The morning started in the dark, stars just fading to morning twilight as I arrived in the park. With a 10.8 km "Yellow"-level course, there were several visible controls waiting to be put out on the morning of the event. Strategic placement of the control near roads allowed the job to be completed, though, before the first competitor arrived.
So began the 2nd Annual Golden Goat and White, Yellow, Orange level orienteering event, held on August 17th in the beautiful forest of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Over 100 people came out to the event with 58 entrants braving the Golden Goat!
The morning's White course was laid out well with Eve & John Tobey taking the win in just over 20 minutes. Just 5 minutes back, and only 20 seconds apart were the young Volkov brothers with Vasiliy just edging out Dmitriy.
Yellow was a bit more challenging with controls near but off the trails requiring competitors to pay close attention to how far they had gone before looking off into the woods. Usually an advanced course runner, Dennis Wildfogel won the course in just over 33 minutes, and a first time orienteer, but long time runner & map reader A.J. Portmann took 2nd in about 38 minutes. One of the Big Basin park ranger assistants, Sierra Standish tried orienteering for the first time and finished only a few minutes out of 3rd even after going back for a control she'd missed early in the course. Galina Shaknovsky exclaimed "Good course: this course really makes you think!"
Orange proved a bit too challenging for several of the day's competitors, with a tricky first control, and a hard hill climb to number 5 tiring people out. With many of the faster Orange runners on the Goat, the front of the field was well spread out. Alex Krasnov finished in under 43 minutes, arriving too late to run the Goat. Maria Vargasova ran around the entire length of the Orange course in an impressive 66:25, but missed #8, and found a incorrect nearby control for #11. In second came Jascha Lee at 66:39 followed by the pair of Christopher Dunning and Ben Gorman less than 5 minutes back.
The Golden Goat drew a diverse crowd, bringing orienteers from Seattle (2), LA (5) and Connecticut (1) as well as 50 foolhardy locals. A variety of experience levels were there as well, from accomplished Red and Blue runners, to several Yellow and Orange competitors and even one first time orienteer.
The course was 10.8 km long with a long forked leg with several route choices. The option to skip one control added several more alternatives, especially considering the option to skip the forked control, or the control before or after the forked control. Competitors chose to skip 10 different controls, showing the variety of reasonable options, although most competitors skipped 5 or 10 with many others choosing 14 or 19. After discussions with several competitors, taking the North fork and skipping Control 10 appears to have been the best option, but many competitors were pulled into skipping 5, which was the earliest obvious control to skip. Competitors who hadn't yet skipped a control by 10 were often lulled into skipping 14, which at first glance, appears like a good control to skip, but considering the trails, saves little, if any time. Skipping control 19 seemed like a good control to save for the end, where a competitor could jump 2 minutes ahead of the pack right near the end of the course.
This year's champion of the Goat is Steve Gregg, who won by nearly 7 minutes over his nearest rival. Most of the lead pack had skipped number 5 early on, and Steve had caught back up to it by number 9. Steve, though, hadn't yet skipped a control, and gained a sizable lead by going directly to 11. Pre-race favorite Neeme Loorits apparently didn't have his Wheaties and was unable to keep up his typical pace for the full course. Leading the pack was a tie for second between Derek MacLean and Syd Reader, who crossed the finish line shoulder to shoulder, with Van Boughner only a few seconds behind. Penny DeMoss was the first woman tying for 10th overall with Dan Greene. Angelica Kisel came in 2nd woman, just footsteps ahead of Neeme Loorits. Sarah Minarik (F14) came in 3rd woman, enjoying the navigational break from her usual Brown course. Ian Tidswell, director for this year's Billygoat (on which the Golden Goat idea is based), showed up "on business" from Connecticut to take 12th. First time orienteer Kirk Davis successfully competed the goat in just over 4 hours. And Joan Roos persisted through nearly 5 hours, (including a scary crawl down the very steep slope just northwest of 14) to claim her Golden Goat shirt.
The event could not have gone so well without the help of several volunteers:
Course Design: Lans Taylor, Steve Jankowski
Course Setting: Angelica Kisel, Steve Jankowski, Doug Stein
Course Vetting: Trevor Pering, Steve Jankowski
T-Shirt Design and Production: Angelica Kisel
Map Layout & Printing: Bob Cooley
Registration: Ev & Jean
Starts: Jeff Lanam, Werner Haag
Beginner's Clinics: Werner Haag
Finishes: Galina Shakhnovsky, Werner Haag
Results: Steve Jankowski, Van Boughner, Doug Stein, Neeme Loorits
Control Pickup: Aileen Abernathy, Harold DeMoss, Penny DeMoss, Sharon
Evans, Kelly Wells, Dennis Wildfogel, others? (sorry if I missed you!)
