Results for July 22, 2012 Falls Lake
Roughly a 50% shutout.
I have to support the following approach to this situation: “One or two DNFs, shame on you; almost half of the participants DNF, shame on me.” In spite of the many DNFs, people seemed to have a good time (or they were at least very polite about it after the event), so I won’t call the event a complete waste; however, I clearly have to take the blame for an event that could have gone better. Let’s see what went wrong.
The weather was as cooperative as we could expect for July in North Carolina; that is to say, we had overcast with some drizzle, warm (but not blazing hot), and humid. Of course it was the humidity more than the drizzle that had everyone drenched, sapping people’s ability to move quickly on the course.
Next, we all know (at least by this point) that Falls Lake is our worst map. The area is nice, and has a lot of good potential for advanced orienteering, but the map is out of date. In particular, the contours on the map are pretty good, but the vegetation is a suggestion at best, and in spite of efforts to update the trails last year those black dotted lines on the map serve to confuse as often as they enlighten. I think that something we need to discuss at the next club meeting is whether we want to either 1) Put the money into updating the Falls Lake map, 2) Stop holding any events at Falls Lake, or 3) Accept the map as it is and continue as we have with the occasional event in this nice area with an unfortunately outdated map.
However, I believe that the real problem with the event falls clearly within the domain of things that I could have easily done something about, namely course design and control hanging. I believe that the course was designed with the idea of something shorter for summer (good idea), and thus increasing technical difficulty to compensate for the shorter lengths (bad idea). This might have worked on our Umstead map, but at Falls Lake until we update the map, we should probably stay away from technically challanging control locations.
Additionally, I think that hanging the controls higher to compensate for decreased visibility due to summer foliage and fogged glasses due to the day’s humidity/drizzle would not have been an affront to the spirit of orienteering.
In the Good News department: Chris Kreider reported that one of the controls on the course was on the ground (and looking pretty dirty), and seemed to have the wrong control code on it as well; he said that control #6 was a little closer to the trail (to the west of its circled location), and that it had control code 54 rather than the expected 46. This puzzled us for a while until we figured out what had happened: Chris had located the control which went missing from our last event at Falls Lake! If you recall, control 14 (#54) was stolen last year within a few hours of it having been set. I was surprised that someone passing on the trail had apparently seen the control at the base of the large earthbank, and taken the time and effort to climb down there to take it. Apparently their energy for stealing/moving controls was limited, since they apparently just took the control a little distance along the trail and threw it into the bushes. Fortunately, we happened to randomly put a control close to that disposal location this year, and Chris managed to find old 54 where it had been left for the past year.
The journey of last year’s control 54.
Last, I know that this writeup is a little longer than usual, but I had a new experience at this event that seemed to be worth relating. During control pickup, just after collecting the last control out on the course, I heard a strange noise off to the side, just a couple of meters away. I turned to look uphill where the noise came from, and first thought it might have been an animal; there was clearly some motion near the base of a dead tree there (some bark fluttering down from something which had disturbed the tree), and the noise might have been something scrambling up the tree. However, tree gave a strange motion, so I started running hard back along the contour I had been traveling. After moving what I thought was a safe distance, I turned to see the tree come crashing down onto the point at which I had just been standing.
Apparently, sometimes the forest really is out to get you.
Event Director: Ken. Hanson
Course Design: Josef Trzicky
Control Placement: Ken. Hanson, Josef Trzicky
Park Permission: Terese Camp, Joseph Huberman
Starts/Finishes: Terese Camp
Control Pickup: Chris Kreider, David Waller, Roman Kraus, Josef Trzicky, Ken. Hanson
Results: Ken. Hanson
Results manipulations:
Chris was given credit for control 6 (46), since the control he relocated (last year’s 54) was plausibly within the control circle. Splits will look strange around this control because of how I managed this.
Ian’s result was changed from DNF to OVT; by the time he got to control 19 (59), the remaining control had just been picked up. (Ian was still well under a normal 3 hour OVT limit, but did go over the stated pickup time for this event.)
Charles and Nadia were running with electronic assistance (testing their smartphone/tablet application). Their place numbers were removed (i.e. they do not get a finishing result), but they are left sorted into the results for comparison purposes.
Results
Brown Course: 16 KP 3.3 km
Alan McNeely DNF 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45
William Ebenstein DNF 41 45 46 47 45 49 50
Green Course: 19 KP 3.9 km
1 Artem Kazantsev 1:19:34 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 58 59 60 61
Ian Shields OVT 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 58
Red Course: 21 KP 4.5 km
Charles Scharlau 1:28:13 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
Nadia Scharlau 1:28:15 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
1 David Waller 1:40:35 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
2 Robert Enochs 1:51:07 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
3 Roman Kraus 1:58:22 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45 52 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
Chris Kreider DNF 41 42 43 41 45 54 47 45 49 50 45 52
Miles deForest DNF 41 42 43 41 45 46 47 45 49 50 45
Holly Kuestner DNF 41 42 43 41 45 46
Total of 12 starts.
