One of the highlights of each year's Possum Trot is reading the post-race reports. If you ran (or spectated), post a report here.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 09, 2002

Answers

1. (4:50) When I turned over the map, I saw that I wanted to go straight north. So, I headed that way. I went up the hill to the campground, then planned to look for the pond north of the powerline. I was in the lead for a short bit, but Mikell, Mook and Brian all beat me to the control.

2. (3:35) The idea was to use the trail that points you right to the control. That's what I did. At this point, the three leaders were easily in sight. They were quite close together, too.

3. (no split) A nice easy leg. The leg seems to be designed to get you to a good place to cross the stream. As I ran through the scout camping area, I took a look at the entire map to consider which controls to skip. I decided I'd skip 15 and 18. As I came in to the third control, I saw a runner I didn't recognize and figured it was probably someone who'd skipped the first and/or second control.

4. (9:23 from 2 to 4). I think the leaders left control three and stayed on teh east side of the stream. I crossed the stream just after leaving three and ran along the gravel bars along the stream. After about 300 meters along the stream, I found a good place to get up the bank and ran along deer trails through the thickish vegetation. When I reached the powerline cut, Mikell went zipping along (coming from the east), I got behind him on the cut and followed powerlines to the paved road. The control itself would be very easy because it was right next to the lake -- unless you made a huge error (like Eric S.) you wouldn't expect to have any real trouble with this leg. As I came to 4, Mook, Brian and Mikell were still easily in sight.

5. (4:40) I saw two routes -- up the creek or up the trail. I decided to stick with the trail. As a general rule, if I see a trail option I usually take it. Brain took the trail, too. Mook and Mikell went up the creek. Dave Frei was with me here and took the creek route, I think (as did Eric Buckley). One advantage of the trail route was that I had a good view of the control area as I approach. I could see the leaders heading to and from the control. I punched at 5 just after Mook and noticed that he was skipping 6. I think I said something like, "go for it, Mook." Dave Frei went with Mook.

6. (3:39) On the way to 6 I lost sight of the leaders. But, as I got near the pond, I saw Jan Ingebritzen (sp?) ahead of me. He seemed to be moving pretty well, but I wasn't sure if he'd skipped an early control.

7. (5:09) Eric B. was just behind me and we chased down Jan. At first glance, this control looked tricky. It was, in fact a bit tricky. Coming over the flattish area on the hill top makes it easy to drift and go down the wrong reentrant system (I think Mook missed this control for that reason). As I left the trail, I got out my mangifier and read the map carefully to the control. This was the first control all day that I spiked.

8. (4:02) I don't know where Jan went, but I don't remember seeing him again until the finish. Eric was with me. We went around the hill top, following a bit of an old trail.

9. (7:54) My initial plan was to follow the streams south to the road. When I came to the powerline cut, I changed my idea. The powerline is mapped as slow, but was actually very nice (it had been mowed). I stuck to the powerline until I saw a good place to get out to the road, then ran the road to the control. As I was running along the road, I saw the leaders and Dave Frei ahead of me.

10. (5:11) Running along the road to 10, Eric and I discussed the fact that Dave had already skipped a control and was not far ahead of us. We agreed that his lead was not worth a control skip. I left the road right where it crosses a stream (on the south side of the road) and read contours to the control. I was a bit suprised at how the spur the control was on looked, but I knew I was at the right spot. On this leg, I tried to pick up the pace a bit in the woods with the hope of getting away from Eric.

11. (4:58) Coming in to 11, I saw Dave just ahead of us. I got a bit hung up in some junky vegetation just before the control.

12. (5:39) Dave got caught in some junky vegetation in the stream valley south of 11. I was ahead of Eric and Dave going up the hill to 12. I decided I'd walk a bit as I got nearer the control. One reason was I didn't see any point of going fast in to a small depression -- it'd be easy to miss it. Another reason was my attempt to pick up the pace and drop Eric had failer and I thought slowing down might get him to think I was so tired it wasn't worth staying with me.

As I approached 12, I spotted the vetting tape hung above a depression. I went to it. There was no control. But, earlier runners had been there (a bit of paper was hung next to the tape). I was ready to leave when Dave spotted the control in another small depression maybe 10-20 meters away.

