Golden Gate Park
Date: (Sat.) May. 17, 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
Event Director:
Course Setters: Vladimir Gusiatnikov, Brian Schmitz, Rex Winterbottom
Type: C; White, Yellow, Orange, & Sprint courses (Sprint Finals)
Table of contents |
Related Information
Event Announcement RouteGadget - Introduction RouteGadget - Event (http://baoc.org/gadget/cgi/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=130&kieli=) Control Descriptions
Event Write-Up
By
It was a good day in San Francisco—great weather, stalwart volunteers and energetic participants! Thanks must go out to the course setters, Rex Winterbottom and Brian Schmitz, who received many compliments on their handiwork. Everyone seemed quite pleased.
Many thanks, again, to the volunteers:
- Registration: Gary Kraught, Torkel Dominique, Marina Keating
- Beginners’ Clinics: Scott Aster, Becky Redfield
- Starts: Greg Ehrensing, Kent Hetherwick
- Finishes: Tony Pinkham, Frank Markowitz, Nancy Lindemann, Shirley Pierce, Marsha Jacobs
- Take Down: Jennifer Kerr
- Elbow Woman: Joan Roos
Thanks, too, to those individuals who were kind enough to offer to help upon arrival.
Special thanks goes out to my roommate, Alice Masuko, who, despite orienteering very seldom, offered to cover a shift for finishes, brought me lunch, and stuck around helping to the end!
One more note of thanks should be given to the security guard manning the polo fields for Footstock, the Bay-to-Breakers music festival, for kindly providing the answer to question #3 to White course participants. The clue had been fiendishly locked away by Footstock’s event staff.
There were about 100 people in attendance, including the sprinters.
As usual, there were a few objections to the multiple-choice options on the scorecard. The most notable of these was the last question involving the number of trash cans. You were right. There were four. The Yellow course had a question involving the location of one Christmas tree when there were a few about the area, and participants on the Orange course took issue with what constituted a "branch", and which tree was at the top of the re-entrant. No one was dinged for giving the "wrong" answer to these.
All in all, a lovely day.
Sprint Event Write-Up
By
This was unprecedented. Fun. Thrilling, for me at least. Contingencies arose. And the participants were great sports and great helps.
When I did this last year at Indian Valley, I enjoyed and appreciated what we accomplished, and came away with ideas for refinements and making it a smoother, better experience for the participants.
Rule #1: Don't introduce new variables when you're trying to smoothen something out.
That variable: SFMuni, the city's bus system. We waited over an hour for a #5 Fulton bus that's supposed to come every 12 minutes. After finishing the first Sprint, we were supposed to head about 3 km west to the western edge of the park, near the beach.
Still, if I were to do an event like this again, I would use public transportation. I think we had a pretty extreme case of bad Muni.
The main lesson learned was that a more enlightened procedure for reseeding participants should be developed to ensure fairness when a few people drop out, thus making it challenging to recalculate seedings and groupings. Something less complicated, more elegant, but still interesting...
I think seeding everyone according to the standings at the beginning was fair and fine. John Kewley, a visitor from the U.K., pretty much torched the field and was able to make it to 3rd place in the end, although starting almost last in the first sprint. So there was some payoff to having participated in other sprints, but people who participated less could still advance. Having no points at all and getting to 3rd place shows what one can do.
Some people don't care about all this ranking and seeding and stuff, and I have to say they seemed to enjoy themselves with the fun variety of courses. Lots of routes were discussed, and the tricks I put in the mix did trip up a few experienced navigators. Overall, I just would have liked it to take less time. If I didn't have bananas, I think some more would have dropped out than the few that had hockey games, friends in town, family to attend to, or the odd foot or ankle injury. Those who stayed, my hat's off to you. Thanks for experiencing what I had long and carefully prepared.
