December 16, 2012 in South Umstead

We got lucky with the weather the second weekend in a row - it was unusually warm for December. Tanya and I went to Josef's traditional 6KM sprint in High Point on Saturday and then to an advanced meet in South Umstead on Sunday. Both courses were a lot of fun! High Point event is one of my favorite events - period. 26 controls with 1:5000 map scale in a somewhat greenish area - very unusual and interesting setting. Navigation is not hard there, but one must think and react quickly. I did well, finishing at 60 mins mark, but had doubts if I could run fast the next day. It's been a long time since I was able to do decent runs two days in a row...

But it worked this time! Ken designed a beautiful fast course with 4 long legs (3 in a row), without very steep hills; plus the weather was perfect - I finished at 60 mins mark again (on 7KM). It turned out to be one of my best runs in Umstead.

Here is how I ran:

#1. Up to the trail, used it a bit to go around the green area, then cut across. Noticed the top part of the big gully, went down, crossed the creek and went up to the control.

#2. Went around the hill by staying on the same elevation, observed re-entrant with control from the other side of the big re-entrant and went straight for it

#3. Kept my elevation when crossing the re-entrant, then aimed south-west-west to avoid the green stretch, reached it at the southern tip and went west from there to the control.

#4. Decided to use two big re-entrants in the middle as hand rails of a sort. So went down to the creek and then up keeping the first big re-entrant on my right (but not going into it). After reaching the top of the ridge aimed slightly more to the north and soon saw the second big re-entrant. Went diagonally through it because it was so open. Then crossed the creek and used compass to get across the next ridge aiming to be just south from the big re-entrants (creeks) junction. Ended up  right there, crossed the creek, went up, and used the top of the side re-entrant as an attack point.

#5. Again kept my elevation when going around the re-entrant to the south. Then went straight south until I saw the re-entrant forming. Ran on the east slope until I saw the control up on the hill.

#6. Very easy. Pretty much a straight ran, while using distant re-entrant on the left as a hand rail.

#7.  Normally I try to avoid running along creeks (due to vegetation and other obstacles), but this time there wasn't a good alternative. Going up hill and running there would have required crossing of multiple side re-entrants - and I hate loosing elevation unless I absolutely have to. So I ran along the creek, jumping across it several times and counting re-entrants on my right. When I reached re-entrant which was second from the control, I cut across the hill to the barrels and attached from there aiming to the right of the control (so I could use the re-entrant's top as a boundary). Reached the other side at the eastern gully and went west from there to the control.

#8. Went south-east, crossed the re-entrant, continued south-east, crossed the trail, crossed the next re-entrant noticing green area on my right, continued until I saw the next re-entrant, crossed it in the upper part and continued on its eastern slope until the control.

#9. Went west to #3, then proceeded south to the top of the side re-entrant, then went down diagonally, so I crossed the creek not too far from the pond. Went over the end of the hill by the pond, then crossed re-entrant close to the pond and went up. From the top of the next side re-entrant aimed for the control, reached the next re-entrant. The forest was open there, but I couldn't see the control because it was in a pit. So during the crossing looked for the rock, reached it and went to the pit from there. 

#10. Went north-west, crossed on re-entrant, reached the other one and stopped there looking for rock formations. Spotted them by the creek, went towards them and saw the control up on the other side.

#11. Went alongside the re-entrant, crossed it at the top and went east till I saw the re-entrant on the other side. Went down into it and to the control.

#12. Crossed the creek, went up diagonally, reached the dry-ditch and followed it east, then when it turned into trail, used it. When I saw the creek in front, made a cut to the control.

Then continued south keeping elevation to the finish.

(click on the image to enlarge)

Huge thanks to Josef, David, Ken and Terese for the great orienteering weekend!

April 22 at South Umstead

Yes, we'll be orienteering in Umstead this year as well!!! Hard to believe it, I know. I am really looking forward to it though.

Got the courses designed and approved by the park already. Just to give you a heads up, I decided to try something different from I've been doing before. The advanced courses will have lesser number of controls, but several really long legs with lots of route choices. For example,

• Red will have 12 controls and three (!!!) 1KM legs, 6.8KM
  
• Green - 10 controls, one 1KM leg, 5.1KM
  
• Brown - 9 controls, three 0.6KM legs, 4.1KM
  

If you can, try Red, it should be very interesting.

Another thing is that there will be a remote start for advanced courses, so people would be able to spend more time behind the river in the "juicy" part of the park.

May 1 in South Umstead

I've been wondering where the shingles from my house went after strong winds two weeks ago (that was before the tornadoes). I know now. They flew to the Umstead Park. Very likely so.

The park was full of torn shingles and pieces of insulation. Especially insulation - it was everywhere. I didn't pay much attention to it during the run, but when I went out to pick out controls I was astounded by how much debris from the tornadoes landed in the forest.

Anyway, back to orienteering. It was a great day for a run - warm, not too hot - perfect. Not many spiderwebs either. I planned to run green (it's South Umstead after all - with all those hills!) and I did just that. I used "no-man-made-features" map and the course was very interesting. Every leg was challenging in its own way - I liked that. There were a lot of hills at the end, of course, so I ended up walking a lot, but the course quality made up for it. Thank you, Mihai!

Here is how I ran:

#1: I used the trail until it crossed the power line (yes, despite using "no-man-made-features" map I did remembered and used a few trails - nothing I can do about it :)). Then I went south-south-west trying to get between the gully and re-entrant. I saw the gully first and then re-entrant. After that it was an easy run down to their junction.

#2: continued along the creek, switching sides a few times, then walked over the spur. Somehow I got disoriented there. I thought it was the spur north-east from the control, but it was the one before that. So I ended up in a wrong re-entrant. I checked the compass - the re-entrant was going in a kind of right direction, but not quite. Plus the other side was clearly too steep. So I decided (correctly) that I confused the spurs, went down along the creek, then over the right spur and eventually to the control (stayed on the same elevation to get there, so ended up going in a wide half-circle). Lost about 2 mins there...

#3: went down to the big creek staying on the re-entrant's slope, crossed the creek and proceeded down alongside it, reached the side creek, crossed it and walked up the hill right there aiming for the top side of the side re-entrant. From there went east, crossed a trail, saw re-entrant on the other side and went down using the "white" slope. Saw the rock from the top and took the control.

#4: along the creek, switching sides, to the trail and the bridge. Crossed it and ran south along the river. When the river started to bend, turned into the re-entrant and ran (walked) up. Crossed the saddle at the top and went down to the gully. Followed the gully up into the thick vegetation to the control.

#5: didn't use the re-entrant because of the vegetation, but went down using the "white" slope of the hill and reached the bottom right by the creeks junction. Crossed the creek and ran alongside it around the first spur and finally over the second spur. Crossed the creek there and used the trail on the other side for a little bit until I saw the shallow re-entrant going up on my left. Took compass bearing and went up. Saw and recognized a bunch of small gullies on my left, but then it all got very confusing. The re-entrant became very shallow, almost flat and there was a bunch of dry-ditches and depressions. I knew though that I should get pretty high, so I passed this area, reached the elevation where I thought a control might be and went left looking for it. Saw it as well as 3 other people coming to it from different directions.