13. (9:39) Dave and Eric decided to skip 13 while I decided to stick with my plan of skipping 15 and 18. So, I was alone. I think skipping 13 and 18 was the best. But, skipping 15 and 18 was a decent decision. I was on my own to 13 and running alone made it a bit harder to push the pace. I'm sure I eased off a bit. My legs felt tired on the way to 13.

14. (no split) The map seemed a bit sketchy in the flattish area near 14. As I ran along the trail, I was looking off to my right and caught sight of the marker. I headed in and spotted Mikell standing there drinking water and looking at the map. He said he thought the marker was in the wrong marsh.

16. (13:18 for 13-14-16) I stuck with my plan to skip 15. 14 to 16 gave me a very flat route. With the dry year we've had, I figured crossing the stream wouldn't be much trouble. It wasn't (though I got my feet wet). My legs felt tired along this leg. As I approached 16 I saw an orienteer ahead of me and thought it was Dave. It was Mook! Mook headed off toward 17 at a pace I couldn't match.

17. (4:03) I tried to move at a reasonable pace leavingt 16 so that anyone behind me (especially Dave and Eric) wouldn't see me. Mook was long gone. The leg itself didn't look tricky, except when I came to the stream junctions 100-150 meters west of the control I was a bit suprised at how the terrain looked. It wasn't quite what I'd expected. So, I slowed quite a bit on the way up the reentrant toward 17. I was a bit concerned that I might have gone up a parallel stream (to the north). Things fit together quickly and I realized I was in the right place. Easing off the pace a bit must have helped my tired legs (sucking down some energy gel helped, too). My legs felt a bit better by the time I reached 17.

19. (3:48) I skipped 18. I ran the trail/road to 19. It was nice and fast. After the race, Eric B. commented on how rough the trail was (it is a horse trail), but I didn't have any trouble. Maybe Eric was more tired than I was? When I reached 19, Mark Roodhouse told me I was about 5 behind Brain and 45 seconds behind Mook. I told him I didn't expect to catch those guys, but I'd give it a try.

20. (4:03) Initially, I thought I'd run the road to the top of the hill and then back toward the control. But, I saw the indistinct trail and realized that was a better way to take the control. It also got me out of sight of any runners who might be behind me. I kept moving up the hill to 20. I wasn't going fast, but I wanted to avoid walking so that any runners behind me wouldn't think I had hit the wall. If you're chasing someone and they look strong it is easy to give up.

21. (4:49) I went straight and kept looking for Mook. The visibility was good and I figured if I was going to catch him, this would be a place to spot him. I saw Mook! Except as I got closer I realized it was Bob Lane (doing the green course, I think) who was wearing the same O' top as Mook. My legs were tired. But, that was ok because from 21 to the finish was almost entirely down hill.

22. (1:43) Leaving 21 I glanced to my left and didn't see anyone behind me. I didn't see Mook ahead of me either. The forest was very open around here and I was a bit disappointed that Mook wasn't in sight.

23 (1:26).

Finish (0:37) The run-in was up a gentle hill.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 09, 2002.

Brian May posted a report from the weekend on the US O' Team's egroup. Here it is:

Back from the Possum Trot, held near Kansas City on the weekend ... thought I'd send a report.

Saturday was the MOKAN (Missouri and Kansas) Short course champs. Terrain was a mix of fairly thick hillsides down to a lake and very flat, open fields above - definitely easy orienteering technically. Mass start with a 2-out-of-4 score-o at the beginning. Mike Platt, Mark Everett and I picked the same two controls to start and it quickly became a 3-way foot race. I opened up a bit of a gap on the transition from 3 to 4 (short leg) and managed to hold the lead to the end for a 25-second win (ahead of Everett), with Platt roughly 1 minute back. It was definitely a satisfying race, hard running, technically very smooth, fast (~24 minutes for 4.5k).