If we didn't have the 1-hour bus delay, I think we would have finished by 2:00, an hour later than the predicted 1:00. I feel I was able to put out and pick up controls fast and efficiently, and parallel-process it while participants would walk to the start/warm-up; going out with the last competitor and picking up, but being careful not to get ahead of anyone. What did affect the timing more than I anticipated was the range in finish times of the participants.
Sprint #1, in the eastern half of the park, near the museums, was the most normal sprint—9 controls, 1.7 km, nice park-O terrain. I put one control bag low on the "east foot of a hill"—I had actually placed it low so it would not be a dog leg. Technically, I don't think it was exactly in the center of the circle, but it was in the circle. Unfortunately, if you took a roundabout way to get there, and didn't look low enough... well, some spent more time there than they would want to. The base of the hill was where I put the control bag, but perhaps the description would lead you to believe it would be low on the hillside.
Sprint #2 seemed to generate the most excitement. I put groups of 4 runners in a 0.6-km, 5-control pinball machine, complete with a windmill, many barriers (bumpers), and it spit them out through a tunnel to a restaurant with a jazz band (the Beach Chalet?? not sure what it's called). It might be the most challenging White course you've ever done. Dan Greene was impressed with the park-O nature of this section of the map, which was enlarged to 1:2500.
Sprint #3 seemed to generate the most discussion. Also a 1:2500 map, and very short at 0.7 km with 3 controls... participants were challenged to pick and execute efficient routes through a variety of terrain types.
The unforeseen Bay-to-Breakers setup in and around the polo fields made Sprint #4 impossible unless I made changes to the preprinted maps and removed a control. All participants were informed to skip control 2, and to note the whereabouts of the massive uncrossable fence circumscribing the field enclosure. This course probably had the most technical spots of fine navigation up until #4, then finished with a footrace through the last 2 controls.
Do check out the RouteGadget routes, a few have been added for each Sprint, and you can see the courses.
I would appreciate comments on the course design—feedback. I did receive some, but it would be nice to hear from more. I was so busy constantly throughout this event that I barely had time to breathe, while y'all had plenty of conversation opportunities that I missed!
Even working every second from start to finish, this would have been impossible without help. Everybody pitched in. Zan Armstrong, whose parents Rick and Fran were participating, graciously assisted in directing the proceedings. Zan figured out results and finishes, and then started people using a variety of seeding and grouping techniques. She was very dependable. Noah Flower assisted with this as well after aggravating an injury. Zan deserves a special thanks for making this event possible—I could not have done it without her experience, expertise, and wisdom.
All the participants were not only good sports, they pitched in wherever possible, carrying stuff, sorting results, assembling and disassembling controls, and picking up the last course. Thank you all! Your help enabled me to focus on the critical tasks of setting up and taking down the courses on the fly.
We had an awards ceremony and certificates were handed out to the winners in the compressed age and gender classes. Terry, I still have yours! Congratulations to all the club sprint champions for 2008, listed in the results. Besides better bus service, less fences, and refined organization, the thing I hope for next year is more competition, particularly in the M21/F21 categories. Thanks to all who showed up and made it a great event! I'd love to participate in something like this next year, hopefully someone can step up and take it on!