Splits
Brown Course: 16 KP 3.3 km
# Name Result Start 1.( 41) 2.( 45) 3.( 46) 4.( 47) 5.( 45) 6.( 49) 7.( 50) 8.( 45) 9.( 52) 10.( 53) 11.( 54) 12.( 55) 13.( 58) 14.( 59) 15.( 60) 16.( 61) Finish. min/km
Alan McNeely DNF 09:32:33 15:19 2 22:05 2 26:17 2 31:32 1 34:59 1 38:45 1 43:26 1 51:15 1
15:19 2 6:46 1 4:12 1 5:15 1 3:27 1 3:46 1 4:41 1 7:49 1
5:23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
William Ebenstein DNF 09:50:19 9:56 1 17:57 1 26:04 1 31:49 2 36:14 2 41:01 2 45:49 2
9:56 1 8:01 2 8:07 2 5:45 2 4:25 2 4:47 2 4:48 2
0 1:15 3:55 30 58 1:01 7
Green Course: 19 KP 3.9 km
# Name Result Start 1.( 41) 2.( 42) 3.( 43) 4.( 41) 5.( 45) 6.( 46) 7.( 47) 8.( 45) 9.( 49) 10.( 50) 11.( 45) 12.( 52) 13.( 53) 14.( 54) 15.( 55) 16.( 58) 17.( 59) 18.( 60) 19.( 61) Finish. min/km
1 Artem Kazantsev 1:19:34 09:30:40 4:54 1 7:26 1 13:11 1 19:50 1 24:16 1 27:37 1 31:17 1 33:49 1 36:52 1 41:30 1 43:49 1 48:13 1 51:03 1 55:33 1 60:07 1 63:09 1 69:39 1 74:17 1 76:39 1 79:34 1 1:19:34 20.40
4:54 1 2:32 1 5:45 2 6:39 2 4:26 1 3:21 1 3:40 1 2:32 1 3:03 1 4:38 1 2:19 1 4:24 1 2:50 1 4:30 1 4:34 1 3:02 1 6:30 1 4:38 1 2:22 1 2:55 1
0 0 18 2:57 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ian Shields OVT 09:29:09 15:27 2 21:07 2 26:34 2 30:16 2 36:12 2 41:52 2 56:21 2 63:51 2 73:44 2 80:42 2 84:06 2 93:36 2 107:35 2 115:22 2 120:17 2 124:17 2
15:27 2 5:40 2 5:27 1 3:42 1 5:56 2 5:40 2 14:29 2 7:30 2 9:53 2 6:58 2 3:24 2 9:30 2 13:59 2 7:47 2 4:55 2 4:00 2
10:33 3:08 0 0 1:30 2:19 10:49 4:58 6:50 2:20 1:05 5:06 11:09 3:17 21 58
Red Course: 21 KP 4.5 km
# Name Result Start 1.( 41) 2.( 42) 3.( 43) 4.( 41) 5.( 45) 6.( 46) 7.( 47) 8.( 45) 9.( 49) 10.( 50) 11.( 45) 12.( 52) 13.( 53) 14.( 54) 15.( 55) 16.( 56) 17.( 57) 18.( 58) 19.( 59) 20.( 60) 21.( 61) Finish. min/km
Charles Scharlau 1:28:13 09:43:02 4:41 2 7:41 2 12:48 3 16:28 3 21:18 3 23:52 3 26:13 1 28:41 1 31:23 1 37:13 3 39:35 2 42:45 3 46:02 3 53:19 3 57:02 3 64:31 3 67:23 2 69:09 1 74:33 2 78:25 1 85:55 2 88:13 1 1:28:13 19.60
4:41 2 3:00 4 5:07 5 3:40 4 4:50 4 2:34 2 2:21 1 2:28 1 2:42 5 5:50 6 2:22 1 3:10 2 3:17 3 7:17 4 3:43 2 7:29 3 2:52 1 1:46 2 5:24 4 3:52 1 7:30 4 2:18 4
47 26 1:58 1:39 55 23 0 0 26 3:29 0 12 55 4:28 1:16 2:36 0 20 41 0 5:41 29
Nadia Scharlau 1:28:15 09:42:57 5:00 4 7:48 4 12:55 4 16:39 4 20:34 2 23:47 2 26:14 2 28:48 2 31:24 2 36:57 2 39:30 1 42:42 2 45:45 2 53:08 2 56:51 2 64:15 2 67:19 1 69:11 2 73:54 1 78:27 2 85:18 1 88:15 2 1:28:15 19.61
5:00 4 2:48 2 5:07 5 3:44 5 3:55 1 3:13 4 2:27 2 2:34 2 2:36 3 5:33 5 2:33 2 3:12 3 3:03 2 7:23 5 3:43 2 7:24 2 3:04 2 1:52 3 4:43 1 4:33 3 6:51 3 2:57 5
1:06 14 1:58 1:43 0 1:02 6 6 20 3:12 11 14 41 4:34 1:16 2:31 12 26 0 41 5:02 1:08
1 David Waller 1:40:35 09:30:02 3:54 1 6:28 1 10:58 2 12:59 1 17:27 1 20:36 1 28:24 3 31:46 3 34:06 3 36:28 1 39:35 2 42:33 1 44:55 1 47:44 1 50:11 1 57:41 1 79:45 3 87:57 4 92:51 3 96:57 3 98:46 3 100:35 3 1:40:35 22.35
3:54 1 2:34 1 4:30 4 2:01 1 4:28 3 3:09 3 7:48 4 3:22 5 2:20 2 2:22 2 3:07 4 2:58 1 2:22 1 2:49 1 2:27 1 7:30 4 22:04 5 8:12 5 4:54 3 4:06 2 1:49 1 1:49 1
