One only has to look at the results to tell what the weather was like for this year's Indian Valley event. When there are 48 advanced orienteers, and only 5 White and 4 Yellow participants, one knows that there must have been inclement weather. There had been three days of rain before Saturdays event, and rain was forecast for the weekend, so most beginners stayed away. As it turned out, however, the day was perfect for running. It was cool, with only an occasional brief shower (just enough to warrant putting up tarps over the master maps, start, and finish areas). The sun even came out by the afternoon. Fortunately, the hard corps orienteers didn't let the threat of rain deter them from coming out and having a good time in one of the BAOC's nicest areas for orienteering. The area is predominantly forest, with very little hostile vegetation, and has moderate hills by Bay Area standards. The excellent map, made by George Kirkov in 1992, has a lot of point detail, including many rock features and small clearings. There was plenty of free parking, and the registration, start, and finish areas were all located close to the parking area and bathrooms.
Four advanced courses were offered, Brown, Green, Red, and Blue. Because of the new 'truth in advertising' policy about describing the amount of climb on the courses, many people dropped down a level. As a result, there was about equal distribution of orienteers on the four courses. The closest race was on Brown, where Werner Haag won by 42 seconds over Dennis Wildfogel, and George Minarik came in third 56 seconds later. Derek Maclean had a good run on Green, with Steve Smith taking second place. Arild Orsleie, veteran Indian Valley course setter, won the Red course, with Gary Carpenter coming in second a little over a minute and a half later, and Kent Ohlund claiming third place 56 seconds later. There were several amazing performances on the Blue course. Pascal Vieser won with a time of 84:25 (averaging 10.9 min./k. over the 7.75 k., 570 m.climb course). Lans Taylor was second with a time of 88:32, and Jorg Hofer in third at 91:02. (Unfortunately, James could not participate because of his commencement ceremony at U.C. Berkeley that morning.)
Although the advanced courses were well received, the Orange course was too long and too difficult. Only three of the eleven starters completed the course successfully, with Kathy Wells winning in a time of 90:41. I find the Orange course the most difficult one to set. The Orange course should encourage off trail orienteering, but provide a safer, but longer, trail alternative. The controls should be on big features, and have good attack points. Preferably, there should also be collecting and catching features. I think all of the Orange controls met those criteria. However, I had relatively few of the easier Yellowish-Orange controls. Most of the controls tended to be on the more difficult end of the Orange spectrum. In addition, the course was too long. I will do better next time.
The event could not have gone as smoothly as it did if it were not for the large number of volunteer helpers. I particularly want to thank my co-directors, Keith Krieger and Darcy Richardson. They vetted all of the controls, made the Start-O' map, recruited the registration team, ran the start, helped set up and take down the finish chute and all of the tarps, and helped collect controls. They were always cheerful and cooperative, and it was a great pleasure to work with them. Tom Strat was my course consultant, and he provided me with many valuable suggestions on how to improve the courses. Joe Scarborough, assisted by James, did an excellent job of vetting, and also made a number of helpful suggestions. The registration was handled by Terry Engelhart, Judy Koehler, Kristine Smith, and Ev and Jean Beuerman. Gary Kraght gave beginner's clinics, and Marsha Jacobs and Jill Custer handled the finish and results. I particularly want to thank Michael Poulsen, Bruce Wolfe, and especially Gary Carpenter, for helping me retrieve the 62 controls scattered over the entire mapped area. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Jill, who tolerates my obsession with orienteering with good humor, and was very helpful to me preparing for the event by running errands to pick up equipment and supplies, attaching new purple pens to all of the master maps boards, and helping with the finish and results.
White 1. Jun Wang & Bill Russient 39:54 2. Julie Wells 53:39 3. Daniel Ohlund & Daniel Beall 77:44 4. Joe Kikuchi, Kyle Wagner, Kevin Wagner & Bonnie Van Den Hardel 102:27 Jean Lionelli & Susan McQuiston DNF Yellow 1. Bill Rassieur 61:30 2. George & Pat Aster 79:38 3. Sally Murphree & Lynne Stafford 97:33 Alex Englehart & Gabriel Carroll DNF Second Course Jun Wang 143:56 Orange 3.75 k, 200 m. 14 controls 1. Kelly Wells 90:41 2. JohnHensley & Janice Litvin 94:31 3. S. OKeefe 150:39 Meg Gerstner MSP Louise Madrid DNF Nancy Lindeman DNF Jeanette Wilson & Peggy Gonzales DNF Guldman DNF Ray & Barbara Kujawski DNF Rae & Cary Winther & Susan Schermhorn DNF Robin Foster DNF Brown 3.5 k, 175 m, 11 controls 1. Werner Haag 47:17 2. Dennis Wildfogel 47:59 3. George Minarik 49:55 4. Gary Kraght 55:43 5. Michael Poulsen 67:04 6. Jascha Lee 79:21 7. Robert Lewis 94:04 8. Jerry Goss 104:46 9. Aileen Abernathy 107:40 10. Stacy Robinson 111:33 11. Steve Beuerman 121:21 Mark, Benn, and Matt Winther DNF Green 4.65 k, 385 m, 13 controls 1. Derek Maclean 70:26 2. Steve Smith 75:34 3. Bill Papendick 83:07 4. Scott Aster 84:23 5. Manfred Kopisch 88:27 6. Finn Arildsen 101:50 7. Steph Maclean 105:10 8. Greg Lee 105:31 9. Greg Lennon 105:38 10. Kathleen Lennon 106:46 11. Michael Springer 111:46 12. Vic Revenko 137:06 13. Gerald de Wit 144:04 14. Kent Shaw (DVOA) 153:27 Red 5.75 k, 470 m, 18 controls 1. Arild Orsleie 93:53 2. Gary Carpenter 95:25 3. Kent Ohlund 96:21 4. Tapio Karras 101:40 5. Alan Glendinning 106:34 6. Rex Winterbottom 107:05 7. Dan Greene 107:16 8. Bruce Basset 117:07 9. Bob Cooley 117:26 10. Phil Lacroute 125:47 11. Mark Blair 157:51 Blue 7.75 k, 570 m, 21 controls 1. Pascal Vieser 84:25 2. Lans Taylor 88:32 3. Jorg Hofer 91:02 4. Bruce Wolfe 94:56 5. Christian Rauftlin 105:34 6. Thorsten Graeve 115:05 7. Brian Moore 137:58 8. Jay Montgomery 169:49 9. Tony Pinkham OT