By Rex Winterbottom
A fine day. The weather turned nobody away! And the campus provided fertile grounds for fun navigation exercises. Turnout was terrific, and we received far-flung visitors from Finland and Bulgaria. Many newcomers enjoyed their first time out. Newcomers and oldcomers alike got the party started for BAOC's inaugural Sprint Series.
I am indebted to the helpers for their solid support. They stepped up when needed and where necessary, filled a few holes that came up, and kept the help coming. Terry Farrah, in particular, wins the help "triple crown" for wearing three hats. And reminding countless finishers to check the results on the website. Joan Roos takes the "overcoming adversity" award for her work at the coolish finish spot early on. Without such a crew, the event does not work, and I'm thankful for the buoyant spirit and perseverance of each of them.
Oh, and the courses. Our third successful ePunch event at Berkeley in a row — no controls knicked, dented, scratched, moved, or abducted. Well, that was just the Sprint — the White and Yellow courses used permanent features of the campus. The Yellow course was particularly exciting in the "Q&A" department... #4: Shed, E side. Brand of lock: Is it (a) Ace? (b) Master? (c) AccuLock? Well, if you went to the W side of the shed, there was an Ace lock. Of course, setting the course, I only paid attention to the E side of the shed, where it was a "Master" lock. About 15% of the people were affected, and after Chuck Spalding verified our "double lock" theory, I decided to accept all as valid.
Yellow did well for the off-roading, jumping in and out of the wild parts of campus. The Sprint upped the trickiness factor with more traps, changes of direction, changes of pace, and tougher route choice dilemmas. It was designed to demand your attention. Venerable navigator Vladimir Gusiatnikov commented that several of the traps "hurt so good." Course champion and U.S. team member Eric Bone remarked that he had to keep his afterburners powered down and constantly read the map. Validation that you needn't be hundreds of miles away in some unknown forest to have a quality orienteering challenge. Sprints are for real. If you don't know, ask somebody who's been to an I.O.F. Park World Tour event. Or, participate in one of our scheduled or yet-to-be scheduled events in BAOC's Spring Sprint Series, and live the thrill.
For the women on the Sprint, Terry Farrah edged Trinka Gillis by a few seconds. The White course provided a classic tour of campus monuments and stuck close to the main paved pathways. Mark Davidson blazed through it. Barbara Robben topped the women. On the Yellow course, top honors go to Fedor Karpelevitch and Rosemary Johnson. Congratulations to Chuck Spalding and the team of Hanoch Raviv and Roni Kornitz for taking up the challenge of running all three courses. They ate it all up. Like snacks.
Registration: James Wilson, Terry Farrah
Starts: Nancy Lindeman, Rosemary Johnson, Terry Gleason, Eric Bone
Finishes: Joan Roos, Terry Farrah, Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Beginners' Clinics: Terry Farrah
Control Pickup: Bjorn Widerstrom, Nancy Lindeman, Dean French, Mutsumi Sugizaki, Vladimir Gusiatnikov
ePunch: Trinka Gillis, Bjorn Widerstrom, Jeff Lanam
"Takedown": Mutsumi Sugizaki, Trinka Gillis, Bjorn Widerstrom
OCAD, Condes, entering paper courses into the computer, clue sheet making, map printing: Bob Cooley
Investigating the ACE and Master locks at Yellow #4: Chuck Spalding
RouteGadget