Picket's Mill Meet - Oct 19
Bill Farrell wrote - We had a beautiful day in the
woods. Many of the folks had so much fun, they did two courses.
The woods were wide open and the hills were... still hills, but
there were some excellent times posted. The fastest were about at
my "guesses". It was a big step up for those many runners moving
up to Orange... but they will only get faster. Most folks were
tired, but still smiling. I heard a few moans and groans... which
I both loved and ignored! Generally, there were no problems -- not
my usual style. The only real surprise were the numbers of folks
who joined us. I will ask again ask that if you are bringing a
group -- PLEASE CALL -- to let us know... that way we will not run
out of color maps. If you think running on a complex map, printed
in black and white, is easy -- just give it a try sometime -- very
difficult... and that used to be all we had!
Bert Adams O-Meet - Oct 5
Frank Mills wrote - The star
of the show was the perfect weather, the help of so many
volunteers, and the bright shining faces of SO MANY new
orienteers, especially the very young ones. Another star was David
Barron, the Ranger at the camp, without whose cooperation, help,
and support none of this would be possible. As Bob and Linda
pointed out, he even helped with bag pickup. He was good at it,
too.
Bob and Linda were too kind with their comments. I threw in a
few inadvertent curves. Several people mentioned / complained
about the location and letter designation of Control #15. When
both were wrong, that should have been a dead giveaway. It was a
decoy. The real Control #15 was properly placed. The decoy was
inadvertent–an extra control not on the map. Next year we may do
it on purpose. Another curve was my attempt to make last minute
map corrections. My numbered changes with legend at the bottom
were mistaken by some to be changed controls. The lack of clarity
was my fault. The Bert Adams Scout Reservation map is a work in
progress. There is much potential for improvement–even more for
expansion into other areas, and adaptation for Canoe-O. Additional
mappers are needed.
********
Bob Domine wrote - What a great event we had at Bert
Adam Scout Reservation yesterday! That followed an outstanding
Saturday with several hundred Boy Scouts getting a taste of our
sport. Frank Mills, VP of Scouts headed both days up applying
several preparation trips and a super effort putting this all
together.
Both days were done as a score O. Yesterday at our GAOC event,
there was something for everyone. Basic-Intermediate for our newer
participants, Intermediate-Advanced for our regulars, "Glutton for
Punishment" for those who wanted it all and would carry two punch
cards, and "Search and Destroy" which was invented by our JROTC
last year, allowing the teams to separate and find all of them!
The weather was wonderful and we had a crowd of over 200 with a
very nice mix of Boy Scouts, JROTC, new families and "regulars."
There were lots of smiling faces everywhere. We had outstanding
cooperation from the people that manage the reservation. David
Barren was particularly helpful and supportive. He even helped
with control pickup!
Special thanks to Pam Shroyer, Daniel Pittman, Shawn Callahan
and Linda Domine for generously pitching in to help make the meet
a success.
The meet ran very well and Frank finally did get a break for a
bite to eat about 4:00pm :-)
Again thanks to Frank, the event team and all who joined us.
Thanks to all of you for all you do to support our club, Bob
Domine.
*****
Linda Domine wrote: Hat's off to Frank Mills for putting
forth such a gallant effort for the Scout weekend at Bert Adams
this past Saturday and Sunday, in conjunction with being this
weekend's Meet Director! God Bless Frank for not only tending
those details but then wanting to sort through the Score-O details
for Start/Finish, without taking a break through all of the
Start/Finish Times. Then he helped do bag pick-up too with Shawn,
Bob, David Barron and I.
It was good to see how many more Scouts came out this year on
Sunday for the actual GAOC meet, as their confidence grew from
Frank's Instruction and Training Course on Saturday. That Frank
coordinates the bulk of these details by himself on top of a very
demanding work-week, is most admirable!
Frank so deserves recognition for his commitment to being the
interface liaison of bringing the Scouts' skills in Orienteering
to the standards that both USOF and GAOC instruct and uphold. It
was a Joy to see Frank's efforts rewarded with such a successful
meet on Sunday. We know the map needs corrections and along with
corrections on the current map, David Barron at Bert Adams is very
much hoping that the acreage south of the large lake will be
mapped for possibly even next year. Any of our Jr. mappers want to
assist on this field checking?
Just want to say Thanks to Frank, Shawn, Pam Schroyer, Daniel
Pittman, Robbie, Steve and David Barron for being available as we
needed. Pam came with only the intent to help and not run.
Volunteering to free others to have a fun-day of O-participation
is what it takes to support the growing numbers of O-participants.
Thanks to All for another fun O-Weekend!