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2012 Golden Goat, Golden Kid, and Junior Goat

Coyote Lake–Harvey Bear Ranch County Park

Date: (Sun.) Nov. 4, 2012
Location: Gilroy, CA
Event Directors: - 408.599.9709, - 408.313.3753
Course Setters: Matej Šebo, Lubomir Šebo
Type: Extra long courses with a mass start -- sorry, no beginner courses at this special event, but experienced beginners are welcome on the Mini-Kid course

Skip to the Results

Event Write-Up

By Werner Haag (who has zero Golden Goat Lifetime Points)

Fifty-eight of BAOCs top orienteers took off for the 17th running of the Golden Goat, this year held on a new map at Coyote Lake–Harvey Bear Ranch near Gilroy. Twenty-one of those runners split off about halfway through to do the Golden Kid. The weather was unseasonably warm — in the high 70's with clear skies — which made for a hotter run than expected, especially in the relatively fast, open terrain; but that did not seem to factor significantly in the race.

Matej & Lubomir Sebo made the map and set the courses in the scenic terrain overlooking Coyote Lake. Matej set one forked control (#14) and allowed two skipped controls, including any part of the fork. In addition to the Golden Goat, there was a subset Golden Kid course, and a separate Junior Goat.

Mikkel Conradi took top honors, skipping the early controls 3 & 4, and running the rest of the race alone. Just 2 minutes behind at the finish was François Léonard, who waited much longer and skipped controls 13 & 15, thus cutting out the forking and significant climb. A more detailed analysis of the best skipping options is included below. Andrew Peterson would have come in thrid, but he forgot to punch at a water control, leaving the bronze medal to perennial winner Martin Kunz. Martin boosted his Lifetime Points total to 190, increasing the gap over Steve Gregg, who has 164 points (and was not able to run this year because of a work-related conflict). The Old Goat (over age 50) award was won by Tapio Karras, who came in 10th and remains in 4th place overall with 104 Lifetime Points.

Penny DeMoss was again the top woman finisher. Her 12th place run edged her ahead of Matthias Kohler in Lifetime Points, but she dropped on net place from 8th to 9th as Mikkel & François moved up to 6th and 8th, respectively. Cornelia Coolen and Marie-Josée Parayre ran together (more or less), and finished at the same time. They were jointly awarded the Women's Silver Goat medal.

Twelve-year-old Fillian Swift was the surprise winner on the Golden Kid, edging out Peter Graube by 28 seconds, who was followed shortly by Gary Carpenter and Bob Cooley.

Eleven-year-old Gian Coolen beat out all the kids — and adults — on the Junior Goat course, running the 4.1 km (straight-line) distance in just 35:48, or 8.7 min/km. Matej had made this course especially challenging by placing out numerous dummy controls on similar features, often without the standard 50-meter separation. This was a fun twist that confused many of the kids, but not the top orienteers like Gian.

I have an unsubstantiated report that Park Ranger Doug Allen got so interested in the courses that he doffed his uniform, was handed a map, and took off on the Goat!

Thanks to Matej, Lubomir & Daniel Sebo for making the map, setting out all the controls, and helping with pick-up despite a family tragedy that forced them to leave early. Jeff Lanam ran the E-punch alone, and sacrificed his chance at doing a course, He also helped with control pick-up. Steve Haas ran registration and helped clean up the Start/Finish area. Thanks also to Peter Graube and Greg Ehrensing for helping with control pick-up after running their long courses.

Photos of the event taken by Lubomir Sebo are available here (https://picasaweb.google.com/lubosebo/CoyoteLakeHarveyBearRanch).

The map for the Golden Goat and Golden Kid is in this file (PDF/3MB). Note that the control description shown for #14 is for 14-A. The description for 14-B was "Hill, on top of". The Golden Kid course took a shortcut from control #12 to control #22, as indicated on the map.

Golden Goat Lifetime Point Leaders

Here are the top ten from the list of 105 people who have earned Lifetime Points throughout the 17-year history of the Golden Goat:

    1  Martin Kunz            190
    2  Steve Gregg            164
    3  Syd Reader             114
    4  Tapio Karras           104
    5  Vladimir Gusiatnikov    94 
    6  Mikkel Conradi          90 
    7  Jonas Kjäll             85 
    8  François Léonard        83 
    9  Penny DeMoss            80 
   10  Matthias Kohler         79 

Each year, the top 15 finishers score these points: 25, 20, 15, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

More information about the Lifetime Points is below.