There Nadya joined me and we stayed pretty much together all the way to the finish.

#6: ran around the gullies and then west parallel to the re-entrant (but staying up top). Crossed the re-entrant at the bottom, used trail a bit to pass the cliff, crossed the creek and walked to the slope on the other side. Didn't see the control right away and walked a few steps north. But quickly realized that it wasn't the likely way, turned back and found the control.

#7: simply ran north, crossed the river and continued north. Reached the slope and realized that I didn't see the slope turning on my right which meant that I was too far to the left. Went right, so the re-entrant and slope on the other side. Went up the re-entrant to the control.

At this point I was already very tired, plus the hills started, so I walked pretty much all the way from there.

#8: walked up the hill, but lost orientation for a bit and ended up too far to the right. Saw the big gully, corrected myself and proceeded along the slope, then crossed the big re-entrant, walked up the hill, saw re-entrant on the other side and went up along the hill to the control.

#9: down the hill diagonally, then further in the same direction, crossed the creek, walked up the hill. Continued a little further, so I could see gullies on the other side and from there walked up north to the control.

#10: across the hill, saw a glimpse of rocks on my left, down the re-entrant, noticed rock cliff on my left and steep side re-entrant in front of me. I knew it wasn't the right one, but decided to go up there anyway and then cross over to the correct re-entrant. Did just that.

#11: went down to the creek, then west along the creek watching/counting side re-entrants. Kept going until I reached the control on the slope.

#12: kept going west and eventually reached the road. Didn't use it, continued west, through "green" and down to the creek. Crossed it and noticed rock piles line. Followed it up, then saw another big pile and used it as an attack point. Reached the gully, but control wasn't there. Looked around and saw it further up (probably in a wrong place). Took it and ran to the finish.

I spent 65 mins 05 secs - an OK time for me in this part of the park.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking). Click on the image to enlarge.

October 31 2010 at South Umstead

All right, I am buying protecting glasses for the next event. No point in arguing with fate...

After I got pocked into the eye during the last meet I ignored the warning thinking that it was the only time in 15 years, so I shouldn't be too worried. What a flawed logic... After the first control I got poked into the right eye again (and as I found out later on, tore the lens). The lens stayed in the eye, but during the whole run I felt something else in there too, which was very uncomfortable (it was a torn piece of the lens). And if that wasn't enough I got another twig into the same eye around control #8. That one actually stuck in, but, fortunately, went sideways, so I didn't get any serious damage and was able to carefully extract it and keep running.
Anyway, I am buying glasses.

OK, back to the meet.
The weather was great, a little too warm, but still. The course wasn't very hard.
Actually some of the legs looked too easy for advanced courses, but then Ruth offered me a "non-man-made-features" map and suddenly the course became very interesting.
In fact the legs I was grumpy about became the hardest ones. I ran cleanly, but not very fast with a few "non-optimal" legs and one delay caused by a misplaced control.
So the resulting time was OK, but not spectacular. I enjoyed the course, and that's what counts anyway.

Here is how I ran (on green course):

#1: north west, crossed the re-entrant at the top and went down to the creek, used the trail on the other side for a bit and then proceeded north-north-east without loosing elevation.
Noticed re-entrant on the left and went into the next one from the top to the control.

#2: tried to keep the same elevation when going south-east. Finally crossed the re-entrant around the side dry ditches and went up to the trail (which I knew was there).
Used the trail until the bend, then crossed the re-entrant, hill and another re-entrant and went up to the earth bank. Followed the earth bank to the end and found the dry ditch,
but the control wasn't there! Circled around for 2-3 mins and almost decided to abandon the search, but then saw the control further north east. In was misplaced.

#3: ran to the trail, cut to the bridge and followed the trail on the other side on the creek past the marsh. As soon as I passed the marsh, went up the hill to the ruins with the control.

#4: went south-west and crossed the creek just below the dam, walked up the hill and then proceeded west keeping the elevation. Noticed re-entrant on the left and then went down
to the re-entrant with the control. Didn't see the control right away despite being right there and the control being in the open (interestingly Josef complained about it too).

#5: walked up, noticed re-entrant on the left, then crossed the big re-entrant on the right and went north-east-east in order to reach the other side of the hill south from the control.
It worked as planned. Reached the other side and proceeded north till I saw the gully and then the control.

#6: crossed the creek and went up the hill between two re-entrants.Then crossed another re-entrant and took very careful compas bearing (I made a big "parallel" features mistake in this exact area on one of the previous meets and didn't want to repeat it).
Went east, noticed re-entrant on the right, reached the other side of the hill and proceeded north to the control.

#7: walked on the side of the hill and then up. Crossed the re-entrant and proceeded south to the gully with the control.

#8: probably didn't do this one in an optimal way. But I got scared by the thick vegetation on the direct route and ended up walking around the green area. Saw the bridge from the hill and used that as an attack point.

#9: went to the trail, run to the bridge, went up, reached the trail again and used it until the re-entrant with the control. Went up the re-entrant (if it can be called that) and found the control up there. Probably lost a minute or so there too.

#10: ran south west, crossed the creek and proceeded south till I saw the rock piles and the control right behind them.

#11: this was probably the easiest leg on the normal map, but it became the hardest one of the "non-man-made-features" one. First I went south and reached the gully, decided not to cross it and went around, staying out of the dark green area.
Finally reached the road, crossed it, then crossed the power line. Decided to keep going south and then turn west - this way I was hoping not to miss the gully with the control. It was somewhat risky as I didn't know exactly how far south I went (I usually don't keep pace count...), but it worked.

#12: ran north-west-west, reached the road and proceeded to the intersection. From there into the re-entrant with the control.

#13: went up to the road by the parking lot and used it.Then went to the open field and to the side re-entrant behind it.

And back to the shelter. It took me 71 mins.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking). Click on the image to enlarge.



Huge thank you to all people who organized this event: Michael, Joseph, Ruth, Mihai.

May 9, 2010 in South Umstead

Very good event, interesting courses and nice weather. And "no man-made features" map! I had a chance to try it this time and absolutely loved it, we should continue the practice.

I was also happy that my hip held up. I've been stretching "it band" in my left leg for almost two months and it looks like it is starting to show. After the last event I felt crippled, but I am fine after 1.5 hour run this time. Phew. But I was also very much out of shape (again...), so I ran slowly and often walked. All in all, I ended up with my "normal" speed for South Umstead.

I did help Ruth to set up advanced controls on Saturday, so you can say that I had an "unfair" advantage, but the funny thing was that one of my two mistakes was on a control I personally set. I walked right by and couldn't see it! So whatever I could have gained on other controls I lost on that one...

OK, here is my route:

#1: to the parking lot corner, then straight through the forest to the opening on the other side of the road and from there south-south-east while staying on the hill. After re-entrant on my right, turned south down the slope, across the creek, climbed up and continued south to the control.

#2: ran around the re-entrant, up the hill, followed it for a bit, then decided to go down so I could see gullies on the left. Did that and when passed the gullies went south to the re-entrant with the gully/control.

#3: down to the creek and followed it behind the bend. From there climbed up leaving re-entrant on my left. Continued up and across the hill, crossed a trail, noticed re-entrant on my right and went north from there.