Sunday's event was a pretty different deal - nice open woods, spur and gully terrain, reasonable technical detail. 16 km Goat-style event, mass start with option to skip 2 controls. Mike Eglinski obviously had the quickest reflexes and lead the charge toward the first control. Mark Everett and Mike Platt lead the charge on toward number 2 and I took over to number 3. Everett and I bobbled a stream crossing, then had to work hard to catch back up to Platt/Eglinski who were up front. At 5, Everett made a decisive move, using up his first skip and headed straight to 7. En route to 6, Platt and I gapped the pursuers behind and were running well. At 7, we caught David Frei, who had also skipped 6 but obviously had some trouble with the execution. At 9 (road crossing/checkpoint), we caught sight of Everett so he had clearly missed some time along the way. At the checkpoint, Everett lead (1 skip), Platt and I about a minute back (no skips), Frei just behind (1 skip), Eglinski and Eric Buckley about 2 minutes behind us (no skips).

By 10, Platt and I had caught Mark and we three continued on, exchanging the lead here and there. Some trouble at 12 (the vetting tape was in one pit, the control in another and only one on the map!). Leaving the control, Platt veered left to take the direct route to 13, Mark and I opted for the trail to the right and that was the last we saw of him. Buckley (having skipped 13) appeared at 14 so there were three of us together briefly. I had the ace up my sleeve though and turned left to 16 as they headed on to 15. At 16, I was clear out in the lead and (skipping 18 as well) held on to the end. Mark appeared a few minutes later, Eglinski finished well (skipping 15/18) for third, Eric Buckley in 4th. Being noble, Platt had decided to do all 23 controls (no skips), so finished up in 5th. Sharon Crawford finished among the mid-pack men to win the ladies category. Overall, nice fast running (95 minutes for ~15k), good competition and a fun weekend.

Cheers, Brian May

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 09, 2002.

Great report, Michael,

I hope you and everyone else who posts a report (and I hope there are many) don't mind if I copy your postings to ONA and use parts for my meet report.

I hope everyone enjoyed the event.

Dick Meet Director

-- Dick Neuburger (rneuburger@att.net), December 09, 2002.

Dick, a great meet. Mike Shifman did a good job setting the course. My sore quads tell me I wasn't in shape (again) for the Trot. It was a good weekend of O. Thanks for all you've done.

Mike, how hard is it to get the course on Runoway? Peter Garagin started a good "live" coverage - but too many of use died on the course so he quick reporting...

-- mean gene (gmw@ku.edu), December 09, 2002.

The Possum Trot is always one of the highlights of my season. And I do mean always - just as I have been to every Trot, the Trot has been around as long as I’ve been orienteering. PT I was one of my first events. The Trot always gets a good field, but this year’s was the best ever. In past years, I’ve generally let the lead pack of elites go and focused on my running my own race. While this has produced decent results, I felt my form had improved enough this year that I should try hanging with the big dogs, at least for a while.

Start - 5:

While I’m not above following, I do like to maintain contact with the map. So I spend a few seconds at the start finding the start triangle and determining that I need to head north. I’m on the south side of the group, so by the time I start running, there’s a group of about 15 ahead of me. I push pretty hard up the first hill and catch up to Mike Eglinski. As we run along the campground road, I unfold the map to check for skips. Skipping 18 immediately jumps out at me, but I don’t see anything else obvious. The legs in the middle of the course seem the longest, so I figure I’ll probably skip something in there.

I’m sixth into 1 and hold that position through 2 and 3. Everyone is still in sight and there’s a fair bit of trail running, so I’m not too worried about booming. I just fall into line and try to stay in contact with the map.

The three leaders (Brian May, Mikell Platt, and Mark Everett) stay north of the stream leaving 3, but Mike, Dave Frei, and I cross immediately. This turns out to be faster, so we all bunch up again approaching 4. To 5, Mike takes the trail to the north, but Dave and I follow the stream. Mark is just ahead of us and Dave follows him out of 5 towards 7. I don’t want to skip this early, so I head north with Mike (who neither gains or loses with his route).

Control Split 1 4:55 2 3:36 3 2:38 4 6:50 5 4:42

6 - 12:

Mikell and Brian are out of site, so Mike now takes the lead in navigation. We go straight at 6, which is easy, and take the trail around to 7. From the top of the ridge I spot the reentrant, but forget to check the clue (ruined tree) so I panic a bit when I don’t see the bag. Mike zips down the hill to the rather large fallen tree and finds the control on the far side. I hustle after him and manage to catch up by the time we get to the top of the ridge heading to 8.

