Coon Bluff: Classics
Results
Saturday, February 20, 2021

Writeup

Saturday February 21st started off as a chilly Arizona morning, but it quickly became a nice day for our Coon Bluff Classics event. The heat was mild, the sun was soft by Arizona standards, and the air was fresh. Pretty much perfect.

Gary set three Classic courses (Orange, Brown and Green). The courses were on the short side so that people would have some energy left over for the big Score-O the next day at First Water. Thanks to Mother Nature, runners had nice views of the surrounding scenery.

We also provided a Score-O course for our JROTC participants. Over 40 JROTC students ran the Score-O course. See those results here: http://gphxo.org/Results/2021/20210220_CoonBluff_Score-O_Results.htm.

We used an improved basemap this year, prepared by Ron and Gary. We think the updated map makes navigation easier and gives course setters more control placement options.

Just over 40 people ran the Classics. Will Enger of Seattle blazed through the Green course in a time of 36:25, with Andy Wenzel and Teke Vedat not far behind. Marcy Beard was the fastest female runner on Green. John Arana finished first on the Brown course in 1:02:09, following by Brian Durrell and Shane Lacanienta. For the Orange course, the team named Looking 4 Trouble were faster than all others. Team Willis, Shane Glynn and Scott Woods finished very close behind. Sophie Naughton was the fastest female on the Orange course. Congrats to our top finshers, and "well done!" to everyone.

We hosted over 80 orienteers in all, another record turnout. One side effect of having a large turnout is that participants see other orienteers while out on their course. We got a few comments from people who said it was actually fun to encounter other runners.

Some folks came from out of town, like Tucson and Flagstaff. Some came from way out of town, like Wisconsin, California, Washington, Alaska and Colorado. We are always happy to see our friends from other clubs. Special mention goes to Wayne Cottrell who drove from LA (yes, Los Angeles, CA) to Arizona for the weekend. He's been doing that for a year!

We could not have held this event without volunteers. Dan Yamashiro worked the registration and timing tables with Gary. Ron Birks coordinated with JROTC leaders, updated the website, did the safety plan and compiled the scoring with Dan. Shane Lacanienta handled social media and made another of his great videos. Check it out on Facebook or Instagram. Loran Willis shot some nice drone video which Shane used. I never get tired of drone video, do you? Didn't think so! You can look Loran up on Instagram too. Marc Largie, Shane Lacanienta, John Beard and Marcy Beard picked up controls. Other club members who ensured we had insurance, permits, etc. Finally, a big shout goes out to the JROTC leaders who spent their time organizing their outings.

It was such a pleasure to share Coon Bluff and our courses with so many orienteers. Thanks for coming to our event!