The Stanford Orienteering Club once again sponsored the nearly annual orienteering event and winter social. Obtaining the permit and room for this event is always an arduous task, but one that they managed to pull off yet again! Special thanks to Russell Neilson and the 6-member Stanford Orienteering Club. Without them we wouldn't be able to orienteer on their beautiful campus!
Manfred Kopisch put a lot of effort into designing unusual and challenging courses for the event this year, and it paid off. The weather was even on our side—it was cold but not rainy, and if you stood in the sun you could warm up a bit.
The White course had several juniors competing, including first-place winner Julia Doubson. Second place was Lily Kuo, followed by the team of Michele, Dan, Mathew, and Ben Conway.
The Yellow course was designed to show competitors interesting highlights of the campus. It took runners to the Rodin Sculpture Garden, the New Guinea Garden with its carved animals, the Stanford mausoleum, the Stoney River, and the first forty competitors had an optional control at the top of Hoover Tower. It was a beautiful day and most people spent more time admiring the view from the top of the tower than the five minutes that were deducted from their overall time if they visited that control.
The Yellow course was won by George Minarik, with a time of 28:43. He was followed in second place by Risto Miikkulainen and Riitta Katila in 38:01, with Leslie Minarik six seconds behind at 38:07.
For the long course, runners could choose between running a regular course or a Memory-O. Few were courageous enough to try the Memory-O. However, those who did felt a great sense of accomplishment when they completed it, and commented that they would like to see that format again. Several also mentioned that it made the Night-O much easier because they were already in the habit of remembering their route instead of consulting the map frequently.
Of those who dared to do the Memory-O, Brad Wetmore won with a time of 47:57. Close second and third were Scott Porter at 48:10 and Syd Reader at 49:22. Amit Katz was first place of those who ran with a map, with a time of 51:02. Steve Haas was a close second at 51:24, followed by the team of Elaine, Jon, Steve, and Andrew at 55:25.
The Night-O had a special format—a playing-card Score-O. At each control there was the equivalent of half a deck of playing cards, in random order. The points you earned for that control depended on the value of the card you chose to take. Numbered cards were worth their face value, Jacks were worth 11, Queens 12, Kings 13, and Aces 14 points. Each control had two of each card. Slower people liked the format because it gave them better chances for a higher ranking. Faster people liked it because they were forced to strategize about the order in which to visit controls in order to pick the highest cards. The mass-start event had a 60-minute time limit, with a 5-point penalty for each minute or portion of a minute that you returned late.
Although nobody visited all 25 controls, Tapio Karras earned 262 points by visiting 22 controls. Russell Neilson was in second place with 237 points from 21 controls. Eric Rosenzweig came in third with 212 points, even though he visited fewer controls than the 4th and 5th place finishers. Eighth place Philipp Kopisch had the greatest average points per control—with an average of 12.3 points earned per control visited. Notably, both the first and second place finishers maximized their time, losing five points for returning late.
During the afternoon, we had several well-attended seminars. Ben Legg spoke about Advanced Compass Techniques. Dan Greene spoke on Intermediate and Advanced Orienteering Skills, and Steve Gregg recruited event directors. Cameron Ferguson and other juniors showed us the surprisingly realistic orienteering situations in the computer game Catching Features, which persuaded many people to buy the game. How could a larger-than-life-size orienteer on a screen fail to get our attention? Thanks to all of you who donated your time to prepare and teach a seminar!
During the potluck, Tony Pinkham was announced as the winner of the 2007 BAOC Service Award. Congratulations Tony!
Thank you to everyone who helped at the Stanford event!
Russell Neilson and Stanford Orienteering Club – Arranging the room and obtaining the permit
Manfred Kopisch – Course Setting
Ev and Jean Beuerman – Registration
Chuck Spalding – Beginner's clinics
Manfred Kopisch and Bjorn Widerstrom – Starts
Jim Fish and Marsha Jacobs – Finishes
Ben Legg, Dan Greene, Steve Gregg, Cameron Ferguson – Seminars
Steve Haas, Tony Pinkham, Bjorn Widerstrom, Jim Fish, Toby Ferguson, Cameron Ferguson – Control pickup
Bob Cooley – Map alterations and printing
Bjorn Widerstrom – Vetting courses
Thanks to all of you and to anyone else whom I neglected to mention!
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