Analysis of Skipping

Here was Matej’s pre-race analysis about the best options for skipping controls. Note that he didn't even consider François’ option of skipping 13 & 15, which he reports as 14.9 km actual distance with only 549 m of climb.

I've completed the data analysis of the skips and forks in the Golden Goat. The first distance shown is the actual distance covered by the runner along the optimal route, while the second distance is the aerial (straight-line) distance between controls.

        Skip  7 & 13 – Fork B    13.9 km    12.3 km    655 m
        Skip  2 & 19 – Fork A    13.9 km    13.1 km    740 m
        Skip  2 & 13 – Fork B    14.2 km    12.6 km    690 m
        Skip  2 &  7 – Fork A    14.4 km    12.7 km    700 m
        Skip 12 & 13 – Fork B    14.5 km    12.7 km    690 m
        Skip  3 &  4 – Fork A    14.6 km    11.5 km    695 m
        Skip 13 & 19 – Fork B    14.6 km    12.7 km    720 m
        Skip  7 & 19 – Fork A    14.8 km    12.8 km    700 m
        Skip  2 &  7 – Fork B    14.9 km    12.5 km    705 m
        Skip  3 &  4 – Fork B    15.1 km    11.8 km    700 m
        Skip  7 & 19 – Fork B    15.3 km    12.5 km    705 m
        Skip  2 & 19 – Fork B    15.7 km    12.9 km    745 m

From these statistics, it appears that the best option was skipping 7 and 13 and choosing Fork B. Also, the aerial distances between controls are often quite misleading. Of course, this analysis does not take into account distance covered on trails, vegetation, or other factors. Still, I think that 7/13/B is the "correct" option.

Comments from the BAOC Events Coordinator

Hey BAOC,

This is a big deal. The Goat almost didn't happen this year. Not only did it happen, it happened on a brand new map, started only a few months ago by Matej, and his Dad Lubo helped and supported this project. Jeff Lanam agreed to event direct, and Werner Haag did, too — and Werner wasn't going to be able to be at the event because of wrestling coaching, but it turned out he could. Werner made a T-shirt design. Bob Cooley learned the 48-step process to generate OCAD contours from USGS digital elevation data, from instructions by Vladimir Gusiatnikov and Mats Jansson.

And the tradition continues.

I've run a few of the Goats, and this was the one I was most looking forward to. I am extraordinarily disappointed I could not make it — I was supposed to be there early and help set up. However, the night before, while setting out checkpoints in Red Rock Canyon for an event next weekend, I got lost — I was supposed to finish before sunset, but was putting out controls in some of the most rugged terrain, and it got dark so fast, and then the only safe route was "up" out of the canyons and into the high country, necessitating a 4-hour walkabout to get back to my car, which could have taken only 20 minutes in the light. Parched and hungry, but very thankful, I was able to find my way back with only starlight. I needed to recover and play it safe rather than make the drive from the Mojave desert to Morgan Hill after midnight. I thought taking stupid risks was supposed to stop after I turned 25 years old ...

I'm very encouraged we started the tradition of a Junior Goat, and it's awesome that some of the juniors stepped up and did the larger Kid goat. Go juniors!

Thanks, everybody, for participating and make this happen! You saved the Goat!

Next year, it will be the finale to the trail-cross series. It was going to be at Pacheco, but since that is the A-meet, it won't be there. That means, unless we pick a new venue and event date, it will be in September at Golden Gate Park, with this year's winner Mikkel Conradi as course setter. Imagine that!

– Rex Winterbottom

Results

2012 Golden Goat, Golden Kid, and Junior Goat

Coyote Lake–Harvey Bear Ranch County Park Gilroy, CA
Sunday, November 4, 2012

  Pl  Name                        Time    Points

Golden Goat    (13.2 km,  785 m climb, 25 controls)

