The Little Big Econ Event covered two days at Little Big Econ, with a possibility of the same two days at Geneva Wilderness. As it happened we had no need to overflow to GWA since we were nicely distributed at LBE over the two days and did not exceed our daily quota.
A pretty good turnout: 226 total is my preliminary count, so we assume not many of you were discouraged by the messy logistics. Most were able to take our suggestion to put all the JROTC and scout groups on Saturday, reserving Sunday for the civilians. That's pretty much the way it worked out. Roughly evenly split in terms of people.
With an average turnout next month at Rock Springs Run State Reserve, May 3 (Saturday ONLY!) we will have sent out our 25,000th starter. No big to-do, or awards or anything; just thought I'd let you know.
The weekend weather for LBE could not have been nicer. Big puffy scattered Florida clouds. 80 degrees. Something in the air - Spring, maybe - brought out some extra wildlife. I had seen the usual deer, owls, hawks and hogs vetting control sites in previous weeks, a pair of swallowtail kites flew over the start/finish area on Sunday, a good variety of snakes were reported (all harmless, please note! - well, all but one), and the deer were actually running across the big field on Saturday. I looked it up to be sure, and I can report also a Loggerhead Shrike along Snow Hill Road.
Speaking of Snow Hill Road - Once again, I'd failed to add a note to the web page clearly indicating the site staging area. Please accept our apologies. We joke about finding the start being half of orienteering, but that was close to being true.
I recall mentioning in the pre-event notices how the advanced course difficulty level would be stepped up at this event. No one cared. At least none of the JROTC cadets backed off. Of course very few of them finished.
And the winning times on Brown, Green and Red were about 50% longer than ideal USOF guidelines. But the smile quotient remained high and complaints were (practically ) non-existent. A few people pointed out the map scale was printed as 250m between the meridians, when in fact it was the usual 500m spacing on this 1:15000 map. There was also a vandalized control. The first control common to Brown/Green/Red was taken Saturday night apparently. Dave Ousley came back from his lead-off run immediately to report it Sun AM, so we gave him a replacement control with a new code, sent him right back out without a rest, but then forgot to tell everyone else the code had changed.
I was terrifically embarrassed to realize I was forgetting to tell people, but no one actually yelled at me so all's well in my cloudy little mind. I'm fairly certain I also let a few people out early on Brown and Green without writing in the location of the their final control. It was accidentally deleted from their pre-printed maps. I never heard a word about it, so I wonder what they did.
The pre-printed maps seem to be a terrific idea; quite successful. We'll do it as long as Jonathan Linforth's patience holds out. Except that at next month's event at RSRSR master maps will be used.
Feedback from the courses leads me to feel pretty good about the challenges presented, including the mud - and also including the odd dunking and more than one person telling me of that curious feeling of shivering panic that grows on you about halfway across a waist deep swamp. I smile. Some moms in the crowd seemed dismayed at the prospect of muddy yucky courses and I expected that, but I was surprised to sense some reluctance on the part of some teenagers to get slopped up. In any case, all the scowling happened before the event and then after they finish the courses there are only smiles above the soaked shoes & shirts.
It was good to see a full set of JROTC cadets on Saturday along with several Boy Scouts out for merit badges and First Class qualifying. The usual contingents from distant spots like the Jacksonville area (Gottschalks) and Inverness (Cheryl & Laura) were matched this weekend by a Boy Scout troop from St. Mary's Georgia on Saturday (returning again Sunday) and then on Sunday an Adventure Racing group from Jupiter put in a real good time on red and talked of mapping Jonathan Dickinson Park down there. We really have to congratulate all the long-distance O'ers. The regulars who do the long treks, and I've omitted lots of them here, are hugely appreciated for their dedication. Hats off to the first timers for venturing several hours' drive to try this out, not quite knowing what to expect. We can only hope we met those expectations and hope they share their experiences with us. And return often.
Lots of talk this weekend about future mapping in areas like Dickinson, and also at Whithlacoochee Forest. All we need are mappers, coordinators, maybe a few sponsors, people willing to run those distant events with a willingness to generate local interest. Just like starting orienteering anywhere. FLO has the ability to partly or fully fund the map and the hardware to run the events.
Your FLO Board of Directors have until the November 1 event at LBE to decide whether to continue the two-day format at that site. Why don't some of you let the Yahoo! Groups FLO forum know how you feel about that.
Thanks for this two-day event go especially to Bev & Dave Ousley for maximum time on site and for doing everything both days. To Janet Putnam for Saturday Registration. To Jonathan Linforth for printing maps and running them down to our house Friday. To Kevin Jimenez's Dad, whose name I forgot to record [Mick? -ed.], for helping Saturday registration. To Ron Eaglin for both set and retrieval of flags. To Mark Ritchhart for his all day Sunday help and to Russ Steinke for suddenly being there when most needed. And to Dave Brault for late-in-the-day duties, and he also helped Ron retrieve I think - since they had planned to do it after dark for AR training.