#4: simply ran south-south-west, down the hill across the creek, up and over the spur and then scaled the slope to the dry-ditch with the control. Didn't see the control. Walked around, but still couldn't see it... Decided to double check and ran further south, found another set of dry-ditches and saw a glimpse of I-40. So I was in the right place, came back and immediately saw the control! I can swear I looked at this exact spot before!

#5: Walked across the spur, ran down to the creek, followed it, then crossed a side creek and went for the control from there.

#6: crossed the creek, went up a bit and proceeded along the slope. Passed the rock, then first re-entrant and attacked from there.

#7: walked across the hill and ran down to the bridge. Used trail for a bit and then walked up the re-entrant to the control.

#8: walked north-west then ran west down the slope, saw re-entrant on the left, crossed the creek and walked up diagonally to the re-entrant with the control.

#9: across the hill, crossed a trail, then re-entrant and located a gully on the other side. Followed the gully down to the big re-entrant and took the control on the other side.

#10: went north-north-east, crossed the trail and saw re-entrant forming on my right. Stayed on high ground, noticed double small re-entrants on my left, then crossed another small re-entrant with Orange control. Crossed powerline and made a mistake of going too much to the right. Almost reached the camp buildings, but saw re-entrant behind them and realized where I was. Turned left to the re-entrant with another Orange control and attacked from there. But didn't go high enough and spent time walking back and forth on the wrong elevation line... Decided to redo the approach. Went down again, took better compass bearing and counted steps up. Reached proper elevation and found the control there. Lost 5-6 mins there, I think.

#11: crossed the re-entrant and went east over the hill, then parallel to the slope. Had to cross several plausible unmapped gullies before I reached the big one with the control.

#12: crossed the creek and followed the slope for a bit, then went over the hill, saw re-entrant with gullies and rock pile. Attacked from the pile.

#13: simply across the hill

#14: decided to use the road instead of going straight. Went up to the road and used it until I passed the re-entrant on the left. From there turned into green, reached the big gully and followed it to the control.

#15: continued along the gully and then creek, reached the trail, used it to reach the gully/re-entrant with the control and walked up.

#16: across the hill, noticed pile of rocks on my left, crossed the trail and counted dry-ditches.

#17: down to the creek, walked up the hill and took compass bearing to the control (also noticed a small re-entrant on my right when approaching the control).

#18: across the hill and used the trail along the creek. When the creek turned, went up to another trail and used it to get to the well knows 3 piles of rocks. attacked the control from there. Reached Z-gully and followed a side dry-ditch from there.

and straight to the finish. Time: 91 minutes.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking). Click on the image to enlarge.



Thanks to Ruth and Joseph for a very interesting event!

RGB+ courses on Apr 18

Just posted an announcement on the BOK site about extra RGB+ courses on Sunday. After the Falls Lake event where we competed on the very outdated map and which I loved, I decided to give it a try at Umstead. I played with the map and removed all man made features from it, such as trails, roads, buildings, fences, power lines and parking lots. My goal was to get rid of all man made features including linear features, like power lines and rides. The initial cut was close but not quite there - I could still see power lines using vegetation. So I went ahead and got rid of all yellow stuff as well as some green stuff at power lines. The result was a truly "surreal" South Umstead map. Every control as well as start and finish were literally in the middle of nowhere and some legs became very complex (and I am sure confusing too).

So that'll be the map for the RGB+ courses. I don't know how will it go, but I can promise an adventure for people who would risk trying it.

March 21 in South Umstead

South Umstead is always tough. In my list of tough places it takes firm second place after Raven Rock. Raven Rock is far ahead of course, but still. I always have troubles in South Umstead, it's just too physically demanding. Hills, what could you do.

But this time I not only couldn't run at the end, but also made a big 6-7 min mistake on one of the controls. So I am afraid, my time wasn't any good (87 mins on 6 km course).

Tanya came with me again and she did good on Brown though. She planned to go on Orange and leave before me, but Artem ran out of Orange maps, so she went on Brown and was so pleased with her walk that stayed even longer and helped with controls pickup.

Here is how I ran:

#1: easy, trail and then along the slope and up to the rocks with the control

#2: walked up the hill, then down to the creek, followed it, went over the little dam and continued along the creek looking for the pit; missed it, but quickly realized what happened and turned back staying a bit upper on the slope; found the pit.

#3: here goes my big mistake. Classical "parallel features" one. First of all, I took imprecise compass bearing and reached the trail farther north than I thought. There I saw green area on my right and confused it with the one south. So I went around the green and then around the big re-entrant (which was parallel to the one south). I started to feel uneasy when I saw many side re-entrants on the northern slope of the re-entrant and then I saw bicyclists moving on my left. That confirmed my suspicion. So I went down the re-entrant, up (the extra) hill and to the control. 6-7 minutes wasted...

#4: down to the trail, used it until it reached the hill and then followed the slope to the control

#5: walked up to the trail, used it till the bend and continued in the same direction to the re-entrant with the control.

#6: crossed the re-entrant and walked up to the road. Used the road as much as I could. From the "yellowish" forest turned east down to the creek, reached it at the crossing and followed it down to the control.

#7: passed the re-entrant by following the creek, then walked up the hill, went around the first re-entrant and took control in the second one.

#8: proceeded up the hill to the cistern and kept going south on the hill watching the re-entrant on my right. I wanted to go down from the hill somewhere west from the control and managed to do just that. From there simply ran east and took the control.

#9: ran toward the bridge, but noticed some fallen trees in the river and decided to cross the river there and then. The only problem was that the shore over there had a form of 2 yards high cliff... I poked around, didn't find any got spots and tried to slide down holding a branch. Well, I lost a foothold, the branch snapped and I fell. Fortunately, I missed tree trunks and somehow managed to remain straight, so instead of getting full bath I only got waist deep into the water. There was no point in climbing to the tree trunk now, so I just waded across, climbed up cliff on the other side and walked up to the trail. Still shaking walked up the trail till the bend and to the control from there.

#10: went around the tough ground, reached the road and ran to the bridge, over the bridge and pass the bend until I saw re-entrant ending on my right. From there cut to the forest, went around the big re-entrant and proceed north until the hill end. From there turned left and down to the control.

#11: went over a little spur and stopped because of intense pain in my chest. Sat down and rested a bit, tried to ran again, but pain was coming back. Walked. Walking felt OK. So I walked the rest of the course...
Along the creek, up the south re-entrant, then west along the southern dry-ditch to the control.

#12: avoided both re-entrants by walking close to the buildings, reached the road and walked north to the control.

#13: walked to the trails crossing and followed the trail and later the dry-ditch to the control. Couldn't see the control from the top, but realized which small re-entrant I should go down to and indeed the control was there.

#14: skipped one hill and went up the second one along the dry-ditch. From the top turned west to the control.

and finish: made a mistake of staying on the same side of the re-entrant and had to walk over lots of fallen trees, finally crossed to the other side, reached the trail and walked to the finish.

Here is my route (blue - mostly running, brown - mostly walking). Click on the image to enlarge.



Thanks to Artem for the very challenging course!

