There is an unconfirmed rumor that the New England O' Club will host a one-day A-meet and the US Relay Champs on April 15-16. I heard the rumor from Mikell Platt (who is apparently on the USOF sanctioning committee). I checked the NEOC and USOF web pages, but couldn't find any confirmation.

-- Spike (meglin@juno.com), December 07, 1999

Answers

I very strongly suspect that this rumor is true, but Mikell (or, Lemon Moraine for the Forum Faithful) was saying that the so-called sanctioning committee only hands out approval for A-meet status and that some other group of people in USOF have to approve of the chumpionship status - but we have no serious rumors that anyone else has bid for this event. It is quite late to bid on a Spring meet, so it doesn't seem all that likely that there are other bidders.

I suspect that NEOC will want to keep a low profile until they get the official go-ahead.

I'm happy that NEOC will probably get this. I am now prepared to start my training again and hope that the winter season will be a good one to train in. It is really too bad that DVOA got the classic chumps. I don't like them so well and they got 2 US chumps last summer. Oh well...

Spike, have you tried milking any of your NEOC sources like Peter for what they might know? Where is it that Mikell was talking about for the site? He had been on other maps nearby but do we know anything about that terrain?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 07, 1999.

I would like to discuss the miraculous healing powers of the Possum Trot. I wore my air cast on the ankle that had been bothing me for the last 2 months and it hurt less than it did after my 2 three mile runs the week before on the roads. I ran with an ankle support and the air cast yesterday and could barely feel any pain and today it almost feels back to normal. I believe this confirms the healing power of The Possum Trot.

-- Dan (daniel.meenehan@umb.com), December 08, 1999.

I don't know what the healing powers of the Possum Trot have to do with the recent NEOC rumor, but people have known about the healing power of the Possum Trot for years.

The first year the Possum Trot was held there was a father there whose 4-year-old son's dying wish was to complete a Trot. I think the kid had something like CF. His father just couldn't let him down so he carried him on his back in one of those "happy baby carriers" all the way around the course. It took the dad a while to do that even though the kid was little more than a skeleton. Anyway, somehow, the father managed to get all the way around the course before collapsing with a heart attack right after he crossed the finish line. Amazingly the kid popped up out of his carrier and in a high, squeaky, cheerful "Tiny Tim" voice pronounced himself completely healed! As far as I know he has been living a happy and healthy life ever since. Sadly, his father never regained conciousness and was pronounced dead 2 hours later, but not before he learned of the son's miracle recovery.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 08, 1999.

If that would be a "Troll Cup A Event," it is scheduled for April 15 - 16 in Massachusetts at the High Ridge Wildlife Mgt Area (new 99), 50 mi WNW of Boston.

I followed a link to their site from the Quantico Orienteering Club (Virginia) site (http://qoc.nova.org)

Ro

-- Robin Graham (Robgra@aol.com), December 10, 1999.

Here is the latest. I wrote to JJ Cote (who is the vetter for the NEOC meet). He wrote:

At this point it's almost a certainty that Sunday of the event will be a relay. We do have a bid in for the Relay Champs, and the hope is that the BOD could take an email action to approve or deny it. Basically, we were in an odd situation with less map that we really wanted, and a lack of willingness (on the part of the NEOC administration) to move it to another area and hold off until a year later on this area, when the map was complete. But then I realized that there was no Relay Champs scheduled, and it occurred to me that what we will have mapped would work better if we had a relay one day. So I suggested to course setter Steve Dentino (I'm the vetter) that we consider this, and he was up for it, so we're seeing if it can go through. I think the only hitch is that we have a schedule collision with the NA Rogaine Champs in Missouri, and USOF might not like to have a championship conflict with that (though there's no problem with a regular A-meet conflicting, I guess).

-- Spike (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), December 15, 1999.