The weather -- rain..rain...rain. The streams were deeper than usual and the water was rushing fast. Flat areas were puddles. The entire park was muddy. Every step was a bit tough because you'd slip a bit or sink in the mud. Fortunately, the temperature was not bad (I'd guess is was 45 at the start and 50 at the finish).

The turnout was good. Norm King brought a bus load of kids from Clinton. There was a good group of adventure racers (the local adventure races have set up a year long competition where you get points for various O' race, MTB races, triathalons, etc.) There were far too few OKers.

Mike Shifman put points out all around the park. You had three hours to find as many as you could (there was also a 90 minute version). Mary and I both did the three hour event.

OKers won the mens' and womens' categories. I guess OK made up in quality what we lacked in quantity! I found them all in a bit under 2 hours. Mary was out for about 2:45 and had a decent score -- best among the women (just 10 points ahead of Victoria Campbell).

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), February 24, 2001

Answers

Eric Saggars posted a report on the KC Adventure Racers "egroup"

It was great to see all the adventure racers at the Possum Trot Score- O, what a turnout! Thanks to Mike Shifman (KCAR member) who set up the course.

I really liked the format of the event. There were 29 controls and you could visit them in any order you chose. There were two categories: 1.5 hour and 3 hour. There was a penalty for every minute late. Three people reached all 29 controls. Mike Eglinski (KCAR member) won the event with all controls and the best time, just under 2 hours!

FYI: I have calculated (with the help of some software) the shortest possible route. However, this may not have been the fastest route! It's length would have been 12.1 km. The counter-clockwise version is:

S-11-18-25-17-27-16-39-26-38-37-35-52-43-34-36-24-23-42-33-32-41-51- 22-31-21-12-13-14-15-F

Eric

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), February 25, 2001.

The results are now posted on the PTOC website. In checking the control cards today, I found some additional punches that were not detected yesterday for Kevin Paladino, Matt & Gin Fuhrer, Mark Roodhouse, Aaron Acker, and Jeff Brault.

Also, I brought home from the meet site a bright yellow backpack with camelback. Call 913-888-1528 or email rneuburger@worldnet.att.net if this is yours.

Dick

-- Dick Neuburger (rneuburger@worldnet.att.net), February 25, 2001.