Meet Results

  Ranging across Reedy Creek

Reedy Creek Nature Preserve | 3-Feb-2007 | Sandy Kohn, meet director.

It was a chilly day, but clear.  We had a good turnout. According to my best figuring, we had 107 Scouts, 27 ROTC cadets, 7 UNCC students and 49 others for a total of 190.   Plus there were 18 students from James Sisk’s CPCC Orienteering class, but they didn’t go though our start/finish so they don’t appear on the results table.  Most of the beginners went out in groups.  The number in parenthesis following the group name in the results table indicates the number of individuals in the group.   If there is no number, it was one person.
There were four courses. 

White took people away from the trails for two controls.  This required someone in each group to pay attention to the terrain features, to follow the valley up to the small marsh at control 5.  Then from 5 to 6 there were four route choices.  You could go back to the trail near control 4 and circle around by the lake.  You could continue up the valley till it reached another trail and circle around from there.  You could look for the little trail that ended on the ridge just to the northwest of the control and follow that trail up and around to 6.  Or as a final choice, you could head off cross-country, following a compass bearing to find 6 (which was at a rock, away from but visible from a trail junction).  Which route did your group choose?  Route choice is a major factor in orienteering, so I wanted to give even our beginners a chance to make a choice so they could learn from their decision.

Yellow used the same white controls # 5 and 6 controls but in reverse order for their # 4 and 5.  They had to make a similar route choice, deciding how to go from the rock to the marsh.  Then from 5 to 6, if the used a compass bearing, they had to cross a very deep ravine.  There 10th control took them far from any trails but along a creek and from 10 to 11 they had to go cross-country.  It is important for beginners to gain the skills and confidence to be able to travel without trails.  I tried to provide this just a bit for White and in increasing measure for Yellow.

Orange was probably a bit too hard. We had 10 group that didn’t find all the controls.   Control number 8 (the rocky ground in a reentrant) gave a lot of people trouble.  It was also a control on Green and a number of those folks also indicated they had a hard time with it.  There were not great catching features near it and the terrain there is a bit complex.  It was fine for Green, but a bit too challenging for Orange.  Control 4 was at the field of pits (about 20 pits - each from 4 to 8 feet deep).  Since this control was on Orange, you had to find the correct pit (it was marked on the control description as the western one) and look down in it to see the control.  Generally in Orienteering, you should see the control feature before you see the control flag.  Had this been Yellow, it would have been hung higher as to be visible from farther away.  This is one of the kinds of decision the course setter gets to make to provide what he/she thinks is the right level of challenge for the route he is planning. 

Green had some good challenges and most folks figured them out.  One of the really cool things is that many of the folks who did Green checked in with each other after they finished and compared notes on their route choices and any problems they had. This is a great way to compare strategies and learn from your peers how their route choices compared to yours.  This is a wonderful way to improve your skills.  One thing I learned from listening in is that everyone makes errors, but what separates a really good orienteer from a less skilled one, is how quickly they identify that they have made an error and how quickly they are able to correct it.  A great way to do that is to always try to know where you are on the map by constantly comparing what you are seeing on the ground with what is on the map. 

Unfortunately, some folks who started close to 12:00 noon found that some of the controls had been picked up before they got to them.  Someone started picking up controls around 2:30, and these included some of the last controls on Green.  This was without the course setter’s acknowledgement.  At least 3 groups were not able to finish because the controls had been removed*.  It is not uncommon that controls will begin to be picked up starting at 2:00 — but these are either on courses where everyone is back, or the beginning controls on courses where there is the expectation that everyone on the course has already been to them. Starting at 3:00, any controls may be picked up, because the COK Basic Rules and Schedules says that everyone must check back in at registration by 3:00. 

Webmasters Notes:  *This is all part of my on-going campaign to harass those orienteers who are better than I am. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Thanks to those who helped with the meet.  Sarah Fox and her students from the Wilderness Trip Leading Class at UNC Charlotte; Liz, Taylor, Andrew, Joanna, Bethany, Mark, Addison and Juan; helped with registration, setting out the water and the white course, being the starter and timer and helping to pick up controls at the end.  James Sisk also helped pick up controls.  Dave Alexander taught two beginner’s courses and another volunteer (whose name I failed to obtain) also taught a class.  Thanks to all for your help!

 

White Course — Length in kilometers:  2.4

Rank	Competitor	Finish time
1	GS 1278 (5)	61:00
2	Ilson (2)	66:00
3	Girl Scout 1 (5)	71:00
4	Weirdos (6)	75:30
5	Merjo (3)	86:00
6	Hannah & Kristen (3)	87:00
7	Troop 10 Hestereet (7)	103:00
8-Tie	Troop Wolverines (8)	106:00
8-Tie	Holmes (3)	106:00
10	Troop 732 (3)	117:00
11	Troop 3550 (5)	122:00
12	Dragon Patrol (7)	141:00
13	173 – BC (9)	166:00

Yellow Course — Length in kilometers:  3.4

Rank	Competitor	Finish time
1	Doug	83:00
2	Prince (30	85:00
3	Andy & Joanna (2)	100:47
4	The Weenus Brigade (2)	103:00
5	Cobrachai (5)	105:40
6	Shoemaker (4)	110:00
7	LHS Gold (3)	111:00
8	LHS White (2)	112:00
9	Vikings (4)	116:00
10	Sand Pipers (2)	121:00
11	Hams (4)	143:00
12	Flaming Arrows (9)	157:00
13	Pedro (7)	167:00
14	222 Lizards (5)	181:00
	Riley	DNF
	Tyler (2)	DNF

Orange Course — Length in kilometers:  4.2

Rank	Competitor	Finish time
1	Dickinson (3)	100:40
2	Bryan	107:10
3	Matt	107:40
4	Jeff & Joseph (2)	130:30
5	Mark & Cricket (2)	132:00
6	Jim Taft	133:55
7	Out in the Cold (2)	157:40
8	Bohner 3 (3)	160:00
9	LHS Black (2)	169:00
10	Christensen	175:00
11	Al & Katie (dog)	185:00
12	Ryan (2)	209:00
	173-A (3)	DNF
	Sun Valley (3)	DNF
	Commandos (3)	DNF
	Sun Valley # 1 (2)	DNF
	Phyllis Tarrant	DNF
	The People (4)	DNF
	Team Green (3)	DNF
	Team Red (3)	DNF
	Lane	DNF
	John Barnes	DNF

Green Course — Length in kilometers:  5.5

Rank	Competitor	Finish time
1	Josef Trzicky	70:00
2	Walter Siegenthaler	74:08
3	Matt	92:00
4	Gary Creed	104:25
5	Smith	106:00
6	Bill Ketring	109:00
7	Adventure Us	127:18
8	Ken Hansen	148:00
9	Terese Camp	148:45
10	Rob Christian	164:00
11	Burke (2)	220:00
	KDS (3)	DNF
	Chefs (3)	DNF
	Richard Stuart	DNF
	Lab Rats (2)	DNF
	David Alexander	DNF
	John Fairley, Ron and Hoy (3)	DNF
	Keith	DNF

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