Dimond Park
Date: (Sun.) Jul. 31, 2005
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Rex Winterbottom
Type: Short and Long courses, and "Urban Goat" combination
Event Write-Up
By Rex Winterbottom
Palatable running conditions greeted the orienteers on a fine, sunny Sunday morning that wasn't too hot. Our intrepid urban adventurers tromped back with reports of interesting route choices, magnificent views, and lovely neighborhoods and houses. As advertised, the only tricky spots for traffic were Park Blvd. and Oakland Ave. I think the advantages this map has over the Twin Peaks map are less thoroughfares and a much lower housing density, cutting down on the amount of street traffic.
The Short Course provided a good time out — value for the time and money you put into it, that is — and an interesting challenge of picking an efficient route to 8 controls (leaving 1 be) in the neighborhood twixt Lakeshore Ave. and Crocker Highlands Elementary school. Picking a route to and from that zone and the first and last controls also provided an interesting challenge. In a tight cluster, Lauren Knight, Ron & Niv Davidson, and Vicki Woolworth finished 1-2-3.
Thorsten Graeve (the winner of the Urban Goat) said this (paraphrased) about the Long Course (the second half of the goat): "I had to keep thinking and reading the map the whole way." How's that for "easy" urban street orienteering? The hills of Oakland and Piedmont are ribboned with snaking streets and the staircases and footpaths provide shortcuts to consider. Stalwart orienteer Evan Custer claimed top prize on the Long Course, followed by Luc Poppe and the formidable trio of Patricia Ross, Alex Brubaker, and Daniel Lillin.
Bringing us to the Urban Goat. I love crazy mass starts. We started all kinds of people together, not just the Urban Goaters, so there was plenty of company to be had in the 9 control pick 8 of 'em maze of the Short Course. Nonetheless, reports from the field indicated that people went all kinds of different ways to the first control! I guess the Short Course was just that tricky.
I had the Event Director's privilege of manning the manned water-stop control while James Wilson held down the fort and we kept in touch with our bat phones. Cell phones work quite well in urban areas. The wily Thorsten Graeve cruised by that very last control on the Short Course with fine composure. About 30 seconds after him hurried the cunning Vladimir Gusiatnikov — he would be hot on Thorsten's tail the rest of the way, and Thorsten and Vlad would finish 1-2. Seconds later at the water stop brought me Mikkel Conradi (eventual 3rd place), Mattias Eriksson, and Theo Verhoeven, all having shredded the Short Course. The smaller separations in time between the competitors here became more amplified by the time they all finished the goat — quite a long haul, but not quite holding a candle to the last Golden Goat at Tamarancho.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your cheery faces upon return and rabid discussions with the maps brought joy to the director. And the "on the fly" help was great — Jim Fish, James Wilson, Brad Wetmore, and Vicki Woolworth provided extensive support throughout the event. Jim, Vicki, and Mattias Eriksson earned special commendations for "connecting all the dots" (control circles) on the maps. Thanks also to Thorsten Graeve, Mark Blair, and Fyodor Konkov for various sundry helpments.
And remember, this is a permanent course, so you are welcome and urged by me to go to Dimond Park and run it yourself — email me or call me and I can tell you where to get to the stash of maps (http://whatitiz.biz/baoc/20050731_dimond_park/map.jpg), answer sheets (http://whatitiz.biz/baoc/20050731_dimond_park/answer_sheet.html), and Course Setter's Notes (or check the BAOC email group posts). Alternatively, you can print any of the above by following the links. Bring your own water and a pencil or pen. Check your answers with the answer sheet (http://whatitiz.biz/baoc/20050731_dimond_park/answer_sheet_answers.html).
Thanks to all these people:
- Setup: Jim Fish
- Drawing lines connecting controls on all the maps: Jim Fish, Mattias Eriksson, Vicki Woolworth
- Registration: James Wilson
- Starts: Brad Wetmore, James Wilson
- Finishes: James Wilson
- Manning the Water Control: Vicki Woolworth, Thorsten Graeve, Mark Blair
- Replacing a punch on a control bag: Mikkel Conradi
- Packup: Mark Blair, Fyodor Konkov
Results
Dimond Park
Oakland, CA
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Pl Name(s) Time
Short Course (~4.8 km, ~100 m climb, 10 controls)
1 Lauren Knight 49:15
2 Ron & Niv Davidson 49:35
3 Vicki Woolworth 51:10
4 Fyodor Konkov 53:38
5 Alan Kren 64:09
6 Christie Johnson 73:56
7 Philippe Tapon 74:37
8 Ken & Jacque Preble 82:45
9 Judy Koehler 84:53
10 Geoffrey Sears 88:38
11 Nancy Lindeman 90:45
12 Robin Patin, Beth Dameron 113:25
Yuko Ito MSP
Kyril Doubson DNF
Julia & Natasha Doubson,
Masha Konkov DNF
Second Course
Joe Maffei, Marina Keating 48:40
Short Course - Bike Division
1 John Kelly 34:34
Long Course (~7.3 km, ~250 m climb, 8 controls)
1 Evan Custer 75:03
2 Luc Poppe 79:00
3 Patricia Ross, Alex Brubaker,
Daniel Lillin 94:48
4 Marina Keating 95:57
5 Kevin Harrington, Denise Ebright 98:09
6 Steven Mandelberg 126:19
Long Course - Bike Division
1 Joe Maffei 59:53
Urban Goat (~12 km, ~320 m climb, 18 controls)
1 Thorsten Graeve 76:50
2 Vladimir Gusiatnikov 77:27
3 Mikkel Conradi 82:41
4 Mattias Eriksson 86:10
5 Theo Verhoeven 93:51
6 Andrejus Masalkovas 98:04
7 Tony Pinkham 112:41
8 Brad Wetmore 116:35
9 Grant Olecko 116:40
10 Mark Blair 117:52
11 Alak Ghosh 129:57
12 Jim Fish 225:48
Joanne Olecko DNF
_______________
DNF = Did not finish (missed one or more controls)
MSP = Mispunched (one or more controls wrong)