Hyperlinks to Results

Writeup

The events at the North Mountain Visitor Center on October 12 and 13 mark the start of a new partnership between the Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club and the City of Phoenix. With the help of Lynn Swann and other City rangers and volunteers, we hosted a number of events over the weekend including a beginner's clinic, two sprint events, a 2-hour Score-O, and a 5-hour Adventure Race. The turnout for all of the events was great. We're really excited about our new partnership and look forward to working with Lynn and the City of Phoenix for more events in the near future. When we hold navigation events inside City of Phoenix boundaries, we're able to give people a chance to practice their navigation skills without traveling far from home. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the weekend's events.

We're really excited to be able to host events at a great location in the center of Phoenix. We hope you'll join us again for one of this season's many events.

Volunteers

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to make our North Mountain events a success. As a non-profit organization, we're only able to host events with the help of volunteers. We'll continue to offer great navigation events at smokin' hot prices with the help of all of you who volunteer. Thanks a bunch!

Saturday morning began with a two-hour beginner's clinic. The idea was to focus entirely on beginner's for an extended time at the start of the day, then allow them to practice later. We had an absolutely great turnout for the clinic with thirty-six individuals of all ages joining us. After an hour spent discussing some of the basic orienteering concepts, participants tried their hand on both the permanent orienteering course at the North Mountain Visitor Center and on a special course with 20 orienteering controls set especially for beginners. We'd like to extend a special thanks to Jill Kyle of Adrenaline Adventure Sports and Rick Eastman of Sierra Adventure Sports for their help presenting material and accompanying individuals during the clinic.

We won't list the names of everyone who participated in the beginner's clinic. We'd just like to say that with 36 individuals attending the clinic, we're really excited about the interest in orienteering. We hope to offer more beginner's clinics in various locations in the Phoenix area. Thanks to everyone who attended the clinic.

After the beginner's clinic, we presented the first of what we hope will be a number of sprint events throughout the year. The sprint events are shorter orienteering courses set for winning times between 12-15 minutes. In our excitement to host events with the City of Phoenix, we got a little carried away with the distances and actually gave participants two courses that were about double the length of normal sprint events. I hope everyone enjoyed the extra navigation. Amber Naughton and Rich Orndoff set blistering times for the first sprint event, both turning in times under 40 minutes. They led a group of 12 individuals who participated in the first sprint event.

Summary: Sprint 1

Results: Sprint 1

After the first sprint event, 4 individuals had enough gas in them to try the second sprint. Andy Wentzel, an avid runner but someone completely new to orienteering, led the field and finished the second sprint in under 28 minutes. With some natural map reading abilities, Andy showed that there's a real benefit to being able to run fast. We may need to re-think our idea about offering two sprint events in a single day since most participants in the first sprint event decided to spend time drinking cold beverages and chatting with us at the finish line rather than suffer again on a second sprint event.

Summary: Sprint 2

Results: Sprint 2

On Sunday, we presented two larger events. The day started out with a 5-hour adventure race at 8:00. A total of nineteen individuals (a record for our adventure races!) braved the climbs in the North Mountain Preserve to join the race. The race started with a 5k course on foot set with easy-to-find controls. Next, participants had to navigate through a very challenging 15 km bike course. The 15 kilometer distance on bike was itself not a challenge, but the more than 800 meters of climb on the course proved to be quite difficult. The North Mountain Desert Preserve is home to some of the more difficult mountain bike trails in the Phoenix area. While we could definitely design the course for a more moderate skill level, we're happy we were able to provide a challenging course for our more advanced mountain bike friends. The adventure race finished with participants navigating the same Score-O course presented to others during the day.

Amber Naughton and Jack London came through with a blistering performance during the adventure race. They not only cleared the bike portion of the race, but they were also able to visit 15 of the 25 controls set on the Score-O course. Their mountain bike skills were definitely an asset on the challenging bike course. We next had a great competition for 2nd and 3rd. Tim Stefek and Kristen Peers arrived at the transition in second place, but were overtaken by Robert Finlay who left the transition area in 2nd place. Tim and Kristen then proceeded to find one more control than Robert, but arrived back at the finish line one minute late and were penalized 10 points. This left Tim and Kristen tied for points with Robert, but since Robert arrived at the finish line before the cutoff time, he was awarded second place based on time. In fourth place was Team Crossfit Chaparral (Will Burkhart, Sarah Burkhatdt, Stephen Brewer), the only other team to clear the bike portion of the race. Actually, Team Flagstaff 2 (Kevin Adams and Matt Zeilman) did visit all bike controls, but they arrived back at the finish line 17 minutes past the cutoff time. We need to work on our rules to better define a penalty on the bike leg too. The rest of the teams were able to find a large amount of the bike controls, but there was definitely a consensus that the bike leg was really tough. We'll keep trying to make our courses fun for everyone.

Summary: AR-5

Results: 5-Hour Adventure Race

We also had a good turnout for our 2-hour Score-O. We set 25 controls throughout the North Mountain Desert Preserve on both the east and west sides of 7th Street. With an equivalent distance of 14.71 km (9.82 km distance + [489 meters climb] * [1 equivalent km/100 meters climb]), finishing the entire course was a little difficult. Derrick Beracy visited all but the two closest controls and ended up with a score of 560 out of a total possible 600 points. Erik Ringnes showed that growing up in Norway, where kids learn map and compass skills before they can walk, is definitely an advantage. Erik visited 21 of the 25 controls, ending with a total of 510 points. Andy Wentzel once again showed that speed helps as he accumulated 470 points. We had a tight race for fourth, fifth, and sixth places with Rick Eastman, Gary Hickey, and Rich Orndoff separated from each other by 10 points each. Tina Stefek barely broke a sweat, like always, and led the girls with a total of 240 points. Tisha Taylor was close behind with 210 points.

We also had a good turnout for our 2-hour Score-O. We set 25 controls throughout the North Mountain Desert Preserve on both the east and west sides of 7th Street. With an equivalent distance of 14.71 km (9.82 km distance + [489 meters climb] * [1 equivalent km/100 meters climb]), finishing the entire course was a little difficult. Derrick Beracy visited all but the two closest controls and ended up with a score of 560 out of a total possible 600 points. Erik Ringnes showed that growing up in Norway, where kids learn map and compass skills before they can walk, is definitely an advantage. Erik visited 21 of the 25 controls, ending with a total of 510 points. Andy Wentzel once again showed that speed helps as he accumulated 470 points. We had a tight race for fourth, fifth, and sixth places with Rick Eastman, Gary Hickey, and Rich Orndoff separated from each other by 10 points each. Tina Stefek barely broke a sweat, like always, and led the girls with a total of 240 points. Tisha Taylor was close behind with 210 points.

Summary: Score-O

Results: 2-Hour Score-O