By Joe Maffei & Marina Keating
Lost and Found: (1) An olive-green canteen and (2) a girl's red head band were left at the download table. Please e-mail Joe Maffei if they belong to you.
It was a crisp fall day, with bouts of fog, for our annual event at Morgan Territory. Damian Swift set the courses, which took participants through rolling oak and manzanita forest, boulders, and grassy clearings. Leaves were changing to golden yellow on the black oak and big-leaf maple trees, and on grape vines down in the canyons.
The ground was soft from Friday's rain, and the running was fast, with finish times somewhat shorter than normal. The Red and Blue courses had an interesting route choice through or around mid- to dark-green areas, with much of their climb near the end of the course.
On the White course, Hannah Kopisch zipped to first place, Andrew Kim took second place, and Katie Petersen came in third. On the Yellow course, Gavin Williams took first, Jessie & Emma Wilkinson, with Tony Pinkham, won second, and a team of Lin Su and Greg, Ozzie, and Eric Maland took third.
The Orange course was won by Jonathan Hallstad, with Vicki Woolworth taking second, just ahead of third-place finisher Laurens Fein. Gary Kraght breezed to a first place finish in Brown, while Lauren MacMullan took second, and wily veteran and club founder Joe Scarborough took third.
The Green course was hotly contested, with 34 runners total, and the top six finishers all within about three minutes. Matthias Kohler took first by being a whole five seconds faster than Benjamin Legg, who in turn beat Toby Ferguson by 25 seconds.
Pierre DelForge won Red, ahead of Deron van Hoff in second, and Mattias Vangbo in third. On Blue, Jonas Kjall continued his recent BAOC dominance with a first-place finish, ahead of Mikkel Conradi in second, and Francois Leonard in third.
This event would not have been possible without the committed effort of many volunteers. (Please contact us if we forgot to acknowledge anyone below.)
Damian Swift set excellent courses and had invaluable help with vetting and placing of controls from Dwight Freund, Sharon Evans, Marina Keating, Jim Fish, and Robi Mulford. Mark Blair, Bob Cooley, and Toby Ferguson provided needed advice and help with the equipment. Graeme Ackland provided helpful comments on the Green through Blue courses. Our mapping director, Bob Cooley, created the maps and control description sheets. Â Bob also had a Radio Orienteering demonstration that a number of people enjoyed.
Our download station was expertly manned by Wes Erck, Jim Fish, Evan Custer, and Greg Ehrensing. Derek MacLean helped post results. For registration, Ev and Jean did their usual terrific job, with help from Nancy Lindeman.Â
Shaun Etherington and Rex Winterbottom worked starts. Peter Graube and Vicki Woolworth did a great job as parking attendants at Indian Springs Ranch. Toby Ferguson and Nancy Lindeman delivered several beginner clinics from 9:30 to 11, which were well received by our newcomers. Jim Fish arrived early and helped us set up the Start and Finish areas and the tents.
Controls were picked up by Mark Blair, Greg Ehrensing, Jim Fish, Peter Graube, Alan Kren, Margaret Longstreth, David and William Morris, Luc Poppe, Mark Rice, and Kelly (and Marley) Wells. Penny and Harold DeMoss coordinated the control pick-up, and took away the e-punch gear for use at Bon Tempe. Mark Blair transported the remainder of the East Bay equipment back to his orienteering bat cave, while Peter Graube and Jeff Lanam graciously transported equipment that needed to go to the South Bay.
The club thanks Debra, the owner of Indian Springs Ranch, for her generosity in allowing us to park on her land again this year.
The club thanks and appreciates the support and cooperation of the East Bay Regional Park District and their supervising ranger for this unit of parks, Rex Caufield.
Rex took over this position from Roger Epperson, who passed away last December in a kayaking accident in Hawaii. Those in the club who have been involved in the events at Morgan Territory over the years were deeply saddened at the tragic passing of this dedicated ranger. A recent article in the Contra Costa Times reported the following:
A ridgeline at Morgan Territory Regional Preserve has been named "Roger's Ridge" in honor of Roger Epperson, a longtime East Bay Regional Park District employee who died last December in a drowning accident while on vacation in Hawaii.
The park district's Board of Directors approved the naming at its Nov. 3 meeting.
Roger worked at the park district for more than 25 years, most of the time at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch. Since 1986, he had been park supervisor for Black Diamond Mines, Morgan Territory and Round Valley regional preserves.
Highly respected among the district staff, Roger was known for his dedication to his job and his determined advocacy on behalf of environmental causes. In 2002, Save Mt. Diablo presented him with the Mountain Star Award for his work to preserve and protect the mountain for wildlife habitat and public enjoyment.
"All of us who knew Roger, at whatever level, continue to miss him," board member Beverly Lane said at the meeting. "I think it's a wonderful thing that the decision was to name this (ridge after Epperson)."
"Everything he did in the parks, he went beyond what was asked of him," said Bob Doyle, the park district assistant general manager for land acquisition and advanced planning. Bob and Roger were best friends.
Among many of his projects, Roger spearheaded the establishment of backpacking camps at Morgan Territory and Round Valley.
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