Florida Orienteering
Wekiva Springs State Park
November 11, 2006


Courses: WHITE | YELLOW | ORANGE | BROWN | GREEN | RED | NOTES

Veteran's Day - with incredibly few veterans of any stripe, FLO veterans or service veterans or otherwise, showing up to enjoy what may have been some of the more fabulous courses ever offered at Wekiwa, even if I do say so myself.

I counted somewhere around 70 attendees. If you were among them, thanks ever so much for your support.

If you stayed away because you knew there would be that humungous walk to start and back again from finish (it was over a mile each way this time), I promise to ask the park (groveling all the while!) to consider allowing us back into the Youth Camp auditorium for future events.

Now that we have arranged to have separate JROTC and FLO-civilians events, the huge crowds that Wekiwa was worried about are not turning out. Since being forced into these logistics we've had 240 and 120, and now 70, attendees. Maybe they'll listen to reason when I point out that this current policy is absolutely killing us. Not since Ocala Forest October 1992 at Paisley have we had fewer people turn out to a peak-season event.

However, that does not detract from a few outstanding features of this event.

First, Ray Bruneau beat Artur Intson on red; a first for Ray I think, and in doing so he even beat Bob Hill's winning time on the green course. Some feat.

Second, for the first time in my life I witnessed a fight between two deer in the woods. While I was setting the brown-green-red controls early in the morning I saw two 8-point bucks fighting - just like on Discovery Channel - antlers clacking and dust flying - for several minutes. Then one of them just broke off and ran away.

Third, FLO welcomed a new Life Member in Donnie Sloan. Thank you, Donnie.

Fourth, those to whom I have spoken said they really enjoyed the courses.

Not a bad day at all.

I saw lots more wildlife - turkeys and more deer, but no bear, although Jonathan Linforth relates a story of his nearly hitting one on the highway last week.

I missed greeting most everyone, since I set controls early and then left before noon to fulfill other commitments and therefore I am not certain of all who must be included in the Thank You's. However, I do know Ron Eaglin and John Ide helped set controls; Russ Steinke, Ray Bruneau, Jack Cash, Jeanne Ryba and Mike Dempsey were on hand early to set up, do training, place trail signs and run start/finish and registration; and Jonathan Linforth printed and delivered all maps and stuck around for a few extra hours even though he had other commitments. Then Ron and Jerry Sirmans went back to help retrieve controls at the end of the day.

I was especially interested in the reactions of Yellow course participants, since I was so pleased with the design of Yellow. Maybe some reading this will share their impressions. They had 11 controls in less than 3 km, so much to do, but I was able to work in some real opportunities to cut cross country, through that knee-high golden grass, on several legs and I hope they did so. Yellow course times were longish, though - suggesting lots of folks took the round-about routes via trails. The White course was very much enjoyed by Eric Barr's family, he tells me, but no one else took advantage. Sniff Sniff.

I was hoping most of you noticed the steadily improving look to the forest in the area we used. The controlled burns are re-establishing a dominant wiregrass (if that's what it is) habitat in the upland pine portions that positively glows under an autumn sun, particulary over most of the White, Yellow and Orange course areas used. I also hoped everyone appreciated the new map and especially its flawless inclusion of the varied vegetation thickets throughout the areas used by the Brown-Green-Red courses. I think that's the strength and highlight of the remapping done by Ales & Vendy last Feb.

We spent some time moping among ourselves at the event over the poor turnout and 'threatening' not to use Wekiwa any more if they don't treat us better, but that's no threat at all and we'd only be spiting ourselves and wasting a fine venue.

As for the weather: perfectly pleasant, in the 70s most of the day. Lots of dew in the grass early, so I ran with sopping shoes most of the way although later probably no one got even damp. I took a little extra time setting because I forgot my compass and veered badly a few times, even nearly hanging one of the controls on the wrong thicket despite having ribboned everything myself a few months back.

Remember next month is the Florida Championships at Kelly Park, with all FLO and JROTC together, with those few crazy runners completing for medals and bragging rights while the rest of you simply hike through some of the even more beautiful Florida forests at that end of the park.

Bob


WHITE

Name Time
Eric Barr 67:30

YELLOW

Name Time
Christopher G/N 60:00
BSA 177 Delta 63:00
Mike Rodgers 73:35
BSA 177 Gamma 80:26
Cerasoli W. 97:10
BSA 177 Beta 97:45
Pitino P 121:00
Shahroodi B/S 123:12
BSA 177 Alpha 135:50
Blades A 157:00
Gibbard/Cruz 165:19
Stine Nanc DNF
Lines C/L DNF

ORANGE

Name Time
Schmid P 57:31
Roberts 63:30
Schwieterman 65:30
Smith JD 70:00
Ryba J 83:30
Hoffman J 111:25
Holley R 123:20
Lavigne C DNF
Klien M DNF

BROWN

Name Time
Canelos/Hoover 132:40
Sheriff J OT

GREEN

Name Time
Hill B 98:25
Dempsey M 115:05
Ide J 115:25
Capp A 167:15
Kurzawa K/J 180:27
Leclere J DNF
Bates B DNF
Hamilton DNF
Kaler M DNF
Cash J DNF
Humburg B DNF

RED

Name Time
Bruneau R 91:30
Intson A 108:12
Pothier S 142:49
Sirmans J 143:00
Posada/Johnson 161:10
Leselinovic I DNF
Farrall/Matlick DNF
Denney R DNF


NOTES

DNF   Did Not Finish
DQ Disqualified (Missed Controls)
OT Over 3 Hour Time Limit


Created 13-November-2006