Results
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA
Saturday, May 17, 2008
White/Yellow/Orange Results
Pl Name(s) Time White Course (2.1 km, 15 m climb, 9 controls) 1 Sebo family 32:25 2 Janice Ko 40:00 3 Alice Masuko 45:00 4 Kim Roland, Cherie Zeiler 58:50 5 Green Raccoons 1:02:10 Abyd Al-Zain DNF Panthers DNF Yellow Course (3.7 km, 45 m climb, 10 controls) 1 Rick Baraff 32:00 2 Tim Keunster 32:33 3 Nick Mills 40:33 4 Dwight Freund 43:32 5 Ed Ow 51:50 6 Peter McCorquodale 54:00 7 Adam Doti & Parker 55:30 8 Brendan McWalters 59:00 9 Rich Israels 1:02:20 10 Brian Koga, Joyce Lin 1:07:48 11 Mike Hecker 1:16:05 12 Dan Comway 1:28:04 13 Kim Roland, Cherie Zeiler 1:31:00 14 Brad & Lisa Melton 1:34:07 15 McKeay family 1:39:10 16 Kevin & Sol Rugg 1:49:15 17 Meribeth, et al. 1:50:07 18 David Harrison 1:53:58 19 Bye family 1:54:00 Lena Eydelberg DNF Orange Course (5.9 km, 70 m climb, 9 controls) 1 Jon Bonwick 44:20 2 Rick Baroff 46:26 3 Adam Doti 47:30 4 Tony Pinkham 49:25 5 Guy Whittaker 50:50 6 Chuck Spalding 52:25 7 Greg Ehrensing 55:45 8 Tim Kuenster 56:20 9 Matej Sebo 1:02:47 10 Scott Aster 1:08:18 11 Marina Keating 1:12:39 12 Nick Corsano 1:13:57 13 Joe Maffei 1:15:00 14 Alex Solomatnikov 1:15:09 15 Matt Sheehy 1:17:53 16 Adam Ruskin, Eric Wilkinson 1:20:25 17 Wes Erck 1:24:20 18 Marsha Jacobs 1:29:27 19 Gina Christopher 1:29:30 20 Katy Robinson 1:32:30 21 Steve O'Keefe 1:33:30 22 Jeff Lanam 1:36:26 23 Arlie & Tomer Maymon 1:38:10 24 Brendan McWalters 1:39:27 25 Jennifer Kerr 1:43:44 26 Cecil Conkle 1:43:48 27 Garrett Short 1:45:55 28 Linde & Jeremy Scott 2:00:23 29 Wendt Burbank 2:01:30 30 Mike Whelply, Joyclin Hashimoto 2:04:50 31 Nancy Lindemann, Shirley Pierce 2:08:40 32 Sanders & Hughes 2:12:45 33 Fred & Diane Ciaramaglia 2:21:49 34 Lisa Fawcett 2:50:35 35 Jane Parody 3:26:55 Harold Lischner DNF Eileen Everett DNF Neal Lischner DNF Ed Wirth, Jen Grafe & Reesa DNF Redfield-Subiantaro DNF Abyd Al-Zaim DNF Joey & Randy Brett DNF Darren Don DNF Marcel Good DNF Johanna Merris DNF Aja & Nick Brown DNF Chris Mellor DNF Jim Masters DNF
Sprint Results
Championship Results
Determined by order of finish in the final Sprint, Sprint #4—not by fastest time, but first person to the finish, after staggered, seeded starts. The winner did not have the fastest absolute time on Sprint #4.
1 Francois Leonard M21 2 Manfred Kopisch M40 3 John Kewley M45 4 Toby Ferguson M50 5 Steve Harrison M40 6 Alex Finch M45 7 Fyodor Konkov M45 8 Daniel Kopisch M14 9 Rick Armstrong M55 10 Marie-Josee Parayre F21 11 Dan Greene M50 12 Shura Kretchetov M21 13 Michael Robinson M35 14 Bob Cooley M65 15 Fran Armstrong F60 16 Terry Farrah F45 17 Jim Fish M65 18 Philipp Kopisch M14
Club Sprint Champions
F-Junior No entries F-21+ Marie-Josee Parayre F35-50 Terry Farrah F55+ Would be Fran Armstrong if she were BAOC member M-Junior Daniel Kopisch M-21+ Francois Leonard M35-50 Manfred Kopisch M55+ Bob Cooley (Rick Armstrong would have been if he was BAOC)