Score-O in the South Umstead (Dec 13)

As Ron nicely put it, when asked about the course: "it was moist" :)

It was indeed. And cold too. Let me tell you, after working in Mexico for the last three weeks, it was quite a shock to me. I was also completely out of shape (12 hours working days and a lot of real Mexican food do that to people :-)).

Fortunately, there was 45 min option for the Score-O - exactly what I needed.

My plan was very simple. First of all I decided to warm up by using the road and attack 4 controls north of it (66, 74, 75 and 69). Then take 72 and, if time permits, take 73, 77 and 68 on the way back. It worked fine. I didn't have time to take 77 and 78, but it was OK.

Here is how I ran:

#54, 55 and 56: took them during my warm-up run :-)

#66: went north watching buildings on my left, then reached the re-entrant and proceed without going to the bottom, but using the western slope. It got pretty steep around the control, so I was glad I didn't go down initially.

#74: crossed the re-entrant and walked up the hill. Then ran down the re-entrant without crossing the spur (because it was full of fallen trees) and went up the other re-entrant to the control.

#75: simply ran along the creek all the way to the control

#69: walked up the hill (as it turned up, too far), missed the re-entrant, but quickly realized it when saw the road gleaming further south, so turned north, down the re-entrant and to the control. Then went back to the road.

#67: there I checked the time. I had 22 mins left. It was clear that I wouldn't be able to take 67 as well as 73/77/68, so I had to choose. I chose 5 extra points :-) and went for 67 with an idea to take only 73 on the way back. Used the road till the bend by the control and took the control from there.

#73: Went back to the road and ran/walked up the hill using the road. From there turned south to the very top of the hill and followed it to the control.

#53: returned back to the road and raced to the finish. Realized that I had an extra minute and made a little detour to take 53, then finished with 44:17 and 114 points.

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.



Thanks to Artem for organizing the event! It was exactly what I needed :-)

Advanced event in the South Umstead (Nov 15)

Before I talk about today's event, just a few words about the Raven Rock one. Main reason I didn't post about it is that I didn't have Raven Rock's map, so I couldn't post a picture. I probably could easily obtain it, but I was also not happy about the event and just let it go. Raven Rock events are all the same to me: I always make at least one big mistake, there are always misplaced controls, I always struggle with the extremely dense forest and outdated map. And as a result I always spend much more time on the course than I would had liked and come back exhausted and frustrated. This time wasn't an exception:
-- I made a mistake of #4 (43) by stopping 50 yards before the control and spending 10 mins looking there.
-- #12 (57) and #13 (48) were misplaced. I reached supposed location of #12 cleanly, but control wasn't there. Unfortunately, second dry ditch almost disappeared, so I had some doubts about the spot and went around re-checking it from two directions. After I was certain that the spot was correct I thought that the control could be misplaced into a parallel dry ditch in the dark green area near by. So I went there and indeed the control was there. Spent a lot of extra time there. Then I went for #13. Again reached the spur without problems, but control wasn't there. Checked it from two directions - no control, but the spur was correct. I know that many people found this control, maybe it was just laying on the ground (I probably was the last one to be there)? Anyway, I didn't find it and moved on. That's why I got into Brown results. I should have been placed into Red results, because that's what I completed.
-- the map was even more outdated (surprise :-)) and even more dense (and I am not even talking about the trap I got into while picking up one of blue controls - I spent 45 mins going through 300 meters of presumably "white" area, trying not to stuck in thorny vines forever there...). #7 and #11 on Red were also brutal.

So as you can see I wasn't happy. At least it didn't rain :-)

Now, today's event was great! Perfect weather, interesting controls. Hills killed me, of course, so I ended up walking a lot, but after Raven Rock I didn't mind. Controls were not particularly hard, but not easy either and the whole course was very physically demanding. I ended up doing green because of it - Red would have been too much with all those hills.

I also had a pleasure to run/walk along Josef almost all the way. He caught up with me on #4 (which I didn't take optimally) and after that it was back and forth. We were still running independently but were meeting almost on every control. I finished first, but he spent two less minutes on the course.

Here is how I ran:

#1: through the parking lot and used the trail until I passed the graveyard and it started to bend; went into the forest, but soon realized that I am weering too far south; made a correction and soon reached top part of the gully; proceed down and soon found the control.

#2: to the road; then used it till the crossing with power line; from there went east east north and soon saw re-entrant on my left; went along it, crossed big side re-entrant, went over the hill and took the control.

#3: went along the slope gradually going down; then went around the hill till I saw the gully; went up to the control.

#4: I didn't want to cross the creek after so many rainy days, so I went for the bridge. As appeared it wasn't the best choice - the creek wasn't bad at all. Anyway I went up and down through a few hill to the Whispering Pines parking lot; from there I ran south down the flat hill weering to my right so I would hit the bridge. Reached the creek right by the bridge. Went over the bridge and used trail to get close to the control. Caught up with Josef there (he by passed me going straight across the creek). After the saddle went south east, crossed the creek and went a bit up the slope. Proceeded along the slope to the control.

#5: Over the hill, crossed the creek and reached the trail. Instead of going straight, decided to use the trail and then run on the flat white hill. So I did. I think it was a right decision as I again caught up with Josef, who went straight.

#6: We looked at each other and both said "Green" :-) Down the hill to the trail, used trail a little bit, then crossed two creeks while they were still small and went up the hill. Over the hill, down to the creek and up to the control.

#7: To the road and used it until the first bend. From there went through the green to re-entrant and up the hill; reached top part of the dry ditch and went a bit down to the control.

#8: I decided not to go around any of the big re-entrants and just cross them. So I went down to the re-entrant and up the hill; walked to the next re-entrant, crossed it too and went up. Noticed a small side re-entrant on the slope, so I knew exactly where I was. Proceeded to the control from there.

#9: followed the hill to south west until the re-entrant. I wanted to take the control cleanly, so I wanted a good attack point. I decided to use small re-entrant north from the control as one. So I crossed the big re-entrant and moved west west north until I saw my small re-entrant on my right. From there I took compass bearing and went straight to the control.

#10: down to the re-entrant and up the hill, crossed the road and soon reached trails crossing. From there aimed for the control.

#11: Up to the trail and used trail to go around the green area; when the green area ended, went down the hill to the control.

#12: down the re-entrant, up the hill (recurring, isn't it?), over the hill and there I saw benches along the trail; crossed the creek and went up watching side re-entrant on my left. Took the control and went pretty much straight to the finish (avoiding green though).

It took me 72:01 - not bad taking in account how much I walked during the course.

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.



Thanks to Nadya and Charles for the great event!

October 18 at South Umstead (Whispering Pines)

What can I say? The course was awesome. Very difficult area, very challenging controls, no easy legs. The weather was accommodating, cold, but not very cold, so I could run is a T-Shirt, and, fortunately, no rain. Also almost no spiders - finally!

I was choosing between Red and Green. With green having remote finish, the actual distance seemed almost identical, plus I had a chance to win Red while many hard runners were going on Blue ;-) So I went on Red (and indeed won). Having said all that, my run wasn't 100% clean. While I avoided making big mistakes, there were 3-4 controls where I lost time. Some of them were very well hidden and I missed them, some were result of me not approaching them in optimal way.

Here is how I ran:

#1: along the saddle, then instead of going further uphill, I kept my elevation, crossed the re-entrant and kept on on the same elevation will the control.

