Thanks
Having decided to take on the role of race director in my
first “real” orienteering meet (the Boise Street Challenge doesn’t count since
there are no actual controls are placed), I must start off by giving thanks to
a few people:
Bill and Dee Pilcher – Thanks again for your willingness to
hold this event at your wonderful property for all these years. You always have shown the club great
hospitality and kindness.
Sergey Velichko – Thanks for your time and efforts showing
me how to use OCAD8 and the new SI Timing system software.
All Past Rabbit Creek Race Directors – After having competed
in several past held Rabbit Creek orienteering meets over the past 12 years, I
now have a whole new appreciation of how much work it is to design, field check, and
setup/tear down the course in an area as rugged and wide open as the Owyhee Mountains.
Finally, I really appreciated all the help I received from the participants at the meet.
Sincerely - Michael Bading (Rabbit Creek meet director).
Courses
There were 3 levels of traditional classic orienteering
courses offered: Advanced Beginner Course, Intermediate Course, and an Advanced
Course.
This year’s Rabbit creek event/courses had 2 changes from
past years events:
- Every competitor would have to start and complete the
Beginner Course up to control 7, before starting on their respective course, Intermediate
or Advanced.
- This year was the first time using the SI timing system at
Rabbit Creek, so we also would have all leg times for each competitor, including
each person’s Beginner Course time.
Race Day - Starts
The race day weather was perfect in the morning, partly
cloudy, not too warm and not too cold. The
weather forecast for the Murphy area called for afternoon thunderstorms, but
from the Rabbit Creek farm, it didn’t seem like there were any storms heading our way and we were hoping that if they did come, it would be in the
late afternoon.
Racers started showing up just be for 9 AM and everyone
seemed excited for another day of orienteering challenges and the beauty Rabbit
Creek has to offer.
The first competitor out of the gate and on to the intermediate
course was John Murray, who left with a determined look on his face to do well. After John, it was the team of Norma Bailey
and Bonnie Coiner that decided to take a more leisurely approach to the
intermediate course, hiking it at their own pace.
Next up was Jay Morgan, the first competitor on the advanced
course, followed 9 minutes later by Doug LaMott (also on the advanced course),
who started out strong and looked as if he might chase Jay and give him a run
for his money.
Jerry Stewart, Bill Pilcher, David Murray (aptly sporting a
very stylish blue CTOC club jersey) all started out on the intermediate course
over the next 15 minutes. Now there were
plenty of competitors out all the courses across the dry and challenging
terrain.
Starting next and new to the Rabbit Creek meet was the team
of Kara Steele and Roxanna Strong. They decided on hiking the beginner course,
which was challenging enough. Unlike our
standard beginner courses at one of the club’s urban meets, the beginner course
was complete with a natural sage brush maze, a short steep hike and a couple of
carefully placed controls that were not able to be seen from a distance due to
foliage.
Rounding out the last two entries for the 2018 CTOC Rabbit
Creek meet, were the teams of Katrina Wright / Lou VanderWyk on the intermediate
course and Melanie Wright / Innes Wright
on the advanced course.
Race Day - Finishes
Once all the competitors were out on course, the only thing
left for the race director to do was hang out in the great weather and wait for
the racers to come back, right?
Wrong. As the last racers went
out on course, the weather to the south was looking increasingly dark. I was hoping that the weather would hold off
until after the meet was finished and all of the racers were off course. While we were still enjoying great weather
for the time being, it was clear we should be getting ready for a storm coming
in. Thankfully, the Pilchers’ house at
Rabbit Creek has a great covered deck! So soon after the first racers came in,
the next hour was spent relocating the entire race HQ and SI timing system to
the porch.
Starting out first has its advantages, so John Murray was
also the first competitor to come in (well ahead of the encroaching storm). Coming down the steep terrain from Control 46
at a fairly fast pace, you could see his determination had not faded. He made very
good time on the intermediate course at just over an hour and half. Smiling, but tired, John looked like he had a
great time.
Soon after, the team of
team of Norma Bailey and Bonnie Coiner came strolling in, deciding not
to finish the intermediate course after completing the beginner course and a
few controls on the intermediate course (and wisely skipping the one big climb
on that course).
