This Month's CTOC News and Meet Report

Bill Pilcher's Dog, Birdie at ADV12/INT7

 A couple of months ago in the Rabbit Creek meet report I quoted Crash Davis, Kevin Costner's character in the movie “Bull Durham” about respecting a streak. Much to my surprise “Bull Durham” prompted Ole to put me onto a recent newspaper article based on the director's book about the making of the movie. Another friend, Russ Pilcher, mailed the print article and generously followed with the book, “The Church of Baseball”. All that and a call to let me know that watching “Bull Durham” was one of his Father's Day activities. If you've seen the movie and know Russ, you would not be surprised to learn that the main thing Russ got from the movie is, “The rose goes in the front, big guy.” I could explain, but I won't. It's best to see the movie.

Saturday's Goose Plateau Meet brought another Crash Davis quotation to mind even though it needs to be updated to match today's situation. “Some days you win, some days you lose, and some days it rains you have COVID.” There were several things about COVID. Least important was my waning case. Andy Hill took over setting up the start desk and getting things going while I tried to keep my distance. I spite of a minor bout of COVID-induced fatigue I managed to get all of the controls set in good order the day before.

What was of much more importance was Sergey and his daughter Masha's COVID. They had travelled to Italy for the World Masters Orienteering Championships a couple of weeks ago. After finishing 16^th in the sprint finals out of about 200 of the best men's 60-64 orienteers in the world and qualifying for the middle course, Sergey came down with COVID and withdrew from the competition as did Masha. When we watch Sergey run we know how much he loves the sport and how well he represents CTOC. I'm sure Sergey is already thinking about the World Masters Championships 2023 in Kosice, Slovakia. They got off easy this year. Not so next year I'm confident.

Sergey reported that he is still feeling the aftereffects in the form of fatigue. Kirsten was currently a little over a week into her COVID, but still managed to turn in a respectable second place in the Intermediate Class behind David Bergset's solid performance.

Once upon a time in a world that's hard for Ole to imagine he beat Sergey on one leg of a classic course. Ole, ever the modest gentleman would never brag about a small (although I think it to be monumental)

victory like that. The reason I know about that long ago anomaly is that Ole in his matter-of-fact way mentioned that he had a photo of Sergey catching up to him when that rare event happened again at ADV 12/INT 7. In light of Sergey's lingering COVID fatigue (if you can believe that as he turned in a 1:13 advanced course victory almost halving Karin's performance—Note that Karin is no slouch having recently finished second in her age group on the middle course at the Western States Orienteering Championships at Missoula.). Judging from Sergey's smile he was happy to be there in spite of being the victim of the rare phenomenon.

And, that brings me to Sergey's map with his track in red. It was on Control 12 where you can see that Sergey chose not to take Ole's direct route from 11 to 12. Thanks, Sergey, for contributing your map. It illustrates the importance of route choice and reminds us that no matter how skilled you are, you can lose a few seconds with what seems like the most efficient route at the moment.

Photo courtesy of Bill Pilcher

Lynette & April Credit Ole

Ole noted the presence of Lynette and her friend April. “A couple of ladies, we met several times out in the woods as we were on the same course. Fortunately they followed their compass rather than anyone they happened to meet out there. They were definitely better off for it.” Bill captured them in a photo at INT 7. They are both ultra runners. Among other reasons for orienteering the idea is to improve map skills for those long endurance runs.

It was good to see Pete Paradis. He's become a regular, and judging from his strategy to attack the last Sport Course control from the finish, he's learned a few orienteering skills, among which is using attack points.

There is a Super Sport category populated only by Christy and Scott. They finished the Sport Course in good spirits and wanting a little more navigation. They took on the last four controls on the ADV/INT courses.

Credit: Andy Hill

The big question is how good is this terrain? Should we use it again in the coming years? Should the map be further developed? It's clear to me that if Goose Plateau were within an hour's drive of Boise, we would make regular use of it. If you are camping or hanging out in McCall, it works as part of a weekend vacation. As a standalone meet requiring a five hour round trip from Boise, not so much. Sergey likes it. He said Saturday's ADV course qualified for a red designation. (Of seven levels of difficulty red is the sixth most challenging.) The one drawback he cited was the 2.5+ hour drive.

The old World War I song says, “It's a long way to Tipperary”. I checked. It's 419 miles from London to Tipperary. I drove farther than that while mapping Goose Plateau and directing the meet.

David, Andy, & Kirsten--The last of the pickup crew.

Some days we need more help than others. I am always grateful for the help I receive as a meet director. Because of my reduced energy level I was especially grateful and a little bit amused as Ole, David, Karin, Andy, and Kirsten all volunteered and even vied for control pickup assignments. You guys are great. I am fortunate.

John Murray

Meet Director