By Derek Maclean and Peter Graube
After a very wet Spring, the sun burst out on April 30th for the hottest day of the year so far. Over 200 of you were drawn out to the beautiful slopes of Mt Hamilton for this year's event at Joe Grant South. The hills reciprocated and were at their best for orienteering, with perfect footing—neither too hard nor too soft, with lush grass and still-rushing streams.
The only downside was that a considerable amount of the forest greenery consisted of the orienteers' bane—poison oak. The damp weather brought out a huge crop this year. It was disheartening as course setters to find open forest turning to poisonous thickets with each successive visit to the area. We made a number of late adjustments to the map and courses to try to avoid it, but I fear that many of you will have received quite a dose. We hope that the itching has subsided by now. I recommend that future course setters carry a machete for "course-enhancement".
Your organizers have tried to keep at the forefront of BAOC innovation. In 2005 we introduced self-registration at Joe Grant, and this year's event saw the debut of e-punching for all courses—including White and Yellow. Certainly it helped the organizers with no punch cards having to be checked, and it looked like the beginners enjoyed it. Two rented e-punch sticks were lost; though one was recovered. It took a little longer to hang White and Yellow controls on the day of the event, since the e-punch units need to be more firmly secured against improper removal. However, this was minor compared to the evident upside in results generation.
The White course was 2.6 km, with 60 m climb and 12 controls, starting and finishing through the campsite area, with an interesting central loop offering views up the valley. Gabriel Delforge-Melia edged out Daniel & Adam Strauss for first place by 14 seconds, with David Carroll taking third.
Yellow climbed high above the assembly area and offered some tempting shortcuts off the trails. The Brant/Hall/Nguyen team came in a decisive first for the 3.2-km, 130-m-climb course. The Castro/Haarma team was second, and Caroline Scacchetti completed the top three.
Orange offered a step up in challenge, with some technical legs and off-trail route choice through flower-filled meadows. Mark Hunt had a good run to finish first, ahead of Martin Muendel, with Zbigniew Pisanski third.
The advanced courses had a remote Finish this year. We apologize that some of you did not get any water there, as the hot weather took us somewhat by surprise. The Finish offered a good view of some of the early legs across the valley, and I enjoyed watching the surprisingly varied routes that competitors took on a long climb across a grassy slope.
These courses offered as much technical challenge as possible, but for the most part orienteering at Joe Grant emphasizes the physical, and rewards strong legs and good conditioning.
Demonstrating these qualities on Brown (4.8 km, 190 m climb, 10 controls) were Sean Harrington in a decisive first place, followed by Matt Cover, and Kent Heatherwick.
Piers Newbery broke an hour to take first on Green (4.9 km, 240 m climb, 10 controls). Ido Green placed second, and Bob Cooley took third.
The Red course was 5.8 km, 290 m climb, with 11 controls. Tapio Karras took top honors, with Matthias Kohler in second, and Bruce Wolfe in third.
Blue was 6.5 km, 330 m climb, with 15 controls. Christian Degen blazed in for first, followed by Daniel Griff in second, and Pierre Delforge in third.
The event could not have occurred without the help of many volunteers. Thanks to Dean French and Jim Fish for all their help in course setting and organization. Rosemary Johnson showed perseverance in our annual struggle to ensure the permit and insurance. As always, thanks to Ev and Jean Beuerman for registration. Thanks to Trinka Gillis and her (expanding!) E-punch crew of Matthias Vangbo, Mark Rice, and Mark Blair. Stephanie Maclean and Dennis Wildfogel explored many PO thickets while vetting. Nancy Lindeman, Chuck Spalding, and Deron van Hoff helped with setup. Thanks to Deron van Hoff and Stephanie Maclean for managing advanced starts, and to Chuck Spalding for beginner clinics. Thanks to Penny DeMoss, Harold DeMoss, Bjorn Widerstrom, Wendell Doman, Matthias Kohler, Luc Poppe, Theo Verhoeven, and Kelly Wells for control pickup. Many hands makelight work! Rory Maclean helped with filling the Gookinade drink barrels, then helped empty them by drinking record quantities of it. Thanks to Steve Haas for delivering water to the advanced finish, and to Bill Strauss for finding some lost money. The park rangers were helpful with the paperwork and shipping gallons of water.