To all my old orienteering friends residing in states possessing any degree of topographical relief:, listen to this:
Imagine running an 11 km Blue course in 91F heat. Imagine having no discernible climb whatever for the first 7km. Then imagine control number 15 not only on top of a 5m high "hill", but visible on approach from 700m away (since the preceding leg was 1600 meters).
'Ha, Ha', you say?
Some 'hill' you may scoff?
Yeah, but it's just possible you'd have climbed up that hill on your hands and knees, just like I did. It brought to mind the old Sean Connery movie called 'The Hill' from 1966, if you remember it. Also brought to mind the word 'old'.
Seems orienteers are indeed different, 'cause that was the FUN part of the day.
Different, too, because the course setters could not stop grinning with delight as I gasped across the finish line in a mental heap, my face contorted somewhere between scowl and satisfied smile.
Good day. Yes, indeedy; good day.
To all my Florida orienteering Friends: Were you there? Shoulda been! Over 200 were.
The start table itself confirmed O' as the Thinking Sport simply for the sheer confusion of serving a start line backup of about 50 people at one point as well as being the turn-around for the multiple map exchanges on Green, Red and Blue and the all-course finish table. Gotta think to even get yourself started in this sport. Thanks for all the patience & understanding required in that situation.
Thanks to the Fluegels for their inventiveness in the logistics of multiple maps. Thanks to Alles & Vendy Hejna, the Czech mappers who in two short days transformed our poor RSRSR map once again into serviceability. Thanks to Jonathan Linforth for yet more late nights of printing mass quantities of maps for always-unknown numbers of competitors.
Hooray for all the helpers, including Russ Steinke for getting results posted in one day and for Ron Eaglin who arrived late in the day hoping to run Blue by retrieving. Alas, he only did 2/3 of Blue and could not list his time.
I want to sit down later to write up a See-How-They-Ran narrative of this course. I hope others will do the same for Blue or Red or Green.
It was a real circus out there with so many controls in so small an area. You'd think it would be a help to see so many people running toward a control but it was more confusing than helpful. My mistakes were made in those areas with many visible competitors and controls. One cannot make assumptions - you still have to be confident in your own business and ignore the others.
Lots of new faces and newcomers kept Ray Bruneau and I busy with instruction. The JROTC crowding was much relieved when Donna Fluegel took 55 of them from one school aside to form their own start/finish area.
Now that we've re-established this long runs in the heat pattern in defiance of the Florida climate, I'm ready to give you on May 6 the Little Big Econ Brown (4.8 km) Green (5.8 km) and Red (8.2km) courses designed by Ales Hejna after having re-mapped LBE. Bring water.
Bob Putnam
| Name | Time |
| Morford(2) | 37:00 |
| Barker(2) | 42:00 |
| M. Harford | 44:00 |
| P. Griffith | 44:00 |
| Name | Time |
| Dillon Ralsten | 23:00 |
| Shane Ralph | 25:00 |
| Central #2 | 25:00 |
| Josh Riendeau | 28:00 |
| Don Mcdermatt | 29:00 |
| Central #4 | 33:00 |
| Central #5 | 35:00 |
| Ashely Monsegur | 36:00 |
| Central #1 | 36:00 |
| BSA Troop 223 #2 | 43:00 |
| Machalek(2) | 44:00 |
| Central #3 | 46:00 |
| Ryan Thompson(SMA) | 48:00 |
| Sean Perras | 48:00 |
| BSA Troop 223 #1 | 50:00 |
| Graham(2) | 58:00 |
| Megan Watson | 58:00 |
| La Frossia(3) | 67:00 |
| Jack Cash | 80:00 |
| Bucina/Herrick | 87:00 |
| Christian(5) | 93:00 |
| Chan(2) | 105:00 |
| Freeman(6) | DQ |
| Murchison(3) | DQ |
| Name | Time |
| Ryan Van Dalinda | 64:00 |
| Mike Territo | 66:00 |
| Felisha Leblanc | 72:00 |
| Sebastian River(3) | 84:00 |
| Vince Higgins | 87:00 |
| Sarasota Mil #2 | 91:00 |
| Cadwell(2) | 92:00 |
| Stephanie Hargis | 92:00 |
| Walenty Prytulo | 94:00 |
| Roger&Aaron Mylan | 99:00 |
| Vitrello(2) | 100:00 |
| Josiah Carroll | 101:00 |
| Jeanne Ryba | 107:00 |
| Brown(5) | 116:00 |
| Jeff Gilger | 116:00 |
| Cadwell(4) | 120:00 |
| Kurzawa(2) | 127:00 |
| Durjan/Esmailbequi | 128:00 |
| Hawkins/Lunt | 132:00 |
| Gibbs HS #2 | 136:00 |
| Gibbs HS #3 | 146:00 |
| West Orange #3 | 146:00 |
| O&A #1 | 153:00 |
| James Arriza | DQ |
| Vericona Dedge | DQ |
| Alan Emert | DQ |
| Jonathan Gary | DQ |
| Gibbs HS #1 | DQ |
| Sally Machalek | DQ |
| Elliott Wentworth | DQ |
| Wordell | DQ |
| Gibbs HS #4 | DQ |
| O&A #2 | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Bruno(4) | 98:00 |
| Hamilton(4) | 136:00 |
| LaVigne(2) | 160:00 |
| Wilroy(4) | 160:00 |
| John Rodemeyer | 174:00 |
| Name | Time |
| Joe Maliszewski | 86:00 |
| Gary Owen | 91:00 |
| Mitch Jarvis | 97:00 |
| Alicia Padrick | 100:00 |
| Jerry Sirmans | 100:00 |
| Dean Viane | 102:00 |
| Jim Bauer | 110:00 |
| Russ Steinke | 117:00 |
| Team SR(3) | 137::00 |
| Missy Kaler | 140:00 |
| Joseph Arriza | 145:00 |
| Keith Patillo | 147:00 |
| P. Schmid | 152:00 |
| Frank Territa | 154:00 |
| S & J Royer | 172:00 |
| Scott Neumann | 173:00 |
| Elizabeth Tiegeman | OT |
| Dennis & Carolyn | OT |
| West Orange #1 | DQ |
| West Orange #2 | DQ |
| Jonathan Wensel | DQ |
| Name | Time |
| Toby Henson | 89:00 |
| Ray Bruneau | 95:00 |
| Derek Bohn | 98:00 |
| Andrea Canelos | 115:00 |
| Martinez(2) | OT |
| Carroll(2) | OT |
| Name | Time |
| Bob Putnam | 102:00 |
| Artur Intson | 137:00 |
| Mauricio Estevel | 146:00 |
| John Hollingsworth | 170:00 |
| Sarasota Mil #1 | DQ |
| Sarasota Mil #3 | DQ |
| Sarasota Mil #5 | DQ |
| DNF | Did Not Finish |
| DQ | Disqualified (Missed Controls) |
| OT | Over 3 Hour Time Limit |