Roberts Regional Recreation Area & Joaquin Miller Park
Date: (Sat.) Jul. 21, 2007
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Director: - 510.619.5728
Course Setters: Joe Scarborough, Bruce Wolfe
Type: C; Orienteering skills training in morning; potluck social lunch; White, Yellow, Orange, Sprint courses in afternoon
Related Information
Event Announcement Sprint WinSplits (http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/show_event.asp?id=8045) RouteGadget - Introduction RouteGadget - Sprint Course (http://baoc.org/gadget/cgi/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=101&kieli=)
Event Write-Up
By
As in past years, the idea was a format that emphasized the distance and leg length of a sprint, but with navigational demands of fine orienteering in the traditional forest setting. It was possible to get away from the urban "terrain," trails, and the emphasis on running speed, and following what we have seen in recent sprints by virtue of the runnable yet technical requirements of this prime piece of redwood forest.
Mattias Eriksson (2nd) and Mikkel Conradi (3rd) reversed their 2006 finishing order, and James Scarborough stepped in to replace Vladimir Gusiatnikov in the top spot. James, retired from international competition since the 2006 WOC and now out of training, was able to hold off the competition through a relatively clean run. As this was James' home terrain, he would ordinarily be in line for an "unofficial" designation for competition here, but he maintains that past experience was of no consequence in locating, such was the concentration required.
I think the intensive remapping and technical course design made the area much less familiar for all the old timers who took part. At least that was the objective. There are not the huge and memorable features of typical or Bay Area terrain, nor the line features and buildings of the standard sprint. Instead there is just enough vegetation for appropriately challenging visibility, but reasonable runnability and influence on route choice. Likewise the relief is enough for interest and navigation without lengthy uphill slogs. The beautiful redwood forest is an aesthetic bonus.
I'm still looking for critiques pro and con from participants. The only significant error I am aware of was the omission of a clump of fight near #19 but that was caught and corrected in time by hand. I am not sure about readability with all three loops shown on a single map. Also there were a couple of spots that could have used some additional refinement of the vegetation mapping.
Special thanks to Bruce Wolfe and Steve Gregg who performed a super job vetting. No matter how conscientious the preparation, a good thorough vetting is bound to yield additional map corrections and course design tweaks. Thanks also to James and Evan Custer who served as the early runners, and to James for manning the Start and Finish. Thanks also to Evan for the EP results, and to Rosemary Johnson for her support as Event Director.
Despite being BAOC's most heavily used terrain—sprints alone date back to the 1992 Club Championship—this little morsel of terrain continues to offer some of our best orienteering. Watch for the JMP Sprint 2008.
Results
Roberts Regional Recreation Area & Joaquin Miller Park Oakland, CA Saturday, July 21, 2007 Pl Name Time White Course (1.4 km, 70 m climb, 8 controls) 1 Julia Doubson 16:54 2 Masha Konkov 20:54 Yellow Course (1.9 km, 130 m climb, 8 controls) 1 Gela, Artem, & Peter Siganevich 1:04:25 2 Team Behrens 1:33:11 3 Xena & Asher Wolf 1:37:06 Shirley Pierce DNF Orange Course (2.8 km, 260 m climb, 12 controls) 1 Victor Passinsky 54:34 2 Cameron Ferguson 56:04 3 Alex & Chris Finch 1:05:41 4 Hamish Ferguson 1:08:40 5 Leslie Minarik 1:14:55 6 Wes Erck 1:20:00 7 Jim Fish 1:46:39 8 Jordan Jordan 1:51:34 9 Judy Koehler 1:55:34 10 Nancy Lindeman 2:24:58 Second Course Ido Green 32:08 Brad Wetmore 46:47 Marina Keating 1:23:43 Sprint Course (2.2 km, 150 m climb, 20 controls) 1 James Scarborough 18:23 2 Mattias Eriksson 20:07 3 Mikkel Conradi 21:53 4 Andrejus Masalkovas 26:17 5 Brad Wetmore 31:11 6 Bob Cooley 32:18 7 Russell Neilson 32:34 8 Penny DeMoss 32:38 9 George Minarik 34:35 10 Toby Ferguson 34:48 11 Evan Custer 37:16 12 Gary Kraght 41:36 13 Fyodor Konkov 44:19 14 Mark Blair 46:46 15 Iida Lahtela 47:21 16 Nick Corsano 51:31 17 Dwight Freund 1:05:43 18 Steve Beuerman 1:09:12 19 Yulia Pushkar 1:12:27 20 Marina Keating 1:18:19 21 Jeff Lanam 1:20:35 Thierry Le Gall DNF (Did not download) Ido Green DNF Margaret Longstreth DNF Joan Roos DNF _______________ DNF = Did not finish (missed one or more controls)