2016 Nav-X Challenge Series 2-hour & 4-hour Rogaine
Briones Regional Park
Date: (Sun.) Apr. 24, 2016
Location: Lafayette, CA
Event Director: 
- 916.220.0224
Course Setters: Bill Cusworth (NAV-X), Heidi Cusworth (NAV-X)
Type: Rogaine; 2-hour & 4-hour classes; No beginner courses; Joint event with Gold Country Orienteers
Related Event Information
2-hour Results (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b_F8-IeMuqJJJWsO0ODDlsdJnhahcj880Np9otsJe4g/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true) 4-hour Results (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kxP9BkJfxUp-FtdElRTBEVIn1ucdpJyL5E49mJfpoNk/pubhtml?gid=457439538&single=true) Event Announcement
Event Write-Up
By
It was a beautiful spring day in the emerald green hills of Briones Regional Park. Ninety-one navigation sports enthusiasts had spent up to an hour studying the map to figure out their route. There were people from the orienteering, adventure racing, map trekking (aka rogaining), ultra running, and hiking communities. After a brief intro by event director Mats Jansson, and a course overview by course setter Bill Cusworth, husband of course designer Heidi Cusworth, they were off on either a 2- or 4-hour adventure, that for some would test not just their navigation skills, but their hill climbing strength and agility in navigating the ankle-twisting cow footprints as well.
Heidi had designed the course so that it was hard to figure out the best logical route, resulting in many different approaches, and people taking very different paths. In the end, everyone returned tired, but with smiles on their faces. Most made the time cut-off, a few took penalty points as a result of being late—one of the many challenges of the Map Trekking (aka Rogaining) format.
A small cloud over the event was the fact that vandals had moved two controls along a trail relatively close to the Start/Finish, resulting in some lost time for those who got there before staff was alerted and could put them back in the right location. Thanks go to Lubomir Sebo for alerting race staff. Participants who struggled with these got credit. After the dust had settled, participants were treated to a well-stocked lunch smorgasbord to put some of those lost calories back into their bodies. Then followed awards—which turned out to be a chocolate fest. Who doesn't like chocolate?
On the 2-hour course (aka GO FAST), Daniel Sebo claimed the top spot in the Open Junior division with 750 points. Sheila Cotter walked away with the win in the Female Masters division with her 640 points. In the Female Adult division, Ann Marie Cody edged out a competitive field for the win with an impressive 1100 points, second overall, bested only by East Coast transplant Paul Ort who won the most competitive Open Adult division, followed by Rex Winterbottom (2nd/1040 points) and Graham Brew (3rd/1000 points). Rounding out the 2-hour field was Tapio Karras collecting 1010 points in the "old guy" division, Open Masters.
On the 4-hour course (aka GO ALL DAY), Penny DeMoss decisively won the Female Masters division with a point score of 1650. The Open Masters division top rank was claimed by Takashi Sugiyama with 1930 points. In the Open Adult division, an incredibly tight race had the top four competitors within 170 points of each other. From this fight, Dennis Wilkinson emerged victorious with 2450 points, missing just one of the 43 checkpoints. Closely behind was Mark Prior in 2nd place with 2400 points. The podium was completed by Roy Malone in 3rd with 2320 points. Matej Sebo, who just moved up from the Junior division this year, came in right on Roy's heels with an impressive 4th place finish 40 points behind Roy (2280).
It was a successful event and it could not have been done without the many volunteers who helped out: Heidi Cusworth (course design), Bill Cusworth (course setting, E-Punch, and event breakdown), Andrew Peterson (setup, check-in/registration, results, and breakdown), Rex Winterbottom (setup, E-Punch, and results), Mats Jansson (event director, check-in/registrations, control pickup), Sheila Cotter, Dennis Wilkinson, Roy Malone (control pickup).
Thank you all for coming and supporting NorCal navigation sports! We look forward to seeing you all at Big Basin (http://www.navxchallenge.com/schedule-1/2016/5/15/big-basin-navx-challenge-series) on May 15th! Reminder that prices will go up May 2nd, so register now to get the best deal!
Lastly, we'd love to hear feedback on our event (good and bad) so we can continue to put on better and better events. Please take the time to complete this 5-minute survey (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1eB135iNPQunfRItwU6Rtg_1t7rxGK3BXtmFmh1aj3qw/viewform), or email feedback to
Results
2016 Nav-X Challenge Series Rogaine #1
Briones Regional Park
Martinez, CA
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The 2-hour results are here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b_F8-IeMuqJJJWsO0ODDlsdJnhahcj880Np9otsJe4g/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true).
The 4-hour results are here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kxP9BkJfxUp-FtdElRTBEVIn1ucdpJyL5E49mJfpoNk/pubhtml?gid=457439538&single=true).