0 0 1:21 0 33 58 5:27 54 4 1 45 0 0 0 0 2:37 19:12 6:46 11 14 0 0
2 Robert Enochs 1:51:07 09:19:02 4:53 3 7:44 3 10:53 1 28:22 6 36:07 7 38:18 6 46:59 5 50:05 5 52:21 5 54:42 5 57:41 5 66:02 5 69:51 5 72:55 5 80:28 5 85:21 5 91:37 5 93:03 5 97:52 5 102:56 5 109:03 4 111:07 4 1:51:07 24.69
4:53 3 2:51 3 3:09 1 17:29 8 7:45 7 2:11 1 8:41 5 3:06 4 2:16 1 2:21 1 2:59 3 8:21 6 3:49 4 3:04 2 7:33 5 4:53 1 6:16 4 1:26 1 4:49 2 5:04 4 6:07 2 2:04 3
59 17 0 15:28 3:50 0 6:20 38 0 0 37 5:23 1:27 15 5:06 0 3:24 0 6 1:12 4:18 15
3 Roman Kraus 1:58:22 09:49:23 5:04 5 8:55 5 13:14 5 16:26 2 22:17 4 25:52 4 32:20 4 34:57 4 37:48 4 46:09 4 49:17 4 55:07 4 60:05 4 67:01 4 71:25 4 79:13 4 84:55 4 86:55 3 94:33 4 101:36 4 116:27 5 118:22 5 1:58:22 26.30
5:04 5 3:51 6 4:19 3 3:12 3 5:51 6 3:35 5 6:28 3 2:37 3 2:51 6 8:21 7 3:08 5 5:50 5 4:58 5 6:56 3 4:24 4 7:48 5 5:42 3 2:00 4 7:38 5 7:03 5 14:51 5 1:55 2
1:10 1:17 1:10 1:11 1:56 1:24 4:07 9 35 6:00 46 2:52 2:36 4:07 1:57 2:55 2:50 34 2:55 3:11 13:02 6
Chris Kreider DNF 09:21:17 15:25 8 18:45 8 22:55 7 25:48 5 30:15 5 Skip 60:15 7 77:12 7 79:51 7 82:39 7 88:02 7 91:44 6
15:25 8 3:20 5 4:10 2 2:53 2 4:27 2 30:00 7 16:57 7 2:39 4 2:48 3 5:23 6 3:42 4
11:31 46 1:01 52 32 27:39 14:29 23 27 3:01 44
Miles deForest DNF 09:30:29 5:55 6 10:07 6 16:46 6 28:41 7 34:20 6 38:17 5 51:47 6 55:30 6 59:17 6 62:19 6 79:02 6
5:55 6 4:12 7 6:39 7 11:55 7 5:39 5 3:57 6 13:30 6 3:43 6 3:47 7 3:02 4 16:43 7
2:01 1:38 3:30 9:54 1:44 1:46 11:09 1:15 1:31 41 14:21
Holly Kuestner DNF 09:33:04 11:24 7 17:26 7 24:57 8 32:08 8 44:08 8 51:15 7
11:24 7 6:02 8 7:31 8 7:11 6 12:00 8 7:07 7
7:30 3:28 4:22 5:10 8:05 4:56
Ken, Josef and Terese
Nice job and great write up. Ken the Merciless – your legend lives on. I was happy just to find the remote start to be honest and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the course. I also came out of the woods soaking wet. Next time we should not only have water at the stations but maybe soap and a fresh towel. That would give you some incentive to keep going. The only thing I can think of that was missing – doing this course in the dark with a flashlight, that could have DNF everyone.
The whole tree incident… PAY BACK I think! 😉
Until next time.
Keep the conversation going on the BOK Facebook page.
http://tinyurl.com/3ocwv4k
That’s a great write up, and I don’t mind an occasional character-building exercise! Thanks again for all the time you and others put into directing meets.
Once at a CROC (Portland, Oregon) meet I managed to set a control within about 20 yards of a control lost years before. Amazingly, they had the same control number, as well. This led to some very confusing stories at the finish until we figured out what had happened.
Maybe it is just me, but I liked the extra challenge presented by the map. Now that I have a better idea of what to trust and not trust on the map I am looking forward to doing it again!