Attacking from the top of the ridge, 8 is fairly easy. Mike follows the stream out of 8, but I hate pushing though all the crap in the stream bed, so I contour along the western bank. We get to the power line and find it nicely mowed (it's mapped as thick undergrowth). I had considered skipping 8 but now I’m very glad I didn’t as this makes the route from 8 to 9 quite fast. Once on the road approaching 9 we can see some of the leaders ahead. It looks like Dave and Mark didn’t benefit much from skipping 6. Brian and Mikell are ahead, too, but they haven’t skipped yet.

At 9 we are greeted by encouragement and cups of Gatorade. I’ve got water with me, but I’m happy to down an extra cup. The early pace has me sweating hard despite the cold temperature. Leaving the control we get back on the road and can still see Dave ahead. Mike, aware of the Buckley-Frei Death Match, comments “Looks like we’ve got Dave.”

We leave the road at the stream crossing and follow the spur down to 10. Mike stops short of the circle and comments that things don’t seem quite right. He certainly reads a lot more detail than I do, the fact that we’re at a stream junction is good enough for me. Turns out we are in the right spot and both the knoll and the control bag are just over the next spur.

We push hard on the trail to 11 and catch Dave just after the control. Mike starts to lead up the hill but then slows. He later tells me this was supposed to be some kind of psych job to get us to think he was toast. It certainly didn’t work; the possibility that he had completely misjudged his effort didn’t even occur to me. I figured he was just using the uphill to decide whether to skip 13. I take the lead and quickly find a small depression with a vetting tape. Unfortunately, there’s no bag. Mike comes up and says this has to be the right spot, but then we see Dave hop down into a larger depression just to the west. “There’s nothing down here!” he says with a grin as we run over to punch.

Dave actually has the audacity to ask Mike “Are we skipping 13?” to which Mike responds rather incredulously, “That’s up to you.” I’ve already decided that 13 has to go, so I head off east with Dave while Mike (no doubt happy to be rid of us) runs off towards 12. A part of me realizes that letting Mike go is a mistake. Nonetheless, I want to run my own race and even if I did manage to outsprint him after following him around the whole course, it’s not the sort of thing I’d take much pleasure in.

Control Split 6 3:35 7 5:09 8 3:59 9 7:39 10 5:26 11 4:43 12 5:52

14 - 17:

If there is any doubt that letting Mike go was a mistake, it’s clarified when Dave and I both boom the route to 14 (which should have been the easiest leg on the course). Running on the trail heading northeast, we completely miss the junction with the trail that runs to the control. When we get to the where the trail bends back west, we realize our mistake and grudgingly head down the hill. I find the trail at the base of the hill and lead to the marsh. Just as I turn into the marsh, I see Mark coming towards me, presumably leaving the control. As soon as he sees me, he stops and turns around. Apparently he overran it. We both head back to the control and meet Brian May there as well. It suddenly occurs to me that this is the head of the race! I’ve certainly never been with the leaders at this late stage. I assume Brian has not skipped yet, but it’s still pretty exciting.

In my excitement I pick up the trail heading north rather than the one heading east. Fortunately, I realize my mistake quickly, but it’s enough that Dave is back in front of me by about 50 meters. Mark certainly doesn’t want us tagging along with him so he blasts away at a pace we don’t even attempt to match. Brian has headed north to skip 15 so it’s quickly back to reality.

Just after leaving the trail to approach 15, Dave trips badly on a barbed wire fence. He’s pretty slow getting up so I stop to see if he’s OK. He says he’s fine and we push on again. We split leaving 15, Dave taking the red line while I go left to follow the base of the hills. My route looks OK on the map, but gets pinched off where the hillside comes down to the stream, so I have to go back up the hill again to get through. By the time I get to 16, Dave is about 20 seconds ahead.

I’m a bit concerned about making a parallel error on 17, since the correct stream looks a lot like the stream just to the north. I stay on top of the ridge until I’ve picked up both streams and then head down to the correct one. Dave is still a little in front of me as we head up the spur to the road. As I turn left on the road to skip 18, I consider tossing him a barb like “Tell me how 18 looks” but then remember that a similar taunt in PT IV resulted in such a surge of rage that he caught and dropped me and only a last minute twist of fate allowed me to beat him. I decide that he’s probably a little depressed about going to 18 and I’ll just let him stay that way.