Thanks to you all. I look forward to competing in next year's Goat!
-- Wyatt Riley
White Name Time Eve & John Tobey 20:48 Vasiliy Volkov 24:40 Dmitviy Volkov 25:00 Candice, Kevin Torresdal 35:40 Aune's 38:08 Jane & Frank Romeo, Al & Nancy Trifiante, Mike Lieberman 39:36 Jon Morse 54:30 Klein, Coe & Emmerson 58:40 Linda Bagnall 66:45 Yellow Name Time Dennis Wildfogel 33:43 A.J. Portmann 38:10 W.J. Switier? 53:07 Candice/Kevin Torresdal 55:29 Jon Morse 60:06 Sierra Standish 61:28 Dustin Consul, Brad Catlin, Troop 139 63:25 Pat & Matt Rabuzzi 67:55 John, LJ Rakitan 76:16 Galina Shakhnovsky 77:19 Klein, Coe & Emmerson 88:28 Ev & Jean Beuerman 92:21 Robert, Becky, Freddy Noble & Chris Essex 99:07 Brian Aune 140:23 Jane & Frank Romeo, Al & Nancy Trifiante, Mike Lieberman 144:20 Joey & Linda Catlin, Troop 139 148:25 Orange Name Time Alex Krasnov 42:38 Jascha Lee 66:39 Christopher Dunning, Ben Gorman 70:54 Jorian Riley, Ben Archibald 76:05 Rachel & Dwight Freund 79:23 Elena Krasnova 104:38 Mike Catlin 104:44 Matt Boys, Shawn Klien, Mark Catlin 107:00 Jeff Lanam 116:22 A.J. Portmann 119:44 Tom Aust 132:55 Jack Myers 138:37 Joe Donato 148:53 Boyd Montgomery 153:54 Maria Vargasova DNF (Found 1-7,9,10 in 66:25) Ron MacCracker DNF (Found 1-8) Brooks Beisch DNF (Found 1-7) Teemu Talasmaa DNF (Found 1-6) Michael Young DNF (Found 1-5) Aune DNF (Found 1-5) Roope Talasmaa DNF (Found 1-4) Keith Moffatt, David McCrum & Rob Jensen DNF (Found 2-4) Golden Goat Name Time Fork Skipped Steve Gregg 88:46 N 10 Derek Maclean 95:27 N 5 Syd Reader 95:27 N 14 Van A. Boughner 95:34 N 5 Tapio Karras 96:01 N 5 Steve Jankowski 96:02 N 10 Adam Smith 98:16 S 5 Michihiro Kamijima 100:07 S 5 Kent Ohlund 105:00 S 5 Dan Greene 107:44 N 7 Penny DeMoss 107:44 N 10 Ian Tidswell 112:18 N 10 Steve Smith 116:16 N 5 Leo Eisner 116:39 N 3 Andrew Roth 118:32 N 14 Mark Prior 119:34 N 19 George Minarik 119:46 N 19 Bruce Bassett 121:26 N 5 Angelica Kisel 122:38 N 5 Neeme Loorits 122:39 N 7 Charlie Graham 125:09 N 19 Alan Glenndinning 125:24 S 8 Bob Cooley 125:27 N 10 Michael Poulsen 131:22 - 9 Kelly Wells 131:23 N 10 Josh Friederichs 131:25 S 8 Evan Custer 131:42 N 14 Doug Stein 134:27 N 10 Manfred Kopisch 135:31 N 7 Sarah Minarik 135:32 N 14 Tony Pinkham 137:12 N 5 Gavin Wyatt-Mair 143:34 N 14 Theo Verhoeven 143:49 N 15 Patty Clemo 144:39 N 1 Mark Blair 153:59 N 10 Richard Dekany 170:35 S 14 Robert Lewis 171:18 N 5 Steph Maclean 171:20 N 2 Sue Johnson 172:35 N 7 Dave Petty 177:47 N 10 Sharon Evans 180:59 N 5 Brian Bauman 182:33 N 10 Dave Ingram 201:15 N 14 Mike Maughmer 205:04 N (none) Aileen Abernathy 208:22 N 7 Oleg Shakhnovsky 210:39 - 9 Steve Beuerman 210:40 N 10 Leslie Minarik 227:21 S 2 Phillip Hoare 237:26 S 6 Kirk Davis 243:33 N 17 Rosemary Johnson 259:03 N 7 Jill H. Custer 280:38 N 10 Meg Gerstner 280:38 N 10 Marsha Jacobs 280:38 N 10 Nancy Lindeman 280:45 N 10 Joan Roos 299:48 N 13 Liz Boyd DNF (4 controls) Audrie Faist DNF