Reach-11 Sprints
Results
Saturday, April 14, 2018

It was a beautiful day in North Phoenix for the Reach 11 Sprints event. What a solid turnout we had: 46 participants, with at least half of them running both sprints. We held a beginner's clinic, and many of the first-time participants ran in the sprints. They did really well! We say "Well done" to our new friends, and we thank them for coming out and experiencing the sport of orienteering.

We offered two sprints, Sprint 1 was 2km and Sprint 2 was 4km. Most race legs offered runners a choice of routes, such as "should I go through those trees, or take the trail around the trees?" and "should I straight-line it across the desert, or navigate to features and then attack?" We got feedback that the courses were entertaining.

We had some special guests. First, Steve McKinley of the Southern Navigators club (Surrey, England) was in town and decided to look us up. He ran the sprints in convincing style, taking a first and a second. Our sport is very strong in Southern England. If you want to what a large club looks like, check out https://www.southernnavigators.com. You'll want to get on a plane right away! Steve is the Technical Adviser & