Florida Orienteering
Ocala National Forest - Woodpecker Hill
May 8th, 2009
Event Coordinator – Ray Bruneau


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

First: We must do a better job of alerting every one to the best directions for access; the condition of FR 69 has never been this bad, due to lack of rain, so it was better to come south from 445.

Second: Let me say how brave those of you that came out to this event were. I salute each and every one of the 83 ‘FLO’ participants and 103 cadets. The record heat that we are experiencing could not deter those that love to be outdoors. I would compare it to the freezing temps that our northern O’ers have to endure for the fun of it.

Arriving at 8, I tried to put out parking signs and make sure that we had some shade before the throng of cadets showed up, but they met me on station when I arrived at Mud Pond. Needless to say, I had some help putting up the tent and getting the gear arranged. Hey, the port-a-lets were even delivered to the precise location!! Woo - Hoo!

We were fortunate to have 3 parties come out from the Tibet- Butler Eco-Saturday event that I held 2 weeks ago for Orange County Parks (we’re planning a permanent course there).

Since I held the Starting table down, I had some strange inkling that the field was tough when Green & Blue runners were long in returning. In hindsight, this was an indicator that I should be nice to myself and not try to run a course but you know how it is. I had some trouble when I got to R2 (G3, B4), the Rowley’s commented that they were looking for 20 minutes, so I proceeded to R3, R4 but thought I would be smart and approach R2 from the other direction – it didn’t work. I was cooking in the sun. By the time I got to R5, I was traveling in circles and close to 1500. I called Jerry and told him I was DNF and would pick up the rest. Ron Eaglin lost his card but did make use of his map marking every control punch near his clue sheet.

Now, I normally use a compass only when lost, but since the fires had completely wiped the map of anything familiar, I had to resort to the needle. The brown & yellow moonscape was an entire different scene from our typical Florida green, however unique.

When I returned to Start, Kris Mante and Mike Dempsey were holding down the fort, consolidating things for easy packing. We suffered 1 accident; where a cadet fell at a control, slicing his hand open requiring a trip to the hospital. He was in good spirits upon leaving, so he’d be okay. Another school had lost a fellow cadet, they were driving the trails redneck style and she was found okay.

I brought plenty of water bottles for everyone to stay hydrated but even I succumbed to not being tanked up enough before going out. I had plenty of water, just not in me. I heard stories of people coming back early because they did not have enough water. I have learned to bring an extra bottle, in case. I can see the number of DNF’s were reflected by the heat factor because these courses were some of the best, long legs and hidden features.

We had some visitors from SVO (Susquehanna) located in E. Pennsylvania, who were down for the Shuttle launch and thought that they would partake in our semi-tropical weather and have some fun with our thickets and brownscape. HA! Eddie Bergeron had a time of 71:15 on the 8.2 kM Blue course. It’s amazing what young legs can do under a focused mind. Every now and then, Bob has some competition.

I want to thank Wilhelm Pirnasch for personally hanging all controls, taking him 4 hours on Friday afternoon. I want to thank Jerry Sirmans for first taking on the RED course and then going out to pick up controls. He seems to manage this almost single-handedly at every event. Since he is also the ‘FLO’ President, I encourage you to thank him for his efforts. You may have seen him, but not known who he is: he’s the handsome black guy that wears the blue O’ suit with the white outback hat. I caution you though; he may enlist you as an assistant in this quest. The nice thing about that is: you would be learning while being off the clock.

Thanks to Janet Putnam, once again, handling registration like a pro and Jack Cash for relieving me at the Start Table. I cannot begin to comprehend the parental assistance that Toby receives at the JROTC table and yet sometimes they get to assist us when we are short-handed.

If I have forgotten anyone by mistake, please forgive me. I’m still dehydrated, mas cervesa, por favor!

See you next month before the summer break.

Ray Bruneau


WHITE

Name Time
Phillips 28:00
Rupert 33:46
Ramsdell 45:02
Carson 56:00

YELLOW

Name Time
Vitriello 45:54
TCHS, JJ 75:00
Klein, M 82:20
Altaffer, A DNF
TCHS, KQ DNF

ORANGE

Name Time
Falcon 111:50
Smith, JD 132:12
Jaguar 1 145:56
Ambil DNF
Jaguar 2 DNF
Phillips DNF
Roberts, M DNF
Ramsdell DNF
TCHS 1 DNF
TCHS 2 DNF
Walters, B DNF
Walters, D DNF

GREEN

Name Time
Whitmore, B 64:03
Huebner, B 71:14
Dempsey, M 90:48
Anne/Matt 97:33
Mante, K 135:28
Kremer, K 152:10
Warburton, M 170:05
Warburton, J 172:05
Andy Capp OT
Cash, J DNF
Dennis/Carolyn DNF
Jaguar 3 DNF
Katie/Nic DNF

RED

Name Time
Sirmans, J 91:00
TSPA 160:30
Bruneau, R DNF
Griffin, J DNF

BLUE

Name Time
Bergeron, E 71:15
Putnam, B 108:25
Pangea 3 121:00
Eaglin, R 139:00
Pangea 9 140:50
Johnson, C 144:40
Go Blue 162:53
Ball, M DNF
Shuman, D DNF


NOTES

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


Created 11-May-2009