Also strolling at that time in was the team of Kara Steele
and Roxanna Strong. Since this was their
first time not only at Rabbit Creek, but also using a more advanced
topographical map than most urban meets do, they really enjoyed trekking around
the Rabbit Creek farm on the beginner course and appeared to have a lot of
fun. We hope to see them again in the
future at more upcoming CTOC meets.
David Murray came in and was just happy that he beat his dad
by just under 10 minutes on the intermediate course. However, given the age
difference, it could be legitimately argued that John performed very well
against both David and father time at the meet.
Jay Morgan was the first advanced course competitor to come
in and he had a story to tell. Although
Jay had left 9 minutes before Doug LaMott, it appears that Doug had been slowly
catching up to Jay until Control 39.
Control 39 was set in a steep re-entrant with a split, and was also
located very close to 2 parallel erosion ditches, so a competitor would have to
look closely at the map to see where Control 39 was located. Jay found Control 39, but also heard Doug
coming, so he quickly moved away from the control. Upon seeing Doug, Jay pulled off a believable
acting performance by pretending he had not found Control 39 yet and appeared
to still be looking for the control. Once Doug was out of site, Jay took quickly
took off for Control 40 and left Doug looking for Control 39 by himself. After I spoke with Doug after the meet, he
confirmed that he thought Jay had not yet found Control 39. So by orienteering standards, Jay’s
performance was worthy of an Oscar (or at least a Golden Globe).
Soon after Jay arrived, Bill Pilcher also came in from
completing the intermediate course, and just in time - the weather finally
changed to rain. At first it was just a
little rain, but it didn’t take long for it to be a fully fledged
downpour. Team Wright (Melanie and Innes)
came in just before the rain turned to the downpour. Looking a little worn from their fast pace, Melanie mentioned that she
probably raced faster trying to keep up with Innes than she would have done by herself. She also said that having a team
where there are two sets of eyes on the map and looking for controls really
helped with their navigation.
After 30 minutes of steady rain, Doug, the last competitor
on the advanced course came in. It
seemed the first half of his race went very well until he got to Control 39. He then had to make several searches and attempts
before he finally found Control 39, but by then, Jay was long gone.
The last person still left on the course was Jerry
Stewart. The rain was now really coming
down and thunder was rumbling, so everyone was getting a little concerned since
Jerry had not been seen for over 3 hours.
Both John and Bill went out in their cars to start searching for Jerry
and to see if he was possibly walking back to the farm on the road. About 10 minutes after the search parties
went out, through the sheets of rain and thunder, Jerry could be seen coming
down the last steep incline back to the farm.
Showing that persistence does pay off, Jerry indeed completed the entire
intermediate course, despite the challenging weather conditions. After drying off and getting some food, Jerry
mentioned that after the rain got heavy, he wasn’t really looking to complete
the course and was planning to skip the last control (Control 46), when he
found it on his way back to the farm.
Potluck
With everyone back and accounted for, the potluck had
already began and was already in full swing. Under the safety and comfort of a
nice dry porch with plenty of food and drink, everyone enjoyed the post-race potluck
with pizza, beer, salad and plenty of side dishes and snacks. Another great CTOC Rabbit Creek meet was now
complete and was followed by stories of fun and adventure.
Results
Results are listed below by course. All racers are listed on the beginner
course, which for intermediate and advanced competitors would be your first
split time.
Split times can be
viewed/ downloaded from the following link:
All Beginner Course Times
1. Doug LaMott 0:17:17
2. Melanie Wright/ Innes Wright 0:18:55
3. David Murray 0:19:16
4. Jay Morgan 0:19:53
5. Bill Pilcher 0:25:03
6. John Murray 0:25:23
7. Katrina Wright/ Lou VanderWyk 0:34:49
8. Jerry Stewart 0:38:40
9. Normal Bailey/ Bonnie Coiner 1:00:11
10. Kara Steele / Roxanna Strong (no time - approx 1 hour)
Intermediate Course Results
1. David Murray 1:23:04
2. John Murray 1:32:49
3. Bill Pilcher 2:20:29
4. Jerry Stewart 3:43:46
Katrina Wright/ Lou
VanderWyk DNF
Normal Bailey/ Bonnie
Coiner DNF
Advanced Course Results
1. Jay Morgan 2:22:17
2. Melanie Wright/ Innes Wright 2:42:35
3. Doug LaMott 3:12:54
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