Peggy's run for OK's 4-point relay team

greenspun.com : LUSENET : orienteer kansas : One Thread

I'll try to make the Yellow course interesting...

The only information we had on how the orange runners were doing was the radio control announcement. Pam James was announced as first through (she said she was in a group and probably wasn't actually first), and Dan was announced as 4th, second American. That got me pretty excited. But when the runners started coming in, neither Pam nor Dan were in front. First came Chris Gross, DVOA, whom I'd seen wandering around lost in the woods the day before. He was followed by Dave Dunham, UNO, and then John Roemer, SVO. All three from top teams, all three with good runners on Yellow. I didn't figure I'd make up time on these teams. A seeming hoard of runners came in before Dan, but it was really just 11 people. Dan was alone, looking like he was in pain and struggling in. Like Spike, I figured it was his ankle bothering him.

I had no one in sight and had to focus on running hard. I had expected the yellow course to have standard yellow-level controls but with advanced o'approaches for those who chose to go straight, but that wasn't the case. The first several controls were in/near fields and the running was FAST. My fitness level isn't what I'd like it to be, but I ran as fast as I could, hoping it wouldn't catch up with me. Caught Mairead Young, HVO, after the third control, crossing the field up to the road. On the trail down to the 4th control, I passed several Orange runners going towards the finish, including Mean Gene. The 4th control was the first in the woods, but visible from the field. I caught a woman at that control but I'm not sure who.

The 5th control was down a spur at the edge of the field; as I headed down the field I saw ahead of me MC Bruno on the Canadian team and Viktoria Brautigam on an 8-point WCOC team. There were a couple guys, too, whom I didn't recognize. The 6th control (our water stop, which I didn't take advantage of) was back up the hill and this is where I first walked, though not for long. I had a line of o'ers ahead of me, with Viktoria and a guy heading through the rough open and MC taking the better route through the gap in the woods. I wanted to take that route but for some reason I was drawn into the rough open. Immediately realized that really was not right and got back into the field just before the control. When I left the control, I was ahead of all three of the orienteers I had followed.

The next control was across a field (surprise!), through a bit of woods, and to the powerline cut. Took that -- not great running, with lots of downed tree limbs -- to the lowest point and into the woods. The control was at the end of a stone wall, and the approach was through some pretty stony ground. Had to take it a bit slow here, but easy control. Control 8 was up the hill in the woods, and I was pretty tired by my 18 or so minutes of running so I had to walk up most of it. The control was on the end of another stone wall, but I missed it a bit and came almost to the finish field. Knew I was very close but lost about a half a minute or more before I finally spied the control a bit further away from the field. As I approached it, I saw Viktoria and the guy I had passed two controls before punching in. I couldn't catch them, as the rest of the course was pure field running.

Felt as tired as I ever remember feeling on the run-in. Just put my head down and ran as fast as I could. The cheers helped. Tagged Spike and went to recover.

I was pleased to see that I moved us up 2 spots. We were headed in the right direction, with solid Spike and Mook yet to come.

This terrain was very good for a yellow course, and I think the course was definitely appropriate for that. The bits of woods I saw seemed pretty unpleasant, but then I didn't see much.

Good event, good fun.

-- Peggy (Pdickison@aol.com), April 20, 2000

Answers

Pam James was announced as first through (she said she was in a group and probably wasn't actually first), and Dan was announced as 4th, second American

Dan also said the group he was in was not first. He told me he thought he passed the radio at about the same position as he finished. Do you suppose a group actually got to the radio before the organizers? Or did the announcers just make a mistake?

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), April 21, 2000.


Bob Walsh was in position at the radio control before the mass start. I think was happened is that the Bermans were caught off guard. When Bob started calling in numbers, they were coming quicker than expected, and SM&L didn't have the team list ready. So they repeated the first few numbers through the PA, and then got the list out, but more numbers were coming in, so they started translating numbers to names, and it sounded like they were finally coming up with the names of the first few people, but in fact their numbers had already been forgotten.

I think.

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), April 21, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