To quote Maureen Drobot, "Junior Girl Scout Troop 202 was just blown away with their first orienteering event!" Was it the BAOC map made by Thorsten Graeve, the well trained staff of BAOC volunteers, the Easter egg hunt start-O, the chocolate Easter egg treats for finishers, or the 30- to 60-knot winds we experienced all day? One can only wonder. Whatever it was, people seemed to be having a great time despite the wind chill and near-impossible running conditions we experienced all day. Check out the results!
The winds were so strong that there were waves with white caps on Shoreline lake, the wind-surfing office remained closed all day, we had to tie down our chairs to trees, and we had to hide registration behind a big patch of vegetation. Some scout teams showed up early and couldn't wait in the cold wind for the first starts, so they started themselves early while we were still setting up the last controls.
Despite the hardships, we had a record Egg-O crowd of 112 people. Not many could stay in the winds to do a second course but all seemed to be having a good time while they could endure the winds. Many were very interested in returning to other orienteering events.
This year, the two Egg-O start-O courses featured numbered Easter eggs at each control. The children collected an egg from each control and presented the collection to Edith Jacobi, who then awarded them with a treat. Thanks to the wind, the eggs were often flying over the lawn and into the bushes but there always seemed to be enough for the participants to collect. The children enjoyed hunting for the eggs and their parents want to bring them back next year.
The white and score-O courses were in the open and very easy for most people. For some beginners this proved to be perfect and for others it was too easy. Next year we will be using another part of the park that is largely undeveloped and more challenging for beginners.
The increasing popularity of this event has convinced the rangers that we ought to begin using the other area which can handle our increasing parking needs. The new area features a much greater area to plan beginner courses as well as access to the rest of the park and the Palo Alto Baylands where we can run a very long and flat trail score-O for runners. Next year’s event should be a lot of fun.
Thanks to a big project at work, I had little time to prepare for this event this year. Fortunately, we had a tremendous crew of volunteers who handled clinics, starts, finishes, control setup, "egg laying", and registration. Mike Poulsen and Nancy Lindeman arrived early to provide very vital setup functions, David Dreyfuss volunteered his services to setup up the start-O courses (not an easy job when carrying 200 plastic eggs and bags in seemingly gale-force winds), Nick Corsano managed the clinics, Esther Heller helped wherever we needed help, Cheryl Madsen and Leslie Cavanaugh relieved Nancy at Registration, Mike Poulsen, Edith Jacobi, Mattias Kohler, David Dreyfuss, and Jeff Lanham endured nonstop winds to manage the starts and finishes with smiles for all participants. Many helped with the cleanup as well. With their help, the event went remarkably smoothly despite the abnormal conditions.
One note for the results: In my haste to copy start-O maps on the morning of the event, I neglected to include a control card on or with the map. This wasn’t necessary for completing the course but it was necessary for presenting results. My apologies to the start-O participants who were looking forward to seeing their names immortalized in the BAOC Bulletin. Next year, I’ll put a specialist in charge of this portion of the event to ensure that it is done right. I'll even make sure that the start-O person has paper for recording starts and finishes.
112 people
42 entries plus an unknown number of Start-O entries
START-O
Helen and William Madsen
Angela and Kelly Stoering
Ben and Ashley Thomas
Many others
WHITE COURSE
1. Claudio and Orlando San Martin 21:10
2. Thomas, Katie, Bjorn, Anders, and Linnea Fox 26:50
3. Barbara Robben 28:40
4. Garrett and Kristen Pitsenbarger 28:42
5. Carol Johnson and Laura Ackerman 29:50
6. Wendy and Amelia Giusti 30:00
7. Jeanne, Roland, Mika, and Evan Chan 31:20
8. Troop 87--Kathy and Anna Reichart 31:55
9. Harry Hall 32:40
10. Troop 321--Kathleen, Beth, and Julia 36:02
11. Cynthia Castillo 38:40
12. James and Matt Ferry 40:15
13. Juan, Linda, and Julian Hinojosa 40:50
14. Troop 492--Melissa, Kassandra, Samantha 47:15
15. Troop 321--Alissa, Christina, and Amy 48:20
16. Troop 492--Mandy Corona, Lori Giarrizzo, Aleah Longacre 49:05
17. Troop 321--Stephanie, Meredith, and Sam 50:44
18. Nancy and Brent Hughes 53:45
19. Zandra C. Wood 53:45
20. Troop 492 Alycia, Amanda, Cara, and Jessica 56:30
Troop 202--Niki Buchholz and Kayla Howard-Anderson 25:50*
Troop 321--team 4 30:00*
Troop 202--Kristen Benner, Kristen Zimmerman, Karen Ho,
Irene T., Rachel D. 33:00*
Troop 202--Justine McCanna, Laura Yost, Savena Vaswani,
Elizabeth Creger 33:00*
Troop 202--Nichole, Paula, Lizzy, Katie, Emily 33:00*
Troop 202--team 5 35:00*
Denise and Lena Cuevas 40:00 DNF (#7)
Allison, Paul Bergeron, Ian Ferry, others? 41:00 DNF (#8)
Troop 888 49:00 DNF (#7-12)
* These people started early so I was not able to verify their start
times.
SCORE-O
Name Time Score*
1. Panu Haaramo 20:40 16-0=16
2. Matthias Kohler 29:48 16-0=16
3. Ken Douglas and Audrey Warmuth 36:50 16-0=16
4. Hannah Bunting, Melinda Martin, Jaki Dawdy,
and Alyssia Zellner 43:08 16-0=16
5. Matt and Pat Rabuzzi 44:09 16-0=16
6. Anu Perasalo 47:29 16-0=16
7. Jeff Lanam 47:44 16-0=16
8. Stuart, Stephanie, Cathy and Natasha Boysaw 52:01 16-0=16
9. Roberta Pitsenbarger and Diane Hall 56:33 16-0=16
10. David Dreyfuss 32:55 15-0=15
11. Nancy Lindeman 58:40 14-0=14
12. Linda Bagnall and Anne Wilbur 54:26 13-0=13
13. Kenandra and Ken Wood 117:42 16-16=0
* One point subtracted for each minute over 60 minutes.