Suburban Sprint and Sausal Canyon Maze-O
Date: (Fri.) Aug. 4, 2006
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Rex Winterbottom
Type: C; USOF Sprint and Score-O
Event Write-Up
By Rex Winterbottom
Home-style orienteering. How often do you get to start and finish and socialize at someone's house? My house was the place. And the Dimond Park / Indian Gulch / Oakland street map was further explored by a few intrepid orienteers. Never before have we had a Suburban Sprint, focused in a specific area of upper Piedmont, nor a Maze-O format event exclusively in the Sausal canyon.
The deceptively simple Suburban Sprint posed a few tricks for the veteran orienteers. The high stakes route choices could be punishing, especially with climb, as Mattias found out, dropping 80 feet after the last control only to have to climb 120 feet up to the finish. Grabbing the 30 points on the women's end was the mighty Clare Durand (and that right after driving 400 miles from Los Angeles), followed by Nancy Lindeman. We had a tight trio at the top for the men, with Andrejus Masalkovas, the final starter, pulling out the victory and the 30 points for the USOF Sprint series. Bruce Wolfe, who made the map, finished third, and Mattias Eriksson, the first starter, put out a strong second-place performance before going on to win a regional table tennis tournament! A man of many talents.
The map was revised to include all distinct trails in Sausal Canyon, wherein Sausal Creek flows on its way to Dimond Park. This allowed for a complete Maze-O to be held around and in the canyon. Thanks to Bill Gookin and SDO for the idea I borrowed from their Anza-Borrego slot canyon event. Seven controls stood at high and low points, at the edges and in the middle of the canyon. Two reentrants, a bridge, two trail junctions, a spur, and a trail crossing Sausal Creek. I am still perplexed, unsure of the fastest route to all of them. Bruce Wolfe, maker of the map, took a breather from moving back into his home to seize the 7-control victory over a strong effort from Adrian Martin. Bruce commented that the course took him to places he had not yet been, particularly the newly mapped distinct trails. So that made me feel good, since Bruce has lived here all his life and pretty much knows the place inside out. In the 4-control category, Clare Durand earned her second victory of the night.
Nancy brought a yummy salad, and we brought in local Pastino's Pizza and some drinks and tea for the social that followed the quick and easy control pickup. (Yay for no bags being stolen on a street map!) Good times were had and we watched The Pacifier starring Vin Diesel as a "fish out of water" Navy S.E.A.L. charged with the care of 5 children from infant to teens for a fortnight. Unfortunately, Gymkata was not available from Amoeba Records, Rasputin Records, Reel Video, or Blockbuster Video. If one of you can find it, it would make for a fine orienteer flick. I think the problem is this: most stores have abandoned V.H.S., and this fine film has not made the jump from V.H.S. to DVD yet.
Volunteers
A huge thanks to all the helpers!
Help Placing Controls: Jim Fish
Maps: Bob Cooley
Starts: Kent Hetherwick, Nancy Chow
Finishes: Nancy Chow, Andrejus Masalkovas, Bob Strauss
Registration: Ev and Jean Beuerman
Control Pickup: Bruce Wolfe, Nancy Lindeman, Jim Fish, Fyodor Konkov, Clare
Durand
Tea: Natasha Doubson
Results
Suburban Sprint and Sausal Canyon Maze-O Oakland, CA Friday Evening, August 4, 2006 Pl Name(s) Time Sprint Course 1 Andrejus Masalkovas 22:40 2 Mattias Eriksson 22:53 3 Bruce Wolfe 23:33 4 Bob Cooley 32:03 5 Clare Durand 35:35 (1st female) 6 Fyodor Konkov 36:43 7 Jim Fish 40:24 8 Nancy Lindeman 45:14 (2nd female) Maze O Course - 7 Controls 1 Bruce Wolfe 38:17 2 Adrian Martin 53:15 3 Bob Strauss 58:47 4 Margaret Longstreth 66:07 5 Nancy Lindeman 70:02 6 Jim Fish 77:59 7 Joe Maffei 83:52 Maze O Course - 4 Controls 1 Clare Durand 30:11 2 Masha Konkov, Natasha Doubson 73:24 3 Julia Doubson 74:02