Control Split 14 11:17 (estimated, I missed the split) 15 6:30 (estimated - total for 12-15 was 17:47) 16 8:36 17 3:46

19 - Finish:

For the first time in the race, I’m completely alone. While 19 is pretty much a no-brainer, as I leave the highway for 20, I suddenly feel quite unsure of myself. I’d hate to boom a control now and let Dave back into it. I follow the indistinct trail down to a rather substantial bridge over the stream. From there I head up the spur to the pit. It’s an easy leg, but I take it carefully.

Feeling a bit more confident, I pick up the pace again to 21. I cross the creek just south of the stream junction and use the trail bridge to get over to the northern ridge. After climbing the ridge, I check off the reentrant system on the left and then head straight across to the spur.

Only two to go, and they’re both pretty easy. I’m getting really tired so the chance of a complete brain meltdown is high. Running along the ridge to 22, I actually count out loud the reentrants as I approach them, “One! Two! Three! Control!” Then, it’s down the spur to the go control and one final uphill push across the field to the finish.

Control Split 19 4:23 20 4:23 (not a typo, just a coincidence) 21 5:14 22 1:39 23 1:31 Finish 0:33

Total 105:56 for 14.1K, 390m climb.

I don’t think there’s any question that this is the best orienteering race I’ve ever run. My curious string of good runs on even Trots and disasters on odd Trots continues. What I’m happiest about is that, while I benefited greatly from running with Mike, my pace didn’t go in the tank after we split.

This was certainly the best field and best course for a Trot to date. I also think the race organization has come up a notch. All in all, an excellent race. Now if I can just break this odd/even thing, I might look forward to next year.

-- Eric (ejbuckley@earthlink.net), December 10, 2002.

The best field and the best course ever? Perhaps. But back in the days when men were men (i.e. Possum Trot 1), the course was 16.1 km, just like this year, but you didn't get to skip any controls (unless you were Eglinski, and then you got to skip one). And there were 38 controls, not a piddling 23.

Has the Possum Trot, once proud to be called the final leg of the Grand Slam, gone

-- peter (pg@crocker.com), December 10, 2002.

Last sentence should be:

Has the Possum Trot, once proud to be called the final leg of the Grand Slam, gone soft?

(Why do the last few letters of messages sometimes get axed? Does that not happen if you're a member of OK?).....

-- peter (pg@crocker.com), December 10, 2002.

Possum Trot VI Notes

I went into the race with fairly high hopes, mainly based on my general fitness level and getting another year of orienteering experience. But, on Saturday, I realized the field was much stronger this year and I sure didn’t expect to repeat my fluke of a 6th place finish from last year. I secretly hoped to come in around 10th place or so. It was not to be…Consider this a tale for the middle of the pack folks.

Right before I flipped the map over, Keith put the idea of skipping 1 into my brain. I don’t know why I fell for it. In every Possum Trot, I’ve struggled with the skip choices and again this year I was very indecisive. You would think after completing 4 Trots that I would understand the importance of staying with the pack as long as possible. I now know that I have a problem making quick decisions on the clock. (The same thing happens to me in the Score-O events.) Anyway, I think I was the last person out of the start triangle as I debated the merits of skipping 1 vs. some of the others. Almost the entire field headed north, FAST!

I saw JP heading west for 2 and I followed him. For about 20 seconds I thought I was going to swing around and head to 1 after all. But I was having trouble locating which trail was which on the map. Why??? By the time I figured it out, I was halfway to 2, so I just said screw it and decided to skip 1. My best moments of the race were the easy run to 3. I crossed the creek immediately and looked back to see the leaders approaching 3 already. That was the last time I saw any of them.

I made a huge blunder on the way to 4 that I would rather not talk about, but I finally arrived there around the same time as Fritz, Sharon, Foresman, and Luffman. Unfortunately, I had already used my 1st skip, but I didn’t tell them that. I saw Gene on the way to 6, but it looked like he was looking in the wrong area. I caught Aaron by taking the trail around towards 7, we slowed way down to find it, it was tricky coming over the top of the ridge into the right area, I spotted a likely tree, but didn’t see the control. Aaron looked back and said “There it is.” We got out of there just ahead of Sharon. The trail option sucked me down, way to the south, and Aaron followed me. The trail was a terrible route choice. I think that I’m so used to running through our forests and taking trails that I didn’t appreciate how fast these woods were. Sharon went more direct and was coming out from 8 as I was heading up to it. Aaron must have lost track of where he was here.

