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Joe Scarborough checks his escape route on the Green course at Mt. Pinos, June 2001 (Photo: Joel Thompson, LAOC)

Joe Grant

San Jose
Jan. 21, 2001

by Mark Blair, meet director

In one of the most spectacular reversals of meteorological fortune in the history of BAOC, the all-day rain forecast for January 21 at Joseph Grant County Park vanished completely, yielding instead to clear, sunny skies and still air that was even a bit warm toward the middle of the day. We had even set up a tent the evening before, but never set foot inside it on the day of the event. The modest turnout of 109 participants constituting some 72 course entries is typical for a January event, but is probably also due in part to the fact that people had already made other weekend plans befitting the expected rain. Below are the complete results.

This midwinter event was on a somewhat smaller scale than the usual BAOC local event. Only three courses were offered: a combined White/Yellow course for beginners, a short but rather steep Orange course for intermediate-level folks, and a Score-O with 80 and 120 minute time limits for the advanced crowd.

WYO Courses

On the White/Yellow course, Alan Harrington, who shows up occasionally at BAOC events, blazed through the 3.3 km with an impressive winning time of 28:44. Not far behind him was enthusiastic newcomer Johanna Merriss, who sped all the way around to finish in second place with a time of 34:29. I somehow have the feeling we'll be seeing more of Johanna. Eric and Kitty Gordon finished in third place with a time of 43:41.

The team of Sobczyk and Pisanski hustled through the steep 4.1 km Orange course with an amazing first-place time of 49:41. Brian Donohue clocked in with a speedy 58:14 to finish second. Veteran BAOC orienteer Tony Pinkham, who had wanted to run in the Score-O but had unfortunately arrived too late for the mass start, was close on Brian's heels with a third-place time of 59:06. Also worthy of mention is Angelica Riley, who was due to give birth in a mere two weeks but who nevertheless made it through the Orange course in 74 minutes.

Control #2 on the Orange course (marker #181) was accidentally misplaced on a tree about 70 m west of the tree where it should have been. This caused some confusion but apparently did not prevent anyone from finding it. Course setter Dean French wishes to reiterate his apologies for the mixup.

Score-O

The Score-O course was an experimental variation on the way we typically set up a course of this format in BAOC. It was designed to cover a considerably wider area, with steeper portions, than would ordinarily be covered by a Score-O with a time limit of 120 minutes. It was also purposely designed to foster more of a head-to-head competition by funneling runners in the same general direction at the start and the finish, letting them fan out and loop back in various directions in the "middle" of the course. Anneliese Steuben, recipient of the first BAOC Junior Training Grant, made her stunning debut as a course setter here. The huge effort she put into scattering the 29 controls over hill and yon certainly paid off in the interesting competition that resulted.

The Short version of the Score-O had an 80-minute time limit. Doug Stein, who actually started AFTER the mass start, managed to blast through 15 controls and arrive at the finish line with a mere 46 seconds left before the time limit expired. This is the sort of thing that warms a Score-O course setter's heart. Congratulations on the win, Doug. Chuck Spalding also made it to 15 controls but arrived at the finish line a minute and a half after the time limit, which cost him 2 points. He finished in third place with 13 points. Francois Leonard reached 13 controls and finished 1:24 before the time limit. This tied Chuck's 13 points, but since Francois turned in the faster time and had no points deducted, this put him into second place. Of the 10 runners on the Short Score-O, 5 of them crossed the finished line before the 80 minutes elapsed.

On the Long version of the Score-O, the top 7 finishers all made it across the finish line before the 120-minute time limit elapsed. As a matter of fact, 10 of the top 12 runners finished in time. For a course with controls spread this far apart, this was a magnificent display of planning and timing. Revered BAOC speed demon Syd Reader captured the gold by reaching an awesome 23 of the 29 possible controls with 1:38 to spare. Equally impressive was the feat of Wyatt Riley, who racked up 22 controls with a whopping 12 minutes and 14 seconds left over, thereby putting him in second place. Wyatt later explained how his overall game plan did not easily permit him to sneak in a 23rd control toward the end of the race, even with this much time to spare. Gary Carpenter finished third with 20 controls, Derek Maclean bagged 19 (with 12 minutes to spare) to finish fourth, and Penny DeMoss, not surprisingly, was the top woman finisher in fifth place with 18 controls and a 3:27 comfort margin.

Thanks!

Finding volunteers to help at this event was effortless. It is literally true that no one I asked refused. Their efforts made the event director's duties a pleasure. Steve Beuerman helped me vet the Score-O, covering half of that vast terrain. Jeff Lanam helped with late finishes. Cheryl Madson also helped with late finishes and with the somewhat tedious task of calculating Score-O results. Chuck Spalding volunteered spontaneously to help post results. Veteran control retrievers Harold DeMoss, Penny DeMoss, and Kelly Wells, along with newcomer Mark Vomund, divided up the gigantic task of picking up the Score-O controls and got the job done in 2 hours. Cheryl Madson and Chris Shirley picked up the Orange course controls, and the irrepressible EvnJean Beuerman gathered in the bags on the White/Yellow. Thanks also to Chris Shirley for shuttling Harold and Penny up to their starting points for control pickup along Mt. Hamilton Road.