Hope you all had fun.
Bob
| Name | Time |
| Oviedo HS team 4 (2) | 31:57 |
| Sean & Bill Byrd (2) | 42:30 |
| Karen Bates (3) | 80:30 |
| Jim Field (3) | 89:30 |
| Name | Time |
| Anna & Ron Eaglin (2) | 47:40 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 3 (4) | 58:16 |
| Erik Gilbert (2) | 66:47 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 5 (5) | 67:49 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 4 (4) | 67:52 |
| Fred Milch (4) | 69:40 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 6 (5) | 72:45 |
| Lee Arvanitis (2) | 75:40 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 2 (4) | 88:20 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 1 (4) | 90:29 |
| BSA Troop 222 team 2 (5) | 93:27 |
| Roland Masyar (6) | 96:30 |
| BSA Troop 222 team 1 (4) | 98:20 |
| BSA Troop 429 (5) | 121:00 |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 7 (4) | 134:40 |
| Josh Duke (5) | DNF |
| James G. Fender (2) | DNF |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 10 (4) | DNF |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 9 (5) | DNF |
| Deland HS AFJROTC team 8 (5) | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Bryan Liles (3) | 74:14 |
| Walenty Prytulo (M) | 76:35 |
| Russ Steinke (M) | 88:38 |
| John McGrath (3) | 97:17 |
| Oviedo HS NJROTC team 2 (2) | 98:00 |
| Doug Zabin/Jeff Ponds (2) | 99:40 |
| Roland Sampanx (4) | 100:25 |
| Akers Family (3) | 101:38 |
| Scott Myers (M) | 115:14 |
| Oviedo HS NJROTC team 1 (3) | 123:55 |
| Troy Hamilton (2) | 125:58 |
| Hawkins/Lunt (2) | 134:26 |
| Mardy Parks (2) | 152:46 |
| Cheryl Flynn/Laura Metullo (2) | 153:32 |
| Thomas (5) | 166:30 |
| Jerry Hoover (3) | 183:54 |
| Jeff Hunker (M) | DQ |
| John Bailey (6) | DQ |
| Josh Hyatt/BSA-222 team2 (6) | DQ |
| Kimberly Durjan (F) | DNF |
| Jay Turner (M) | DNF |
| Alisha Vaughn, Bob & Elaine Bates (3) | DNF |
| Tony Aguirre (4) | DNF |
| David & Alisa Gatlin (2) | DNF |
| Paula & Michael Pradilla (2) | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Bryan Liles (3) | 121:22 |
| Doug Zabin (2) | 140:20 |
| Rob Douglas (6) | 145:02 |
| Bret Barker (M) | 178:13 |
| Elsie & David Matthews (2) | DQ |
| Jimenez | DQ |
| John, Laren, Alicia (3) | DNF |
| Gibbs HS team 2 | DNF |
| Gibbs HS team 5 | DNF |
| Gibbs HS team 1 | DNF |
| Oviedo HS team 3 (2) | DNF |
| Gibbs HS team 3 | DNF |
| Gibbs HS team 4 | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Derek Bohn (M) | 110:00 |
| Mike Dempsey (M) | 145:24 |
| Rodney Counts II (M) | 160:15 |
| Mark & Abby Rosenberg (2) | 172:51 |
| Russ Steinke (M) | DNF |
| Joe Maliszewski (M) | DNF |
| Mitch Jarvis (M) | DNF |
| Jim Fender (M) | DNF |
| Dawn Pugh & Adrienne Johnson (2) | NTR |
| Name | Time |
| Arild Orsleie (M) | 74:26 |
| Jane Dunlap/Adelle Davis (G-1) | 106:42 |
| Beverly Ousley (F) | 119:34 |
| Chris Johnson (M) | 127:38 |
| David Gottschalk (M) | 138:06 |
| Susan Hewlings (G-2) | 138:36 |
| Ken Richmond (G-2) | 138:36 |
| Debbie Gottschalk (F) | 141:14 |
| Mark Ritchhart (M) | 151:20 |
| Boca - McGlary (M) | 162:56 |
| Tom Sammet (G-2) | 163:35 |
| Andrea Holman (F) | 169:28 |
| Darrs (2) | 172:10 |
| Tim Vincent (M) | DQ |
| Boca - Mann | DQ |
| David Hatten (M) | DNF |
| Benji Mann | DNF |
| Boca - Houpes/Clane) | DNF |
| Boca - Degrace | DNF |
| Boca - Mederios | DNF |
| Boca - Brown | DNF |
| Boca - Mulhern | DNF |
| Paul Schonber (2) | NTR |
| Team Dirty Fish (M) | NTR |
| DNF | Did Not Finish |
| DQ | Disqualified/Mispunched |
| NTR | No Time Recorded |