Veteran's Memorial Park and Willow Lane

Barb, Rhonda, and Jan with a couple of great sniffers.

Easy peasy. For all you future CTOC meet directors (yes, we need you), once you've directed a meet at the same venue 2 or 3 times, with great helpers, it gets easy. So it was for me on Sunday Feb 8, for this pre-superbowl, 'participate don't spectate', event. And if it's the first one or two holding you back from volunteering -- there are many of us who'd love to show you the ropes. Helping with even just one meet is greatly appreciated!  

Thanks so much to Sergey for jumping in on the unexpected greenbelt closures and delivering a newly updated map to my email inbox just as I was designing courses. Thanks to Innes for making the morning control setting and pickup easy and for being darn good company. Thanks to the forces of weather for providing us with mostly dry ground and dry skies. 

A little bit of sun brightened the later morning.

We had only one hicccough when someone decided they needed to "clean up" a control (complete with electronic punch and a sticker that clearly labeled it's reason for being there) mid-event, so a good portion of people heading for #9 on the Vets loop arrived with nothing to find. Some moved on quickly while others spent time looking. Innes, again, to the rescue, scouted the area and found the control, e-punch still attached, residing in a nearby trash can and re-set it for those who were still out. 

We were happy to see a few new-to-orienteering or new-to-Boise folks. If anyone is comparing themselves in the times below to CTOC veterans, know that competitive orienteering involves navigating in UNKNOWN terrain. Don't be intimidated by top runners who have competed on these maps multiple times. They still have to quickly choose their routes, but they have a distinct advantage of recalling key passages, landmarks, and parallel bridges that extend to separate land masses. If you were fortunate enough to be exploring these places for the first time, count yourself lucky! 

Beginner Course         1.2km

    1   Julynn and Quinn Dillard            1:06:04

Vets Loop                    2.5 km  10 C

Kirsten also with a hound friend

    1     Sergey Velichko                          17:25 
    2     Dustin Thomas                            21:47 
    3     William Leach                             23:52 
    4     Hugh & Jackson Ford                 26:07 
    5     Angela & Torin Ford                   28:09 
    6     Jason Russell                          31:56 
    7     Heidi Thomas                          34:12 
    8     Michail F                              39:32 
    9     David Byrd                            40:02 
   10    Carrie Magnusson                        41:16 
   11    Heather & Matt Steele                 41:56 
   12    Barb Rhonda Jan Recla             1:13:31 

Willow Lane Loop     3.2 km  13 C 
    1    Sergey Velichko                        22:09 
    2    William Leach                          31:26 
    3    Dustin Thomas                          33:10 
    4    Angela & Torrin Ford             39:25 
    5    John Murray                          41:18 
    6    Hugh & Jackson Ford           47:33 
    7    Heidi Thomas                          51:55 
    8    Jason Russell                          52:34 
    9    John Siebold                             1:05:58 
   10   Christy Morris                           1:24:03 
   11   Kevin & Steve McDowell         1:33:39 
   12   Kirsten Severud                            mp 

Combined
    1    Sergey Velichko                    39:34
    2    Dustin Thomas                             54:57
    3    William Leach          55:18
    4    Angela & Torrin Ford                 1:07:34
    5    Hugh & Jackson Ford       1:13:40
    6    Jason Russell                              1:24:30
    7    Heidi Thomas                             1:26:07

It was fantastic seeing all of you. I'm looking forward to seeing you at more events as the warmer weather makes it's way to Boise!

The Ford crowd made the most of both loops!