#2: walked up the hill and ended up by the north spur of the re-entrant; went to the other side of the re-entrant and then downhill; crossed the creek and walked up the re-entrant on the other side (I wasn't entirely sure if it re-entrant with or without the control, I thought it wasn't the one though); after I made sure that control is not there, went over the hill to the proper re-entrant and took the control.

#3: went down from the hill and ran to the control using the lower ground

#4: kept my elevation, then crossed the creek to the trail; used trail until I reached the top of the hill and went north there (the forest was very open there); used the hill as far as I could without risk of getting past the control and went down; then continued along the slope till the control.

#5: I liked that open hill very much, so returned to the trail using the same route; used the trail, then a little bit of the road, then cut down through the re-entrant; saw Mihai running down from the control (not sure why).

#6: continued up, then down and then went east to the lake shore and trail. Used the trail to go around the lake; walked over the hill, across the re-entrant and up the slope, but didn't see the control. Got confused for a moment, then decided to take another bearing and went to the trail, from there returned back and this time got the control.

#7: to the trail, then used the trail till the bend; from there went across the creek and north-east aiming for the re-entrant just before the control; apparently was going too south, so didn't see that re-entrant and hit the next one; from there continued looking for the control, but instead saw the trail; realized what happened and returned back to the control.

#8: to the trail, over the hill and down to the control looking at the power line on my left so I could judge distance from it. The control was down on the ground, so I put it back up.

#9: down to the lake and crossed the power line there, which was easier at that place; run on the elevation line, then crossed some unmapped trail and went up the re-entrant on the other side to the control.

#10: checked my decision to keep going in Red - I still felt good, so I went for #10. Simply went along the creek counting re-entrant on the right and then going around the cliff. Then used the opening to get to the control. Again saw Mihai running from it ;-) As the whole way was slightly down, I actually felt refreshed after this leg.

#11: not sure I made a good decision there. I decided to avoid the big hill and returned back to the creek via the opening, then used the side creek to get to the power line and further. The problem was that right after the power line the creek became hard to go along due to green area, so I lost some time there. Passed one re-entrant on my right and caught up with Roman. Followed Roman to #11. Or to be more exact crawled behind Roman to #11 - that steep re-entrant almost killed me.

#12: to the trail watching re-entrant on my left, then straight down to the control

#13: up the hill, then west, crossed the re-entrant and turned south keeping slope on my right, ran right by the control without seeing it... Continued till another re-entrant, realized that I was too far, turned back and saw the control.

#14: straight across the re-entrant, reached the dry ditch, looked left, looked right, didn't see the control (duh!); thought maybe it is not the ditch on the map as it was very shallow and went further, didn't see another dicth, so turned back; saw Roman running toward me and he pointed me back to that ditch where people were clustering around the control. Went there, it was very well hidden: not only down in this little ditch but also behind log, so no surprise I didn't see it from 3 meters...

#15: to the road and used the road; cut to the trail from the opening and used the trail until it started to bend down; left the trail and went toward the control, keeping re-entrant on my right, but went too far south and hit a set of gullies; found them on the map and used them as an attack point.

#16: to the trail's bend, across the creek and up the re-entrant

#17 (or #18): was looking at #17 from green/brown and choosing between two possible routes there; fortunately decided to use the trail, so when I finally realized that I should not go to that control, I was on the right path to my #17 (18). So I used the trail all the way, then passed the saddle by the start and turned to the control.

#18 (or #22): aimed to the bridge, from there went north along the creek counting re-entrants on the left, then went up the one with control (again my legs were giving up there...)

And then down to the creek and up to the finish aiming for buildings.
total time: 1:35:59

Huge thanks to Joseph, Ruth and Josef for making this event.

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.

Results for the Sep 20 event

Published the results: http://backwoodsok.org/results-from-09-20-2009-at-south-umstead

Took me several hours to reconcile the registration cards with the downloaded results spreadsheet. At the end I still had 2 registration cards not assigned to any entry, as if those two people never started...

The event was a blur. This was the first time Tanya and I were doing the September event, when renewals are due and usually many people come. What can I say, it was the tough one. I can hardly remember anything from the first hour and a half. And I am so grateful to Artem, Eugene, Mihai and Bill for taking care of the controls pickup - you guys are great!

Controls wise, I was surprised that nobody complained about #44 - it was the one I had troubles setting correctly. The other one was #53 - which was indeed a tough one, I did checked it from 3 different directions just in case. #48 "the pit", well... you know :-) And, of course, #50. Actually, I didn't think much about that one - it was quite easy to find and get to from the top. But Tanya did tell me after she set the control that I was cruel to others by placing the control there. But it was fun, wasn't it?

Ribbons are set for Sep 20 event

Spent last two days setting ribbons for the Sep 20 event. Had some troubles finding exact spots for several advanced controls. What can I say? Don't expect an easy run through a clear forest. The advanced courses shaped out to be rather "greenish" and controls not easy to find.

Also couldn't find a good way to put RGB courses on one map. So I'll be printing them separately. You'll need to choose a course right from the start. No switching.

August 9 in the south west Umstead (Showers and Spiders)

As Josef put it: "Showers and Spiders" :-) It was very hot and very humid - peak of the summer. I did very well again, but made a mistake of spending all my energy on the first sprint so I had nothing left for the second one and instead of making 18/18 mins I ended up with 16/20 mins splits. Controls were from the "advanced" category, but quite honestly it didn't make any difference for me. Both sprints felt just like regular "Orange" type sprints, I only made one mistake on the course B (on the first control). Other than that it was very straightforward. And the forest was very open, so it was easy to run through.

Tanya dropped me by the start, and had to go back home to drive Michael to the urgent care with flu symptoms. However, when she came back, Michael woke up rather refreshed and decided to wait till Monday. Which is good, but Tanya had to skip the event.. Oh well, maybe next time, in any case she wasn't very upset seeing what kind of weather we got. And yes, we are guilty of not un-registering late yesterday evening when we decided about that urgent care visit.

OK. Here is how I ran:

Sprint A

#1: straight over the re-entrant

#2: east, keeping on the same elevation until I crossed the dry dicth, then through the green area (jumping over fallen trees) to the upper part of the re-entrant; down the slope on the other side into the big re-entrant (all this time weering a bit south, to be below the control); crossed the big re-entrant and went north on the other side to the control.

#3: straight, noticing a pile of rocks and the first tree along the way

#4: going north north east so to appear on the right of the control; then went left on the slope, crossed a few unmapped dry-ditches and found the pit

#5: up the hill to the west west north till I saw the upper part of the small re-entrant; then turned north to the control

#6: straight looking for the re-entrant

#7: down the re-entrants and used creek crossings as an attack point

#8: gradually descendend the slope so I reach the bottom further south, went over the hill right there and then went up the side re-entrant

#9: over the hill and then followed the slope to get to the control

And up the hill to the finish.
Spent 16:09 on this course and felt really bad and dizzy after the finish. The last sprint up the slope to the finish was definetely not needed.

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge.



It took me more than half an hour to catch my breathing and recuperate. I even conpemplated on not doing the second sprint but at the end decided just to take it easy and walk more. And so I did. Suprisingly the time for the second sprint wasn't bad either despite my walking and making one 90 secs mistake. At the end I felt much better after finishing the second sprint comparing to my condition when I was starting it.