Sprint Details
Total time on all 4 Sprints—used for USOF Sprint Series points and club sprint series rankings
Pl Name Time 1 John Kewley 27:44 2 Manfred Kopisch 32:42 3 Toby Ferguson 33:34 4 Francois Leonard 33:40 5 Alex Finch 35:31 6 Steve Harrison 36:18 7 Fyodor Konkov 36:22 8 Marie-Josee Parayre 36:40 9 Dan Greene 38:45 10 Rick Armstrong 39:29 11 Shura Kretchetov 40:53 12 Daniel Kopisch 40:58 13 Michael Robinson 42:42 14 Bob Cooley 45:31 15 Terry Farrah 51:07 16 Phillip Kopisch 52:20 17 Jim Fish 59:02 18 Fran Armstrong 60:14 Sprint #1 (1.7 km, 9 controls) 1 Ben Legg 9:16 2 John Kewley 9:39 3 Andrejus Masalkovas 10:14 4 Cameron Ferguson 11:10 5 Toby Ferguson 11:30 6 Phillip Kopisch 12:00 7 Brad Wetmore 12:35 8 Alex Finch 12:46 9 Marie-Josee Parayre 13:12 10 Francois Leonard 13:16 11 Manfred Kopisch 13:19 12 Fyodor Konkov 13:19 13 Dan Greene 13:25 14 Steve Harrison 14:01 15 George Minarik 14:05 16 Bob Cooley 14:36 17 Shura Kretchetov 14:42 18 Michael Robinson 15:18 19 Rick Armstrong 16:11 20 Noah Flower 16:29 21 Terry Farrah 17:10 22 Daniel Kopisch 18:22 23 Jim Fish 19:44 24 Fran Armstrong 22:48 25 Joan Roos 34:35 Sprint #2 (0.6 km, 5 controls) 1 John Kewley 4:11 2 Ben Legg 4:35 3 Manfred Kopisch 4:47 4 Cameron Ferguson 4:55 5 Marie-Josee Parayre 5:02 6 Alex Finch 5:06 7 Rick Armstrong 5:06 8 Daniel Kopisch 5:24 9 Phillip Kopisch 5:39 10 Francois Leonard 5:42 11 Steve Harrison 5:45 12 Fyodor Konkov 5:56 13 Dan Greene 6:01 14 Shura Kretchetov 6:07 15 Terry Farrah 6:30 16 Toby Ferguson 6:38 17 Bob Cooley 6:44 18 Michael Robinson 6:51 19 George Minarik 7:39 20 Jim Fish 8:27 21 Fran Armstrong 9:25 22 Joan Roos 11:09 Sprint #3 (0.7 km, 3 controls) 1 John Kewley 3:49 2 Francois Leonard 4:07 3 Toby Ferguson 4:22 4 Manfred Kopisch 4:40 5 Steve Harrison 5:02 6 Alex Finch 5:07 7 Fyodor Konkov 5:17 8 Dan Greene 5:35 9 Daniel Kopisch 5:39 10 Rick Armstrong 5:52 11 Marie-Josee Parayre 5:53 12 Michael Robinson 5:54 13 Shura Kretchetov 6:35 14 Phillip Kopisch 6:42 15 Bob Cooley 7:01 16 Jim Fish 7:33 17 Terry Farrah 8:27 18 Fran Armstrong 9:07 19 Joan Roos 9:11 Sprint #4 (1.7 km, 7 controls) (Note: Because a large section of the map was fenced off and made out-of-bounds the day before the event, this was shortened to 6 controls, and probably about 1.5 km.) 1 Manfred Kopisch 9:56 2 John Kewley 10:05 3 Francois Leonard 10:35 4 Toby Ferguson 11:04 5 Steve Harrison 11:30 6 Daniel Kopisch 11:33 7 Fyodor Konkov 11:50 8 Rick Armstrong 12:20 9 Alex Finch 12:32 10 Marie-Josee Parayre 12:33 11 Shura Kretchetov 13:29 12 Dan Greene 13:44 13 Michael Robinson 14:39 14 Bob Cooley 17:10 15 Fran Armstrong 18:54 16 Terry Farrah 19:00 17 Jim Fish 23:18 18 Phillip Kopisch 27:59 _______________
DNF = Did not finish (missed one or more controls)