   1  Mikkel Conradi             1:40:40    25
   2  François Léonard           1:42:45    20
   3  Martin Kunz                2:00:13    15
   4  Mattias Vangbo             2:00:41    12
   5  Jonathan Owens             2:08:01    11
   6  Greg Khanlarov             2:08:28    10
   7  Kyle Peter                 2:09:43     9
   8  Pierre Delforge            2:10:43     8
   9  Cedric Lasfargues          2:15:11     7
  10  Tapio Karras               2:18:24     6
  11  Vladimir Gusiatnikov       2:20:24     5
  12  Penny DeMoss               2:32:36     4
  13  Greg Favor                 2:40:55     3
  14  Cornelia Coolen            2:45:25     2
  14  Marie-Josée Parayre        2:45:25     2
  16  Theo Verhoeven             2:54:44
  17  Damian Swift               2:56:30
  18  Robin Gustafsson           3:05:39
  19  Andrew Masalkovas          3:13:57
  20  Van Boughner               3:18:17
  21  Steve Ahuero               3:18:21
  22  Eric Rosenzweig            3:19:33
  23  Steve Haas                 3:37:28
  24  Gavin Wyatt-Mair           3:52:55

      Andrew Peterson              MSP
      Dennis Wilkinson             DNF
      Eugene Wilkinson             DNF


Kid Goat       (8.2 km, 395 m climb, 15 controls)

   1  Fillan Swift               1:49:49
   2  Peter Graube               1:50:17
   3  Gary Carpenter             1:53:08
   4  Bob Cooley                 1:53:47
   5  Maximillian Marin          2:04:43
   6  Greg Ehrensing             2:05:51
   7  Stephanie Maclean          2:12:26
   8  Gavin Williams             2:16:36
   9  Derek & Jamie Maclean      2:33:45
  10  Alan Glendinning           2:34:32
  11  Phillip Hoare              2:47:29
  12  Guillermo Alvarez          3:39:26

      Dennis Wildfogel             MSP
      Johanna Merriss              MSP
      Patty Clemo                  DNF
      George Minarik               DNF
      Leslie Minarik               DNF
      Jim Fish                     DNF
      Oleg Shakhnovsky             DNF
      Sophie Chantrenne            DNF
      Tracy Lynn Thorpe            DNF


Junior Goat    (4.1 km, 165 m climb, 18 controls)

   1  Gian Coolen                  35:48
   2  Daniel Sebo                  42:31
   3  Rory Maclean                 55:52
   4  Kevin Yang                 1:02:46
   5  Alex Chen                  1:11:24
   6  Brian Zhong                1:28:51
   7  Jeffrey Pea                1:36:11
   8  Owen & Ben Peterson        1:39:44
   9  Sarah Zanadarelli (gr)     1:40:41

      Brian Pea                    MSP


Junior Adult Goat  (4.1 km, 165 m climb, 18 controls)

   1  Wayne Caplinger              38:39
   2  Werner Haag                  46:46
   3  Harold DeMoss              1:12:33

_______________

DNF = Did not finish (missed one or more controls)
MSP = Mispunched (one or more controls wrong)

Comments on the 2012 Golden Goat Lifetime Points Table

The following people moved up the indicated number of places this year:

Mikkel Conradi        +5   (11 to 6)

François Léonard     +4   (12 to 8)

Mattias Vangbo       +3   (22 to 19)

Pierre Delforge        +2   (21 to 19)

Kyle Peter             +12   (42 to 30)

Jonathan Owens    +25   (61 to 36)

Greg Khanlarov     +24   (61 to 37)

Greg Favor            +12   (78 to 66)

The following people scored their first Golden Goat Lifetime Points this year by finishing in the indicated places at the event:

  9 – Cedric Lasfargues

14 – Cornelia Coolen

14 РMarie-Jos̩e Parayre

The following people held their place in the table this year ("*" indicates those who ran this year):

  1 – Martin Kunz (*)

  2 – Steve Gregg

  3 – Syd Reader

  4 – Tapio Karras (*)

  5 – Vladimir Gusiatnikov (*)

13 – Doug Stein

14 – Dan Stoll-Hadayia

15 – Van Boughner (*)

16 – Kent Ohlund

17 – Christian Degen

17 – James Scarborough

23 – Andrejus Masalkovas (*)

24 – Lans Taylor

25 – Mattias Eriksson

26 – Jim Waite

27 – Bruce Wolfe

27 – Magnus Wollenborg

27 – Matthias Mueller

30 – Dennis Wilkinson (*)

66 – Dan Greene

66 – Pete Huzan

66 – Russell Neilson

66 – Shai Kahana

66 – Zuzana Henychova

Everyone else moved down one or more places.

(Corrections to the Lifetime Points table and these comments can be sent to .)