Recap
Wow! What an event, and what a turnout! With 41 timed individuals or groups out and about in the woods, it was a busy morning registering and starting runners at NEOOC’s first event of the year. Sure, we had “planned” for snow, and some colder temperatures. Ice cream sandwiches (and maybe the use of snow shoes) were promised, but neither happened! We had temps in the mid-40s instead, overcast, with wet and muddy ground conditions. In other words, a perfect day for orienteering!
First off, a huge thanks to the small number of volunteers that made the day go smoothly. Thanks to John and Chris Nazier for acting as Manatoc liaisons and guides (and chief fire captains), as well as their Venture Crew for setting controls on Saturday, and for picking up on Sunday afternoon. Guy Russ did an amazing job as chief registrar and cashier, and managed the flow of participants with skill and elegance. Thanks to the small group from Unity Lutheran Church that came out to help pickup controls on Sunday. Andreas Johansson, event director for the day, wore many additional hats (course design, setting controls, etc.), including rescue team and shuttle driver… And thank you to Chris Bergdorf and Camp Manatoc for the excellent site venue!
A small team tackled WHITE and YELLOW, including a few Boy Scouts. All reported having had a great time, and said they’d return for our event in April. Owen Anderson took first on WHITE with 51:29, and Team Feaser topped YELLOW with 55:51, followed by NEOOC regular Frank Mahne at 87:28! Shoutout to Team Esis for being first-time orienteers, for getting the whole family involved!
Many took advantage of the ORANGE course, which offered a bit more distance than YELLOW, but required a few off-trail legs that tripped up a few. Not many returned sans-mud… Kai Getrost came in first, in 52:34, followed by Bernard Marcucci at 63:04. Team Mauler went a bit off-course, and were rescued by a big blue truck towards the end of the day!
On GREEN, Fred Mailey performed with 74:15. Members KJ Rufener and NEOOC President Howard Montgomery both did GREEN (Howard did it backwards!) and had hairsplitting times with 106:28 and 106:27, respectively! Wow!
Action on the RED course was overwhelming, with 15 competitors, several of which had signed up for pre-printed maps beforehand via Facebook (the idea being, less foreknowledge of the route by having to plot it yourself). First out was NEOOC’s Todd Pownell who took third, bested by Randy Mitchell with 63:25, and winner Dave Kostansek with 57:10. Well done Dave for running an excellent race, and not using the road from Octagon south! Next time, we’ll mark it with the uncrossable boundary symbol, as the design was to force runners to navigate the long leg 6 – 7 of about 1,100 meters!
Feedback was positive overall, and we ended the day with plenty of snacks and even heart shaped donuts in honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day. Many stuck around for a few minutes by the open fire to discuss routes, lamenting falls in the mud, and wondering where the snow was.
Most controls were cleaned up by 4:30PM, and the rest will be retrieved this week. Why not give us a hand next time, if you can? Picking up controls is one of the best ways to learn to better read the map since the time crunch isn’t there, and you have some time to really study the micro details of the map versus the terrain. And you often can collect controls from other courses than the one you ran. And, if you’re lucky like Andreas was, you might run into a rafter of native Cuyahoga Valley turkeys! And deer. Always deer.
We’ve added some resources below, including the full splits, Attackpoint data (if you’re logging there), and RouteGadget, where you can add / load your track to compare with others. See you next time, on April 1, 2017 at Kendall Lake.
Resources & Maps
A few folks have asked for the routes and maps from the event. Here are some files that may help. Note – they are not the full maps, and possession of the maps do not entitle you to access of the area. Camp Manatoc is a Boy Scout reservation, and requires prior permission to enter, and is generally not open to the public. Please be respectful of this.
Results
White Course: 9 controls | 2.2 km | 0 m
1 Owen Anderson 51:29
2 Perkins Slifer 88:28
3 Team Esis 92:57
Yellow Course: 11 controls | 2.7 km | 0 m
1 Team Feaser 55:51
2 Frank Mahne 87:28
3 McKibben Parker 87:56
4 Fran Kern 105:24
5 Chuck St.John 105:28
Orange Course: 10 controls | 3.2 km | 20 m
1 Kai Getrost 52:34
2 Bernard Marcucci 63:04
3 A Shannon 79:30
4 Jeff Whitbeck 81:29
5 Sanae Rogers 81:31
6 John Chesna 91:38
7 Team Loya 110:54
8 Dawn Zwetzig 112:25
Marcia Mauler DNF
Green Course: 11 controls | 4.2 km | 20 m
1 Fred Mailey NEO 74:15
2 KJ Rufener 106:28
3 Rich Perrenoud 120:14
Johnson Witalis DNF
Backwards Green Course: 11 controls | 4.2 km | 20 m
1 Howard Montgomery 106:27
Red Course: 8 controls | 5.4 km | 50 m
1 Dave Kostansek 57:10
2 Randy Mitchell NEO 63:25
3 Todd Pownell 66:54
4 Bob Turanchik 81:49
5 Steve Johnson NEO 88:38
6 Phill Wadsworth 101:55
7 Fred Lusi 103:44
8 Eric Marotta 109:23
9 Yaki Barak 115:25
10 John Rasinski 118:42
11 Dan Freeman 124:12
12 Gil Even 128:58
James Price DNF
Richard Davies DNF
Team Jefferis DNF