Nearly 250 people came out to enjoy the beautiful warm weather and relatively easy terrain at this year's Presidio event. The beginner's clinics were heavily attended, and we had 75 people each on the White and Yellow courses. The large turnout (about 100 more than 1996) was helped by publicity in the Presidio and REI events flyers, the San Jose Mercury News, some newsletters (e.g. Hikenbyke), and our own website.
As always, designing courses at the Presidio is a challenge. The map was never ideal, and the rapidly morphing park has further complicated matters. There are numerous out-of-bounds areas and poorly mapped sections, which present problems with both route choice and control selection. Despite this, we set five fairly interesting courses, and as a bonus, participants on four courses were treated to stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands from a shared control at the top of the National Cemetery.
To minimize the number of map corrections, we made separate correction boards for each course. All our careful work was nearly undone two days before the event, however, when the Park Service blocked off a major trail used by four courses and rerouted another one used by White/Pink. After discovering this the night before, we streamered a way around the blocked area and posted signs telling people to follow the streamers to the correct trail. Much to our surprise, many people didn't see the signs and streamers, even though they were right in front of the blocked area, with the streamers set about every two feet! Well, we tried.
We had 135 starts for the five courses. On Long Orange, the nominal advanced course, newcomer Michihiro Kamijima led the pack. (Keep an eye on him, he also did well in the Golden Goat.) Steph Maclean ran away with Orange, despite initial confusion because she had a clue sheet for Long Orange but copied the Orange map. Youth beat experience on Yellow, with junior Vasya Volkov racing ahead of Christine Shirley to claim first place; sibling Dima Volkov was third by just 13 seconds. Rosalie Frankel led the huge White field, with Amy Studer and Doug Moore claiming Pink honors.
Despite the crowds and last-minute route changes, the event flowed smoothly, much to the relief of the first-time director. Thanks to careful staging and plentiful volunteers, I even got a chance to sit down and rest on occasion! The last person finished just as the courses closed at 3:00, and by 4:30 everything was collected and we were headed home.
I could not have run this event without four very special people: assistant directors Kelly and Julie Wells, consultant Marsha Jacobs, and all-around deputy Mike Poulsen. Kelly and Julie were truly amazing: they vetted courses, rounded up volunteers, set out controls, and managed the Start and Finish areas (the instruction sheets they developed should become standard handouts for workers in these areas). They even convinced their kids to help out, including running the Start-O. Marsha was the voice of experience, providing endless practical advice and overseeing the Results. Both she and Mike also helped out in nearly every other aspect of the event, including vetting and setting controls. Another key player was Greg Shine, our Presidio liaison (and BAOC member), who arranged the permit, helped publicize the event, and provided staging materials.
Much credit for the success of this event also goes to our large corps of volunteers. There were several new faces, as Kelly tried to contact members who've offered to help but are rarely called. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed:
Setup: Joan Roos.
Registration: Ev & Jean Beuerman, Steve Beuerman, Dox Doxiadis, Sarah Edwards, Debbie Friederichs.
Beginner's clinics: Scott Aster, Bill Papendick, Tony Pinkham, Syd Reader.
General information: Van Boughner.
Starts: Nancy Lindeman, Terry Barnes, Maroth De Marothy, Christine Shirley, Jerry Goss.
Finishes: Trevor Pering, Bill Rassieur, Josh Friederichs, Stacy Robinson, Jerry Goss, Don Dickerson, Amy Studer, Lisa Wylie.
Results: Barbara Blancke, Idell Weydemeyer, Mike Maughmer, Joshua Wells, Holley McClain.
Start-O: Jed Wells.
Control pickup: Josh Friederichs, Steve Gregg, Jeff Lanam, Mike Maughmer, Tony Pinkham, Christine Shirley.
-- Aileen Abernathy
