Photo gallery image (click to enlarge)

Wilder Ranch State Park

Date: (Sun.) Aug. 19, 2012
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Event Director: - 650.248.9595
Course Setter: Greg Favor
Type: C; Our first visit to this park since 2003 will be a 3-hour, mass-start Scramble

Related Event Information

Event Announcement

Skip to the Results


Event Write-Up

By

Thanks to all who came out for our first Wilder Ranch event in nine years! The weather was perfect, and the course was just long enough. Greg Favor designed a course with 40 controls relatively close to one another, to be taken in any order. Each control was worth ten points. With an average distance between controls of a quarter mile, the course was like a sprint. A three-hour sprint.

The event center, a grassy apple orchard surrounded by historical buildings, goats, chickens, and a garden, provided a nice location to relax after the event. It was also located between the two sections of the course, so some competitors stopped by during the race to refuel or get water.

Unlike most Wilderness Scrambles, this event allowed both soloists and groups, and the event attracted a total of 47 competitors. Competitors were eligible to win in more than one category. I expected single runners to have an advantage, but that turned out not to be the case.

The overall winners were a team in the Mixed category, The Flying Germans (Esther and Joseph Doetsch), with an impressive 380 points (38 of the 40 controls), returning just in the nick of time. Two other teams in the Mixed category, Sheepies and Coos (Christine and Graham Brew) earned 290 points, and The Edelburns (Basil and Jess Newburn, Dan and Kerah Edelstein) earned 170 points, returning to the finish nearly simultaneously.

Dennis Wilkinson was the leader in the Men’s category with a score of 360, finishing his course more than five minutes early. Mark Prior finished more than ten minutes early with 340 points. Although nobody found all the controls within the time limit, Rex Winterbottom came close with 390 points but a five-minute overtime penalty moved him down to third place among Men.

The Women’s category had two all-women teams, Stephenny (Stephanie Maclean and Penny DeMoss) and The Relocators (Johanna Merriss and Vicki Woolworth). Of the two, Stephenny took the lead with 240 points, while The Relocators earned 190.

Five competitors/teams entered in the Masters category, with Misha Kreslavsky taking first in this group, with 300 points. Stephenny was second place in the Masters category, and The Relocators were third.

We were fortunate to have five groups competing with members under 17, putting them in the Youth category. Of these, Jamie & Co, (Jamie and Derek Maclean), took first place with 220 points. The Rosenzweigs (Eric and Quincy) took second place with 130, followed closely by the Vomaskes (Ken and Eric) with 120 points.

Every BAOC event relies on volunteers, but this event would not have taken place without Ben Legg, who convinced the ranger to let us hold an orienteering event in his park when it looked like we might have to cancel. Thank you Ben!

And thank you to all the other volunteers, several of whom put in hours (many hours, in some cases) to plan, prepare, clean up, or otherwise help out with this event. Many thanks go out to the following:

We couldn’t have done it without you!



Results

Wilder Ranch State Park

Santa Cruz, CA
Sunday, August 19, 2012 

                                                                        -------- Category --------
Team                                     Points   Time  Penalty  Score  Men  Wmen  Mix  Yth   Mstr

Flying Germans (E. & J. Doetsch)           390   3:00:00    0     390               X
Dennis Wilkinson                           360   2:54:51    0     360    X
Mark Prior                                 340   2:49:39    0     340    X
Rex Winterbottom                           390   3:04:28   50     340    X
Scott Porter                               330   2:59:34    0     330    X
Va-Bank                                    340   3:02:55   30     310    X
Misha Kreslavsky                           300   2:59:19    0     300    X                     X
Sheepies and Coos (C. & G. Brew)           290   2:57:32    0     290               X
Belgian Beer Brigade                       250   2:54:18    0     250    X
Stephenny (S. Maclean, P. DeMoss)          240   2:55:56    0     240         X                X
Damon Ward                                 230   2:59:15    0     230    X
Nicholas & Deron van Hoff                  220   2:57:39    0     220    X
Jamie and Co. (Jamie & Derek Maclean)      230   3:00:37   10     220    X               X
Lost Cause                                 250   3:04:16   50     200    X
The Relocators (J. Merriss, V. Woolworth)  190   2:46:32    0     190         X                X
Edelburns (Edelsteins & Newburns)          170   2:57:36    0     170               X
Brad Wetmore                               170   3:00:03   10     160    X                     X
Meatburger Rave                            140   2:56:00    0     140               X
Rosenzweigs (Eric & Quincy)                190   3:05:07   60     130    X               X
Vomaskes (Ken & Eric)                      120   2:46:35    0     120    X               X
Ray Kemp                                   130   3:03:08   40      90    X                     X
Aaron Zaks                                  70   2:30:48    0      70               X    X
Gustafsson                                 110   3:06:20   70      40               X    X
Team Miller                                100   3:24:58          OVT               X

_______________

Wmen = Women
Mix  = Mixed
Yth  = Youth
Mstr = Master

OVT  = Overtime (finished after course-closing time)