Sprint B

#1: went south instead of weering to the east a bit more and overshot; didn't see the re-entrant forming (ir was very flat), but finally noticed that I was going unexpectedly up, plus I hit a trail which wasn't of the map. Stopped and decided that I overshot, so turned back and indeed saw the re-entrant right there.

#2: simply followed the slope

#3: down the re-entrant, walked over the hill; then walked uphill to the control

#4: crossed the re-entrant and walked up the hill, then ran in the same north west direction till I saw the rocks and control

#5: north east to the upper part of the re-entrant, then to the eastern corner of the hill (it was possible to see how the hill shapes out)

#6: straight down and up

#7: used the upper ground for a bit then gradually went down to the creeks crossing; followed the re-entrant then walked over the hill, noticed dry-ditches and took the control from there

#8: followed the left slope to the control. The control was on the ground, but the pit was not hard to find

#9: walked up the hill along the tiny re-entrant then followed the slope to the control

And the went accross the re-entrant and up the hill to the finish.
Ended up with 20:28.

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.




Huge thanks to Josef and Joseph for making this extra event! It was great.

May 17 in South Umstead

The day which started with heavy rain turned into the perfect weather for a run by the time I started. What a pleasant surprise for the middle of May event! Unfortunately, the morning rain seemed to scare away some orienteers, but those who came didn't regret it at all. Not only the weather was good, but also the advanced courses Charles and Nadya designed were a real treat.

Tanya went on Orange (which was on a yellowish side today) and I ran the Green (as usual). I ended up with result I am very happy about: made just two small/moderate mistakes and finished with 1:05 time (which I think is a good one).

Here is how I ran:

#1: cut to the trail using the re-entrant as a handrail, then used the trails to get to the control

#2: went east to avoid a small re-entrant, then cut across the big one to the control

#3: avoided the green area by getting up to the trail, used the trail and cut down to the control

#4: up to the trail, used it to get to the road and went down avoiding the green area, saw "our usual control dry ditches" on the left and turned right to the control

#5: went around the big re-entrant and green area, reaches the ridge, ran north east, passed re-entrant on the right, went down the slope a little bit and ran along the slope to the control.

#6: It was very well hidden, wasn't it? :-) Anyway, I went down to the creek, crossed it and started to look for a gully. It wasn't there. I wandered around a little bit and then realized that the gully should be on the slope facing the river. Went there and noticed the control, which was indeed very well hidden.

#7: went down, hoping to use a route on the river bank, but it simply wasn't there. The cliff was going straight to the water and there was no place to walk underneath the cliff. So I had to climb the steep slope up. From the top I went south-east, crossed the re-entrant above the green part and went down the hill to the control.

#8: went south to the road and south south west from there trying to avoid loosing too much elevation in re-entrants. Miscalculated and ended up further west than I thought, went up looking for gullies, but they weren't there. Stopped and realized the mistake, turned left and ran to the control.

#9: simply went over the hill and across the creek, then turned left to the gully.

#10: went down to the shore, thus avoiding elevation gain and used road to get to the control area. Ran a bit over, climbed up and had to return back a bit to the gully with the control.

#11: made a stupid mistake. Instead of going south to the road I went north to the same road... When I reached the road I realized what happened, but wasn't in a mood to climb back up right there. So I ran north east on the road and cut across in the less steep and green part. Crossed the opening and very carefully found one rock and then used it as an attack point to get to the rocks with the control.

#12: simply ran along the river and then used the trail to get close to the control. From the hill went north west noticing re-entrant on the right, crossed the creek and found the control.

#13: went north east to the trail, used the trail a bit until I saw the re-entrant forming on the right and went down into it to the control

#14: returned back to the trail a bit north from the point where I left it. Went down toward the re-entrant, but didn't go all the way down. Instead ran on its right slope until I saw the gully which I used as a catching feature and an attack point.

finish: just ran north, spending the energy I still had left.

Thanks to Charles and Nadya for the great course!

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.

January 25 event in South Umstead

Back in Belarus I participated in orienteering events when snow was knee-to-waist deep, marshes were covered with a thin and easily breakable layer of ice, freezing mixture of snow and rain was falling. Yes, I've been through some cold events. Well, today's event took it rightful place on my list. Though it wasn't snowing or raining, 7 hours in near zero (Celsius) temperature with 5 of them mostly standing still made the trick. Brrr...

Apart from that the event was a success. Surprisingly a lot of people came (including a big group of 30 kids and parents who went on Orange). There were a lot of rented sticks and many people attended the class (thanks, Ken!). Many new faces, the club is visibly growing.

Also Mihai brought new and shiny big Umstead Park maps for sale. It is amazing how much work BOK put into it and it was gratifying to see people buying them. We plan to have them on some of the future events as well.

As for the courses, there were only two complains. One was about Red being unusually long and another one about Red having a confusing "cross" between controls 6 and 7. Several runners mistakenly took 7 before 6 and had to visit 7 twice as a result. What can I say... I really wanted to have this 1KM long uninterrupted leg and making the course cross itself was the only way I could achieve it. People who ran it "properly" ended up likening this challenging leg :-)

Finally, I want to thank all the helpers. As usual many people helped and I appreciate it very much.

• Ken Hanson and Terese Camp - beginners class and controls pick up
• Michael and Tanya Stemkovski - controls setup, pick up, registration, start and finish
• Bill Eberstein - controls pickup
• David Seibert's family - controls pickup (I hope I remembered the name correctly. I apologize if not..)
• Joseph Huberman and Ruth Bromer - courses review
  

January 4 avanced event in Umstead South

Totally disastrous event for me. First time since the last Raven Rock event I got lost on a control. Plus a few additional bad decisions. Plus slippery ground and several falls. Plus my stupid choice of running Red instead of Green, so now my knee hurts. Plus a wrongly placed control. Did I miss anything?..

Well, regardless, here is how I managed through the course.

#1. Simple and easy straight run, noticing rock piles and then a gully before I reached the control.

#2. Walked through the green to the road and then used the road to get close to the control.

#3. Avoided gaining extra elevation by going to the left initially and then cutting down. Control was in its usual place :-) There is always a control at that boulder.

#4. Reached the road as fast as I could, ran till the road's bend and went down using the eastern slope of the re-entrant with an idea to end up right from the control, so it could be an easy find. Ha! The control was in the wrong place, so my plan didn't work. I spent considerable time double-checking my position there and finally came to conclusion that the control was somehow misplaced. By that time there were several runners lurking in the same area looking for the control. Then I noticed Nadya sprinting to the right and correctly guessed that she saw the control. Indeed, it was there (see the red arrow below). Right there I made the biggest mistake of the day: I decided to go Red instead of Green. I guess I was well rested after leisure search for the misplaced control and thought I could do bigger course today... Also since then Nadya, Charles and I formed some kind of a train. We ran separately but always converged at the controls. After my disaster at #10, Charles went ahead and Nadya left me at #12 too, as I wasn't running anymore.

#7. Easy. Straight to the road and used the road and then trail to get to the control.

