By Steve Gregg
I experimented with a new format at Point Pinole this year. The THOMASS event was invented by the Canadians several years ago. It is a mass-start event on a normal orienteering course, to which is added a score-O "box" somewhere in the middle of the course. Within this box, runners are required to find a prescribed number of controls, based on their age and sex. In theory, this puts the top senior and top women runners on equal footing with the young hotshots, giving all the club's top runners a chance to cross the finish line first.
As is the norm in this sort of race format, the runners at the bottom end of each age category enjoyed an advantage. Dennis Wildfogel is a new M65 this year, and went into the race as one of the favorites, along with the ageless Penny DeMoss. François Léonard discovered the day of the event that competitor's ages would be computed in "orienteering years" (meaning that if your birthday is anytime in 2012, you are considered to be that age for all of 2012), which made him a new M40 and suddenly one of the race favorites as well.
After the start of the race, I ventured out to the start of the box section to watch the action. It was interesting to watch a steady stream of orienteers proceed in pretty much a single straight line to the box, then split off in all sorts of different directions to tackle their score-O controls. Several minutes later, I was hardly surprised to see Dennis and Penny complete the box section together, two minutes ahead of Bob Cooley, who unfortunately as a new M70 did not get any extra advantage over Dennis.
Back at the finish line, we learned that a small mistake by Dennis at control 11 perhaps cost him the win, as Penny crossed the finish line in first place, with Dennis 9 seconds back. Meanwhile, François stormed through the last half of the course only to lose to Dennis by another 9 seconds, and bemoan his small mistakes on a couple of earlier controls that perhaps cost him the win as well. Tapio Karras and Joseph Doetsch ran well to finish 4th and 5th, and were the top runners in the M50 and M21 age groupings, respectively.
Everyone I talked to seemed to enjoy this new race format, and I certainly will think about doing it again next year. Sometimes the Canadian THOMASS races have two different box sections, and maybe I'll give that format a try.
My list of people to thank starts with Joan Roos, who gladly agreed to do the one job that I hate, which is to call people up and ask them to volunteer at the event. Joan did a great job, and got a large number of people to work at the meet for an hour or two. The list of helpers the day of the event includes Tim Erickson, Jennifer Kerr, Jeff Dickert, Jonathan Owens, Charles Brenner, Michael Meagher and friends, Paul & Kathy Li, Gary Kraght, Mark Blair, Judy Koehler, James Wilson, Greg Ehrensing, Peter Graham, Theo Verhoeven, Matthias Kohler, Jeff Lanam, Harold and Penny DeMoss, and Ruth Kadel. Mikkel Conradi vetted the courses before the event, and Bob Cooley did his usual excellent job printing the maps. My apologies to anyone else who stepped in to help and whom I have forgotten about.
Lost and Found
Only two items were left behind at Point Pinole:
A pink Nalgene water bottle. If it belongs to you, please let Steve Gregg know, and I'll figure out a way to get it to you.
A "Joe's Special" thumb compass. Let Jeff Lanam (Bulletin Editor) know if you think it's yours.