Finally, I'd like to give special thanks to my two course setters Dean French and Anneliese Steuben, who both live more than a 2-hour driving distance from the event venue. Dean set both the White/Yellow course and the Orange course. He also manned the Start line singlehandedly all day. Anneliese, our rising star in BAOC, endured pig confrontations and a body-wide case of poison oak to set the huge Score-O course. She also worked the entire day clocking finishers and computing Score-O results. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing much more of Anneliese. She's off to the University of Washington next year. I guess she will be falling into the clutches of those Cascade Orienteering Club scoundrels. Good luck, Anneliese.


Results

WHITE/YELLOW COURSE:  3.3 km, 110 m climb, 12 controls

 1.  Alan Harrington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28:44
 2.  Johanna Merriss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34:29
 3.  Eric & Kitty Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43:41
 4.  C. T. List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45:40
 5.  M. & A. Pisanski  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49:46
 6.  Alan LaVergne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52:48
 7.  Eglute Martisiute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54:03
 8.  Barry & Suzette Pangrle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54:46
 9.  Craig Mar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  56:20
10.  Beth Dixon & Bevan Waite  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59:53
11.  Ben Goldsmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  64:52
12.  Rachel Care & Chelsea Waite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  67:06
13.  Galina Shakhnovsky  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72:35
14.  Daniel Zaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  81:06
15.  Harry & Diane Hall  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  85:52
16.  Cub Scout Pack 77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120:54
17.  Jay & Emily Hann  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138:41


ORANGE COURSE:  4.1 km, 250 m climb, 12 controls

 1.  M. Sobczyk & Z. Pisanski  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49:16
 2.  Brian Donohue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  58:14
 3.  Tony Pinkham  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59:06
 4.  Jim Waite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  62:29
 5.  Ellie Lightfoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  68:00
 6.  Lukas Gruendler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  69:10
 7.  Andrzej Sobczyk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  69:15
 8.  Oleg Shakhnovsky  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  70:57
 9.  Angelica Riley  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  74:40
10.  Dawn McDougal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  90:13
11.  John Pagendarm  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  92:09
12.  Diane Reese & Charles Perkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  98:15
13.  Julia Zaks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100:29
14.  Bolger & Gerber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102:22
15.  Tono Estrada  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102:38
16.  Nicholson (?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102:51
17.  Brian Cilker, Abby & Mark & Jan Tomasik, Liane Carter . . 103:26
18.  T. J. Nicholson, Eric Olson & Kathleen Poling . . . . . . 106:03
29.  Philip Perkins & Dan Craft  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107:31
20.  Larry Pagendarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111:45
21.  Dao Le & Werner Haag  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114:35
22.  Jun Wang & Don Mitchell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118:31
     Audrie Faist  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   OT
     Bill Weiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   DNF
     Kathy Devoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   DNF
     Kevin Beadles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   DNF

Second course

    Craig Mar  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72:59


SHORT SCORE-O COURSE:  80-minute time limit, 29 controls possible

 1.  Doug Stein . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15 controls  (15-0)  79:14
 2.  Francois Leonard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13  (13-0)  78:36
 3.  Chuck Spalding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13  (15-2)  81:38
 4.  George Minarik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11  (11-0)  69:27
 5.  Marie-Josee Parayre  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8  ( 8-0)  78:27
 6.  Alan Glendinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8  (10-2)  81:27
 7.  Leslie Minarik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7  ( 7-0)  71:58
 8.  Dan Greene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5  (10-5)  84:20
 9.  Jeff Lanam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4  ( 8-4)  83:43
10.  John Napolitano  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4  ( 9-5)  84:48


LONG SCORE-O COURSE:  120-minute time limit, 29 controls possible

 1.  Syd Reader . . . . . . . . . . . .  23 controls  (23 -0)  118:31
 2.  Wyatt Riley  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22  (22 -0)  107:46
 3.  Gary Carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20  (20 -0)  118:21
 4.  Derek Maclean  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19  (19 -0)  107:58
 5.  Penny DeMoss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18  (18 -0)  116:33
 6.  Matthias Kohler  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17  (17 -0)  108:19
 7.  Tapio Karras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17  (17 -0)  118:48
 8.  Dan Stoll-Hadayia  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17  (19 -2)  121:50
 9.  Kelly Wells  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16  (16 -0)  113:19
10.  Steve Gregg  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15  (16 -1)  120:12
11.  Dennis Wildfogel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14  (14 -0)   99:10
12.  Adrian Martin  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13  (13 -0)  116:19
13.  Kevin Schoenfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13  (15 -2)  121:43
14.  Mike Fleishman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12  (15 -3)  122:17
15.  V. Masalkovas  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11  (17 -6)  125:42
16.  Meg Gerstner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10  (10 -0)   94:00
17.  Terry Farrah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10  (10 -0)  110:39
18.  Hanu Haarma  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10  (18 -8)  127:09
19.  Jill Seaman  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9  ( 9 -0)  119:22
20.  Debbie Wojtowicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9  (13 -4)  123:08
21.  Shawn Larsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9  (15 -6)  125:34
22.  Mark Vomund  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7  ( 9 -2)  121:50
23.  John Marshall  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6  (14 -8)  127:18
24.  Nancy Lindeman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4  ( 6 -2)  121:18
25.  James Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1  (15-14)  133:32
26.  Andrejus Masalkovas  . . . . . . . . . . . .  1  (16-15)  134:40
27.  Scott Aster  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  0  (11-11)  130:48
28.  Stacy & Jerry Goss . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1  (13-14)  133:22