty Total Points
Sergey V. (2nd course) 1:08 310 0 310
Ted S. 2:00 300 0 300
Andy H. 1:56 250 0 250
Brad W. 2:32 310. -160. 150
Leslie P. & John S. 2:00. 140. 0. 140
Elijah H. 1:50. 130. 0. 130
Isabella M. (W/ Sergey) 1:23 100 0 100
Competitors were eager to get started on the challenging Score-O course with 17 controls scattered over the western Bear Basin area NW of McCall. Participants could choose which controls that they would try for over a one hour or two hour time limit with harder controls worth more points. Sergey brought his grand daughter Isabella to try orienteering and they got 100 points after an hour and a half tutorial in the tricky woods. Sergey then went out and cleaned the clock on all controls in a blistering time of 1:06. VCSAR leadership member Brad W. was determined to get all the controls despite ending up overtime and suffering a large overtime penalty. After a late start Ted S. visited all the control locations but was unable to find one of the trickier controls, then was nice enough to ride his bike on the extensive bike trails to pick up some of the more remote controls. Thank you Ted!! John M. and Bob went for a shorter outing and found most of the closer in markers. Andy, Leslie, John S. and Elijah all had good outings also.