#8. Back to the road, crossed the bridge. Then made a mistake by going south-east instead of north-east. Quickly corrected it, but had to walk up a steep hill as a result. The rest was easy - up the hill keeping the re-entrant on my left till the control.

#9. Went north counting re-entrants till the correct one.

#10. Reached the road and ran west counting the re-entrants. It looks like I veered to the north too much as well as miscounted re-entrants. Anyway, I ended up on the hill AFTER the control thinking that I was still before the control. Met Nadya there (apparently confused too) and we proceed further west till the next big re-entrant. The re-entrant didn't look like the correct one, so we stayed there for a little while thinking where we are. I was totally lost as that point and decided to go down to the river to restore my bearing. Just a few steps down we reached an earth bank which shown us where we are. Ouch. Walked back up that huge hill and then down to the control.

#11. I was too exhausted to try to go back up that hill again, so went down to the river and reached the control from that side.

#12. Walked through the green to the trail, ran across the river and then walked up the hill to the control. Was barely walking at that time.

#13. No way I was going to cross all those re-entrants, so I went south to the trail and cut across only one of the re-entrants back to the trail. Stayed on the trail and then went down to the control (also avoiding green by doing so).

#14. Back to the trail, then used the trail bend as an attack point. Easy.

#15. Slowly walked by the amphitheater heading for the control. Thought about finishing right there, but decided to complete the course.

#16. Used the road until I passed the depression, then cut across the power line and reached the control from the north.

#17. Just went west, reached the road and ran to the finish.

Time spent on the course: 1 hour 39 minutes

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.

November 16 event in the Umstead Park (Whispering Pines)

Yet another great day for orienteering. No rain, and the temperature was just right.

We arrived at early (at 11.30) as Michael and I volunteered to help with the start and registration. So, naturally, we worked during the first hour until Nadya and Charles released us. And Tanya was watching two little girls our friends left with us for the weekend. With 40 girl scouts we had a lot of people attending the event, many newcomers too, which is always good to see. The only bad thing was the download box not working (again!). I really see it as a problem now. We should either test it a day before or get a spare one (which I guess is expensive...). Artem and Ken kept doing some manipulations with the box and at the end they were able to fix it somehow, but many runners left without the printed results.

Initially we planned that all three of us will run and watch after the girls in turns, but we ended up only with me and Tanya running. Michael decided to stay at the start.

Tanya ran the Orange course and I did Green. Well, actually, I did my usual "1 hour" run, which turned to be Green this time. I liked the course. It wasn't very difficult, but Nadya and Charles hidden the controls pretty well (as usual :-)). It added to the challenge. Also there were a lot of steep hills on the route, which I couldn't avoid and had to walk up quite a bit. Anyway, here is how I ran:

#1: went to the left, crossed the re-entrant and walked uphill; then when I saw cabins on the left, turned and went down to the control.
#2: walked uphill, then ran north until the slope started to go down. There I stood for a few seconds and located the stony ground on the other side of the re-entrant (I wouldn't be able to use this trick in summer time!). Then just ran straight to that stony ground and up to the control.
#3: walked up the hill, ran down aiming to the bend of a re-entrant, crossed it and walked up another hill (I told you, a lot of uphills walks...), crossed the re-entrant and ran along the slope will the control.
#4: straight to the road and them took compass bearing to the control. Missed it and reached the open ground far to the left. Corrected the mistake and took the control. Met Ken and Terese there and we ran together back to the road.
#5: used the road to get there, attacked from the road's turn, watched and counted gullies and dry-ditches without crossing them; then turned to the cluster of dry-ditches with the control.
#6: thought about using the road again, but decided against it; crossed the first re-entrant in its higher part, then went down into the second one and ran along the slope to the re-entrant with the control.
#7: walked up to the road and ran till it started to curve; met Bill there; ran by the big re-entrant and crossed to the small re-entrant I was looking for; unfortunately, didn't notice it and reached another branch (eastern) of the same re-entrant; looked for the control there, didn't find it, looked at the compass and realized the mistake; went west and got the control.
#8: ran north-north-west over the hill and down the slope (but not straight down!), then cut through the green to the trail; the green area was bad, I could have probably been better off running all the way down that hill and then turning west, but I really wanted to reach that trail; after I got to the trail the control was very easy to find.
#9: used the road to get there, that was a mistake: the road went up, so I spent a lot of effort; I should have used the lower ground to get to the creek instead. Once at the creek, the control was easy to get.
I looked at the clock at #9 and realized that I spent 35 minutes to get that far. I wanted not to exceed 1 hour, so I had to turn back now, which meant finishing on Green.
#13: walked all the way up to the road, then ran east crossing and counting upper parts of re-entrants, reached the hill and followed it to the saddle.
#14: ran south-west using the high ground, then went down to the re-entrant and reached the road; used the road to get all the way to the control and walked up crossing gullies till I found it.
#15: back to the road, across the bridge; ran by the shore till the first re-entrant, but it was very slippery on the dry leaves in that area, so I decided to get away from the shore asap; went over the hill to the middle of the second re-entrant, crossed it, went up another hill to the beginning of the third re-entrant and aimed to the control from there; unfortunately missed and realized the mistake only when I saw that familiar stony ground ahead; turned back and took the control.
#16: was too tired to attempt the straight run, so used the re-entrant to get almost to the lake, then went up the control's re-entrant; it was easy to find this way.
Then barely managed to crawl up to the camp - the slope was very steep and slippery...

Ended up spending exactly 1 hour on the course.

Huge thanks to Nadya and Charles for organizing the event, it was fun!

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.

From Orienteering

November 2 event in the South West Umstead Park

Very interesting orienteering today. No trails, no easy controls, every leg was challenging. In conjunction with perfect weather it made the course very satisfying and enjoyable. Big thanks to Joseph, Ruth and Josef!

There was also an unusual start location. We had to carpool and drive to the Old Reedy Creek road entrance. I've never been there, though, the forest itself was somewhat familiar, as Tanya and I organized an advanced event in these parts a year ago.

But back to the event. We signed up for 9.15 group, arrived on time and carpooled with Nadya and Charles to the start location. Tanya had to be in the Raleigh Little Theater shortly after noon, so we had only 2 hours to run our courses. Tanya and Michael decided to go together on Brown and I was going to tackle the Green course. I decided upfront that I must not run more than one hour (because of my knee), so I was going to watch time and switch to Brown or Red depending on how fast I was going.

Tanya and Michael started and I followed in a few minutes.

#1 was probably the easiest control on the course, but even this one was carefully hidden, so after I found it I told myself that I should expect a difficult course.

#2 proved the statement nicely. I tried to go straight north keeping to the higher ground, but veered to the left and crossed the creek to the west of the spot I was aiming to. Then I saw Tanya, Michael and Larisa even further to the left and ran toward them. That was a mistake. When I met them they appeared to be sufficiently lost and when I looked around I realized that I was rather lost myself. I decided (correctly) that I must had run to far to the west and walked east, then Tanya noticed #17. I ran toward it, checked the number, located it on the map and quickly ran to #2. Lucky.

