Sophie's Flat
1.5-/3.0-Hour Score-O, Short/Long Classic

Saturday, February 25, 2023

After seven days around Tucson, the Southwest Spring Week moved to the Phoenix area for two days of events hosted by the Phoenix club (GPHXO). On Saturday, February 25, we had an excellent turnout for our Sophie's Flat events near Wickenburg, AZ. The weather was warm and sunny for the entire event. The area contains rugged desert terrain, with no big, long climbs but plenty of smaller ones. The footing throughout the area is difficult, with some areas that are easily runnable and others with loose rock on the climbs and descents.

On the 3-hour Score-O course, Francis Falardeau was the only participant to visit all 27 controls in the 3-hour time limit. Oivind Myhre was a close second with 24 controls. Both Nathan Nutter and Tac Sugiyama went to 21 controls, but they were also slightly over the 3-hour time limit, which decreased their final score below Taylor Pospisil and Brian Durrell, who both found 19 controls. On the women's side, we had a really tight race with Sue Kuestner, Nicole Traicoff, and Ardis Dull separated by 10 points and just a few minutes of elapsed time. On the 1.5-hour course, we were joined by 20 JROTC participants from Deer Valley and Peoria High Schools. Jackson Bernal from Peoria squeeked out a win over the 3-member team of Bennett Lyon, Brydan Jones, and Bryce Jennings from Deer Valley. Cygnus Dekany finished between the two teams, with all of them visiting 7 controls in the 1.5-hour time limit.

We also included a long and short classic course in the area. The two classic courses were shorter in total distance than the Score-O, but had the same rugged desert terrain. The top three finishers on the long course (Jackson Rupe, JP Lande, and Kimball Forrest) were separated by less than 4 minutes, with Jackson coming in just over 1:43. Victoria Brautigam was the only female participant. She had a respectable finish just over 2:22 on such a rugged course. On the short course, Greg Lennon and Tom Strat cleared the course in just over an hour. Angel Simpson was close behind with a time under 1:29. Glen Haselfeld, Rick Breseman, and Kathleen Lennon all finished the course just over 1:30.

A special thanks to Greg and Kathleen Lennon who stuck around and retrieved controls for us. We really appreaciate your help. Erik Ringnes and Kevin Adams also played an important part getting our large crowd through the day's courses. Thanks for your help.

Thanks to all of you who joined us at our Sophie's Flat event. The area is a little rugged but is a really interesting example of the desert around Phoenix. We're happy the weather cooperated and that there were a minimum number of off-highway vehicles during the day. We had plenty of parking and even a place for people to sleep overnight near the trailhead. We hope you'll join us again when you see a Sophie's Flat event on our schedule.