129 Entries 237 Participants START-O (6 participants) No help: Age Controls Time Michael Denny 9 10 6.40 Brandon Tobey 6 10 10.06 Karl Lukes 9 9 15.30 Ryan Atienza 11 4 13.30 Matthew Atienza 8 1 8.00 Second time, no help: Joey Catlin 7 8 6.30 WHITE 2.5k, 80m, 10 controls 75 participants 1. Rosalie Frankel 25.30 2. Mark Catlin 27.13 3. Brad Catlin 31.10 4. Don Dickerson 34.13 5. Brandon Tobey 35.15 6. Sue & John Rizzi 36.04 7. Amy MacLennan, Donna Rae Smith 37.25 8. Jeff Edmonston, Marjorie Wong 37.34 9. Karl Jurgenson, Chris Mello 40.57 10. Ava, Nick, Joe & Tanya Wyckoff 45.08 11. Annabelle Rodriguez, Eligene Park 47.13 12. Joey & Linda Catlin 49.04 13. David Ward 50.43 14. Zachary & Steve Lipton 52.15 15. Randa Brandt, Veronique Brizard, Mark Fowler 53.02 16. Terrie & Buck Vines 56.16 17. Dunseth and Taguchi families (7) 58.00 18. Murray Einarson, Denise Mason, Kelly Roos, Elizabeth Seal 62.50 19. Mike, Ann & Matt Coustier (5) 64.10 20. Matt & Virginia Cheng 67.16 21. Barbara Blancke 70.42 22. Cub Scout Pack 118, with Dena Lukes (6) 74.51 23. Peggy, Gary, Elizabeth & Christiane Amstutz 78.51 24. David & Cathy Rice 83.10 25. Tom Khamkoon 97.01 26. Chris Linn, Tricia Kellison, Caia Grisar (5) 99.40 27. Chot Wangdeesiri 114.42 Minda & Flavia Dudley, Mark Berman (missed #10) MSP Liz Harre (missed #7) DNF Ann Wylie (missed #9) DNF David Suzuki (missed #10) DNF Rick Rolleri not timed Janice Judd not timed PINK 4.7k, 160m, 16 controls 19 participants 1. Amy Studer, Doug Moore 60.41 2. Matt & Pat Robuzzi 84.50 3. Cheryl Chadwell 102.35 4. Zack Killmaier, Raymond Kwong 108.10 5. Linda, Bernie, & Dominie Franklyn 114.12 6. Srikar Rao, Manjiri Gadagkar 116.14 Jeffrey Ho (196:10) OT Jocelyn & Elliot Young (missed #14) MSP Linda Bagnall (missed #13) DNF Second course Joey & Linda Catlin 100.32 Mark Catlin 105.20 YELLOW 4.2k, 134m, 12 controls 74 participants 1. Vasya Volkov 68.13 2. Christine Shirley 73.35 3. Dima Volkov 73.48 4. Bill Smithers 76.06 5. Trudy & Erica Presser; Stephanie Patterson, Mike & Michelle Merrick 77.39 6. Neal & Morgan Benowitz 78.10 7. Amy Sindicic, James Trujillo 78.19 8. Phil, Irene & Kevin Lacefield, Chris Katsuda 79.59 9. Nannette & Emily Bassett 81.47 10. Idell Weydemeyer 87.20 11. Jon, Mary, Jon, Jason & Aimee Morse 89.44 12. Dox Doxiadis, Sarah Edwards 96.35 13. Matthew Hawkins 102.30 14. Thorsten & Olivia Graeve, Lizelda & Romina Lopez 104.42 15. Michael, Liane & Brandon Young 106.07 16. Marti Watts, Seija Surr, Becky Falk 106.21 17. Sylvia Sabel 107.49 18. Roger, Jana & Steven King 116.29 19. Sharon Maxon, Thomas Seabolt 117.49 20. Virginia Rassieur 122.40 21. Jane & Frank Romeo 130.52 22. Booth family (5), Charlene Michaels 139.25 23. Linda & Alan Falkowitz 143.32 24. Nina Schindler 179.07 Diane Hall (202:57) OT George, Linn, Ian & Christina Haddock (missed #11) MSP Terry Gleason (missed #5) DNF Sandor & Anna Straus, Tamara Prossur, Ellen Valkevich, Janet Spenser (missed #12) DNF Mary Pedon DNF Second course Brandon & Eve Tobey 74.51 Amy MacLennan, Donna Rae Smith 81.21 Rosalie Frankel 84.34 Brad Catlin 119.20 ORANGE 4.0k, 128m, 12 controls 35 participants 1. Stephanie Maclean 58.12 2. Charlie Graham 61.49 3. Peter Rogers 69.38 4. Maria Vargasova 75.16 5. Rebecca Higgerson, Brian Johnson 84.08 6. Trevor Pering, Renee Bulow 95.43 7. Kirk Davis 97.01 8. Sara & Steve O'Keefe, with dog (Max) 100.33 9. Elizabeth & Henry Bramhall 110.13 10. Vin and Bertheau 113.10 11. Sylvie & George Bramhall (RMOC) 117.11 12. Ray & Barbara Kujawski 119.08 13. Galina Shakhnovsky 121.46 14. Suresh & Veena Ramaswamy 131.19 15. Harry Hall 131.45 16. Debbie Friederichs 134.51 17. Jean & Ev Beuerman 134.54 18. Robert & Carolyn Karis 135.50 19. Jack Myers 136.30 20. Judy Koehler 139.19 21. Jason Killmaier, Alvin Yee 153.31 22. Mark Burchill, Mel Konrad 162.34 Lisa Wylie (missed #10) DNF LONG ORANGE 6.0k, 225m, 17 controls 40 participants 1. Michihiro Kamijima 53.45 2. Steve Jankowski 55.14 3. Steve Gregg 56.50 4. Syd Reader 57.46 5. Derek Maclean 58.59 6. Van Boughner 59.34 7. Josh Friederichs 63.00 8. Alex Krasnov 66.26 9. Doug Stein 68.04 10. Gavin Wyatt-Mair 69.43 11. Ken Vomaske 70.00 12. Matthias Kohler 71.11 13. Bruce Bassett 72.32 14. Elena Krasnova 74.52 15. Bill Papendick 75.33 16. Chuck Hammers 76.47 17. Tony Pinkham 77.28 18. Chris Taylor 80.46 19. Phillip Hoare 91.00 20. Oleg Shakhnovsky 92.11 21. Jorian Riley, Jodie Little 95.58 22. Jerry Goss 102.21 23. Mike Catlin 108.25 24. Steve Beuerman 108.58 25. Jim & Brian Michaels 109.09 26. William & Charles Rassieur 112.45 27. Mike Maughmer 117.46 28. Joan Roos 124.36 29. Jeff Lanam 125.43 30. Nancy Lindeman 134.55 31. Don Gee 160.45 32. Jonathan Gee 164.27 33. Chris Quenelle, Lisa Kuarda, Karen Bechtel 167.02 Stacy Robinson (missed #5) DNF Jim Cassady DNF