We took the powerline down towards the road, but it got kind of nasty under there on the south side of the creek, so we followed the ditch. I beat Sharon to 9 only by getting up on the road when she stayed in the creek bottom too long. Somehow, Gene had beat me to 9, I figured he took a skip, but he hadn’t yet. I’d like to know how he got in from of me between 6 and 9! When I saw Mary at 9, I was pretty down and I didn’t want to know what place I was in or if she had seen Keith, my main rival ;-) She seemed understanding and reassured me that I wouldn’t make another blunder. Thanks, Mary!

Anyway, I spent much of the race leapfrogging with Sharon, by running faster and gaining some time on her, only to struggle inside the circle or by running the trails and finding that her direct route was faster. I lost a couple of minute’s right before 12 when I took a branch in the eye and had to stop. From that point I was dealing with a bad contact lens the rest of the race. Gene was on the trail ahead of me on the way to 14 and he was not walking! I tried in vain to catch him.

Sharon and I were together until 15 anyway, but she still had a skip to use on 18. I decided to go NW down towards the creek and run the flat, white forest to 16. It was not that easy. But, unlike Buckley, I went down into the creek to get past the hillside. Looking back at my times and Eglinski’s and May’s decision to skip 15 seems like a good one. It was surprising to me that I spent almost the same amount of time running from 14-15-16 and I did from 17-18-19! I was bonking pretty badly at this point in the race though. I felt very alone on the golf course running towards 18. I had lots of quiet time to consider the rash decision to skip 1.

Fritz was on the road heading towards 20 as I was heading into 19. Foresman caught me at the aid station with a mouth full of cookies trying to get over my bonk. He took off right before me and I didn’t expect to catch Fritz, but I saw that I was ahead of him at 21. After 22, I made a very costly parallel error going down the wrong spur to 23 and almost lost my lead on Fritz. I pushed it up the hill to the finish, my calves almost giving out. Man was I glad it was over; I barely had the strength to walk to my car. Another great Trot!

-- Eric Saggars (erics1999@msn.com), December 10, 2002.

I thought the weekend was almost perfect. Fine and fun courses, a really nice forest and map for the Trot, weather made to order for fast running, good competition, and an armadillo on the way to #13. Who even knew there were armadillos that far north of Texas?

And it will be wholly perfect once I get my gift certificate for 2 whoppers! : )

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), December 10, 2002.

Peter wrote:

>> Has the Possum Trot, once proud to be called the final leg of the Grand Slam, gone soft? <<

He might do well to recall that I was out in that blizzard at PT I for A FULL HOUR longer than he was. Of course the real he-man of the day was Rich Ruid who spent most of that hour standing at the unsheltered finish being pissed that I had taken the car keys with me.

Anyway, I didn't say this was the baddest, toughest, manliest Trot; merely that it was the best. All this emphasis on grit poses another question: Has Peter, once proud to be recognized as the icon of American Orienteering become an Adventure Racer?

-- Eric (ejbuckley@earthlink.net), December 10, 2002.

> Has Peter, once proud to be recognized as the icon of American Orienteering become an Adventure Racer?

Nope, never done an Adventure Race. Scared of heights for one thing, so anything involving cliffs or ropes is out. Used to do a bunch or ultras, but too old for that now. Orienteering is still the favorite, but if anything has gone soft over the last few years, it's me. The legs just aren't there (though not for a lack of trying). I'd have trouble finishing the Trot these days.

But PT 1 remains a fond memory. And, in all honesty, I don't doubt that this year was the best eve

-- peter (pg@crocker.com), December 11, 2002.

The toughest Trot ever? I'd say it was the first one. It wasn't that the terrain or course were any tougher, it was the weather. It was cold and there was a bone-chilling humidity in the air.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), December 12, 2002.

I'd agree, but a big part of that is because I had no idea what I was doing back then, so everything seemed tough.

-- Eric (ejbuckley@earthlink.net), December 12, 2002.