#3 was a disaster. It took me 10 minutes to find it! Ouch...
I went up the hill and watched the re-entrant on the left. When it ended I turned north-west with an intention to cut north when the hill starts sloping down. The problem with this approach was the fact that the hill proved to be very flat and I simply couldn't distinguish where to turn. Plus I veered to the left again. As a result I reached slopes which were going down to the creek to far to the left (sounds familiar, right?). Several other people were walking in the same area looking for #3 as well. I noticed Eugene and Miles, there was somebody else too. After a few minutes of aimless wandering I decided to find a new attack point, went down to the creek and found the creeks junction. Yes, I was too far to the left, but at least I knew where I was! From the creeks junction I ran along the big creek and took #3. Whew...

I took #4 cleanly. Ran east up the hill, then north-east-east in parallel to the slope, crossed a re-entrant (again rather flat one) and then went up the hill toward the control.

Avoided an area with fallen trees by walking uphill and cutting straight to the road, used the road for about a hundred meters and went down to #5 using northern slope of the re-entrant. I would probably be better off by simply using the re-entrant's bottom, as there were a lot of fallen trees on the slope.

Crossed the re-entrant and walked straight uphill, then ran south-south-west, crossed a small re-entrant with a dry ditch and went south down the spur until I reached the bottom and found #6 a few meters further.

#6 to #7 was the longest leg and I am happy with the way I handled it. First I walked south-south-west over the big hill, then ran keeping the high ground, noticed beginning of the big re-entrant on my left and finally hit the top western branch of another big re-entrant I was running toward. Exactly where I wanted. From that point it was easy: down to the bottom, then south and looked for the pit across the second western branch.

I chose the slope running to get to #8. I think I would had been better of walking uphill and running there instead. The slope was cluttered with fallen trees and there were quite a few dry ditches too, not an easy run.

#8 was very close to the finish and I had already spent 42 minutes and was tired. So I decided to cut the course short and finish on Brown. The funny thing was that if I would simply walk from #8 to the finish it would be Brown! But I thought Brown also included #9, 10, 18 - 20... Which in reality was Green. So I ended up running Green thinking I was running Brown.

I lost time on #9. I was tired and walked up the hill. I ended up too close to the road and couldn't see the control which was about a hundred meters to the east. Finally I realized what was going on, went east and saw the control from far away.

At #9 I also parted with Eugene. We happened to run with similar speed from #3 till #9. Some controls I took faster, others - Eugene, but the end result was that we saw each other on all these controls. At #9 Eugene got a headway, as he didn't wandered to the west as I did, but apparently he lost a lot of time getting to #10, so I took it earlier and proceed with the rest of the Green course.

#10 was easy to find, but hard to get to as I was very tired. I went down to the re-entrant and further east to the big creeks junction. Then walked up the hill, crossed another re-entrant in its higher part and proceeded to the small re-entrants with the control from the top. When I reached them, simply ran down to take #10.

Walked back uphill, then west till I reached the familiar re-entrant, went up and to the top western branch to take #18.

Walked south uphill, then continued south, noticing the beginning of the second western branch and avoiding the green area. Then down to the control (#19).

Remembering the hard northern slope and crossed the creek and took souther slope. Well, it wasn't any easier... Still the control (#20) was easy to find by going along the slope and then up toward the road.

Ran further toward the road and then to the finish. Finish time: 68:09.
The time was an "OK one", #2 and #3 added minutes...
But I really enjoyed the course, and that's what counts, right?

Here is my route. Click on the image to enlarge. Blue - mostly running, yellow-brown - mostly walking.

From Orienteering

October 19 event in the South Umstead Park (Whispering Pines)

South Umstead and Whispering Pines? Not quite. White, Yellow and Orange course were indeed in that area, but advanced courses were set in the eastern part of park, way north east from the Whispering Pines Camp. With remote start and remote finish all advanced courses pretty much gained 3 extra kilometers or so. Some people didn't like it, but most did. The courses turned out to be quite challenging and orienteerers got to visit some new areas of the park, which is always nice when taking in account how many meets we do have in Umstead throughout the year.

The weather was perfect and turnaround was beyond expectations. What can I say, all the maps (except for 8 advanced ones) got spent! I don't know how Joseph guessed the exact numbers for each course, but somehow he did!

Also so many people helped with this event, especially with the controls pickup despite the controls being so far away! I am very grateful. Thank you very much! Here is the full list (and I hope I didn't mess up the names...):

• Joseph Huberman and Ruth Bromer - help with courses design, beginners class and maps printing.
• Holly Kuestner, Molly Nicol, Nadya and Charles Scharlau, Larisa Nord, Artem Kazantsev, Terese Camp - controls pickup.

And, of course, Michael helped tremendously. While it was my and Tanya's names that appeared on the schedule for this event, it was Michael who did a lot today to make the event a success. Tanya had to spent almost all day in the Raleigh Little Theater setting lights for the next show, so she drove us into the park around 9.30 AM and returned only around 3 PM just in time to help with controls pickup. One smart decision we made was to take a bike to the meet. With advanced controls being so far away, it would had been very hard to set the ones visible from the road in the morning. But using the bike, Michael was able to turn around very quickly. Then he set eastern part of white and yellow controls, while I was setting the tables up. When he returned, I ran and set the rest of white, yellow and orange controls. So, by 11.15 we were ready.

People started to arrive shortly after that and soon enough there was a huge line to the register where I was working. I want to apologize for you having to wait in the line... Having remote start and finish for advanced course slowed the process, as I had to explain how it worked. Michael was working at the start, and there were no delays there. The next two hours were a blur for me - so many people showed up! I can hardly remember details, I know only that Joseph did the class somewhere around that time and then I ran out of the maps. Fortunately, everyone got the map they asked for, but we were very close to upsetting someone.

Then people started finishing and to my relief everyone seemed to like the courses. The only critique I got was about a legend for the control 69 (#9 of Red/Green). I should have specify that the control was in western dry ditch, instead of just dry ditch. The most difficult control proved to be 65 (#5 on advanced courses) - a lot of people had troubles finding it clearly from the first attempt. Also 45 (#3) and 41 (#11) caused some delays.

All in all, very good event. I am happy with the way it went and I am very grateful for all the help I had received prior and during this event.

Till the next time!

Preparing for the Oct 19 event in South Umstead

I will be out of country from Sep 21 till Oct 11, so this week was the only time I left for the preparation of the Oct 19 event. It will be in Whispering Pines, but the courses will be set in such a way that they won't intersect in any way with Sep 21 event courses. In fact, Red, Green and Brown courses will have a remote start and finish and will touch areas of the park I personally have never been before!

Here is where the advanced courses will reside:



Very physically demanding courses, if I may add. A lot of up and down running, plus long walk to the start. Beware :-)

Anyway, I designed the course on Friday and Joseph and Ruth made several fixes and great suggestions (thank you!), so now the courses are final, pending only the park's approval.

On Sunday I went and hanged ribbons on all advanced controls and a few orange ones. What can I say. A lot of hills are out there.
Saw a few tortoises and a big black snake (a little less than 2 yards). The snake was right under the tree where I was going to hang a ribbon, so we stayed there cautiously watching each other for a few minutes before the snake decided to move away.

The only thing remaining before I go for the trip is to visit all white, yellow and orange controls and write down their legends. I think I'll do it on Tuesday evening, but we'll see.