Trailcross Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller Park
Date: (Sun.) Aug. 25, 2013
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Directors: 
- 510.779.8808, - 510.325.8080
Course Setters: Steve Gregg, Bruce Wolfe
Type: C; 5 km, 10 km, and 10-mile trail runs with twists! Find your way with a map.
Event Write-Up
By
I believe in the TrailCross concept as a way of making good use of our parks that, due to steep hills and thick vegetation, are problematic to use for "standard" orienteering events. Joaquin Miller Park (JMP) is arguably one of those venues, so I agreed to host this event (my third of the 2013 season—the other two having been Point Pinole and Donner Lake State Park). It didn't hurt that the park is less than three miles from my home, and that I am very familiar with the trails there. This gave me the ability to make multiple test-runs of each loop of the course, and to make the map as perfect as possible for the event. At the very least, JMP course setters should have a much more accurate map to work with in the future.
Quite a few club regulars were on vacation or had other activities planned the day of the event, which is the hazard inherent in holding an event at the end of August. A relatively small but enthusiastic crowd was still present, though, including several newcomers to any kind of map run.
I was pleased to see the participants head off in at least five different directions to the first control of the opening loop, as that is the hoped-for result when setting a TrailCross course. The 5 km and 10 km courses were won by Lori Huberman (with dog) and Stephen Granger-Bevan, respectively, both newly arrived here from the New England Orienteering Club, and who we look forward to seeing at more of our events. Only eight hardy souls took on the 10-mile course (too bad, as I think Loop C was the most entertaining and interesting loop of the three), with Mark Prior taking the victory.
A note for future TrailCross course-setters: These events are much easier to organize if a three-loop setup is used. That completely eliminates the need to stock and man a remote aid station, and reduces the amount of time it takes to place and pick up controls. It also made it much easier for me to recruit a sufficient number of helpers for the event. Those helpers included Bruce Wolfe (my co-event director and course vetter, who made several significant contributions to the event), Rosemary Johnson, Bob Cooley (who wasn't actually at the event, but as usual, produced beautiful maps), Rex Winterbottom, Steve Haas, Scott Aster, Jeff Lanam, Stuart Suplick, Zack Mintz, and Ruth Kadel. My apologies to anyone else who helped at the event that I have overlooked.
Lost and Found
There was only one lost and found item at Joaquin Miller Park Sunday, but it was an important one: A very nice-looking pair of North Face hiking boots, tied together by their shoelaces. I'm guessing someone must have changed out of them into their running shoes before the event, but then forgot about their boots when they left the park. Let me know if they are yours.
And this is a long shot, but apparently someone's off-leash puppy chased after some runners during the event. I got a plaintive call from the owner late yesterday afternoon, telling me that the puppy had yet to be found. So if you happen to have any knowledge at all about that, let me know.
Results
Trailcross Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller Park
Oakland, CA
Sunday, August 25, 2013
5 km Course 10 km Course 10 mi Course
Several of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" results were because the participants did not clear their epunches before starting. Please remind newcomers to clear and check.
Also see control-by-control timing in the WinSplits results (http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/show_event.asp?id=27219).
5 km Course (3.4 km, 225 m climb, 7 controls)
Pl Name(s) Time
1 Lori Huberman 29:41 2 Daniel Sebo 31:29 3 Gary Kraght 31:55 4 Hollan McPherson 32:39 5 Greg Mandler 33:46 6 Natalie Kim 38:29 7 Tom Gabrielson 41:49 8 Olga Kraght 43:32 9 Terry Gleason 46:36 10 Scott Aster 48:18 11 Jeff Lanam 1:04:45 12 Jim Fish 1:07:43 13 Jeffrey Wong 1:12:52 14 Nancy Lindeman 1:33:30 15 Jimmy Chung 2:26:59
Choose Your Own Adventure
Veronica & Johanna Perez, Marti Arrana Â
Ashley Gibbs Â
Christine Quintana Â
Dan Gullion Â
James & Kathleen Gill Â
10 km Course (7.0 km, 475 m climb, 15 controls)
Pl Name(s) Time
1 Stephen Granger-Bevan 43:58 2 Rex Winterbottom 49:13 3 Werner Haag 1:09:34 4 Johanna Merriss 1:13:57 5 Ralf Burgert 1:16:23 6 Steve Haas 1:17:08 7 Nick van Hoff 1:18:37 8 Deron van Hoff 1:18:42 9 Karla Burnet 1:23:00 10 Sheila Cotter 1:23:09 11 Marie-Josée Parayre 1:23:58 12 Carl Gabrielson 1:24:50 13 Eric & Quincy Rosenzweig 1:29:12 14 Geoffrey Sears 1:31:41 15 Bill Follette 1:32:07 16 Vicki Woolworth 1:47:28 17 Robin Wong 2:35:58 18 Calvin Hu 3:51:39
Choose Your Own Adventure
Frank Markowitz Â
Camille Gomez Â
Normand Gabriel Â
Leslie Rogers Â
10 mi Course (12.1 km, 795 m climb, 23 controls)
Pl Name Time
1 Mark Prior 1:35:46 2 Matej Sebo 1:42:02 3 Lubomir Sebo 1:46:22 4 Mladen Kolar 1:56:12 5 Donato Polignone 2:01:59 6 Greg Favor 2:08:35 7 Gavin Wyatt-Mair 2:16:08 8 Steve Smith 2:37:35