BAOC Annual General Meeting
Date: (Sun.) Apr. 25, 2010
Location: Sunol, CA
Event Directors: 
- 650.906.9672, - 650.248.9595
Type: Annual membership meeting and election of officers
Biographies of Officer Candidates
The nominating committee proposed, and the BAOC Board approved, the following candidates for this year's officer election.
For President – Trinka Gillis
Trinka's first orienteering meet was in 1999, at Indian Valley. Orienteering appealed to her because of the map reading and navigation challenge, and because it was a safer way to hike alone. She has stuck with it because of the physical and intellectual challenge, and because the people are great.
Trinka grew up in Larkspur, in Marin County. After high school, she was an exchange student in Belgium for a year, then attended college/university at UC Santa Cruz, University of Alaska Fairbanks, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia, and finally graduated with a BA in Russian Area Studies from UC Davis. She worked in Washington, DC and taught English as a Second Language in China before returning to the Bay Area in 1998.
In addition to orienteering, Trinka enjoys downhill, backcountry and cross-country skiing, picking wild mushrooms, gardening, and going to school. She lives in Mountain View with her husband whom she met at her first orienteering meet, and works in the Stanford University Purchasing Department.
As a BAOC volunteer, Trinka has served as an Event Director, a Course Setter for Ski-O, WYO, and Score-O courses, and has been on the Board of Directors for six years, first as E-Punch Director, and currently as Secretary.
For Event Coordinator – Alex Finch
Alex orienteered for the first time at Tamarancho in July 2007. His friend Toby Ferguson said he might enjoy it. That day, Alex did White, Yellow, and most of the Orange course. He now enjoys running Blue at our B-meets, and Sprints at the smaller venues. Besides Foot-O, Alex participated in the Trail-O champs held at Joe Grant, as well as his first Ski-O this year at Bear Valley. In addition to being the Event Coordinator the past two years, he has set courses at Calero and Pacheco, and also the Trail-O training course at Pacheco.
Alex is married with three kids (two boys in college and a daughter who has graduated). His dog, a black lab with a lot of energy, got him started running about three and a half years ago. Alex is looking at forming an outdoor event business this year, initially focusing on trail runs and corporate events. The corporate events will likely offer options built around orienteering concepts. He also has a business, Finch Remarketing, selling specialized VoIP boards and gateways to enterprises worldwide.
For Treasurer – Kelly Wells
Kelly has been a member of BAOC for 15 years. He originally started orienteering to complement his backpacking, rock climbing, and mountaineering activities. In addition to BAOC events, Kelly has competed in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, and Southern California. He also competed in New Zealand for a week back in 2005.
Kelly has been the BAOC Membership Director for the past four years. Other responsibilities have included setting courses, directing events, and directing the Quicksilver O Quest A-Meet in 2002. He has worked on award medals for five A-meets, two Scout O's, and a club championship. His favorite volunteer position is control pickup.
In addition to orienteering, Kelly enjoys mountain biking, 4WD in his truck, birding, hiking, and canoeing. He recently joined the Santa Clara County Sheriffs' Search and Rescue Team as a volunteer searcher. Kelly has an affinity for the East Bay parks where he can run courses with his 6-year-old dog, Marley, off leash. Kelly likes the social aspects of orienteering, and usually camps at distant or multi-day events in order to hang out with other orienteers. He looks forward to seeing friends and acquaintances from other clubs at A-meets every few years.
For Secretary – Vicki Woolworth
Vicki first tried orienteering in 1987 at Big Basin, and has enjoyed having an excuse to get out in the area parks, and get lost, as well as the chance to get together with all the great people in the club. Originally from New Jersey, she's always liked the outdoors, but had no interest in sports until she tried out for crew on a whim in college. She occasionally takes orienteering seriously, working her way up to Red in the early years, but now happy to finish Green.
Vicki has tried to be helpful to the club when she can: handled Registration for a few years when the club was smaller, helped with child care at several A-meets, set some String-O and Start-O courses, has been an event director, and set some Street-O courses. As a sometime Girl Scout leader, she organized an orienteering badge weekend for her association, and has helped Nick Corsano teach an annual orienteering workshop for leaders.
Outside of orienteering and work in the biotechnology field, Vicki likes to play cello with a community orchestra, read, sew, and garden. She enjoys spending time with her two teenage daughters when they'll let her; and really appreciates it when her husband cooks dinner, especially on orienteering days.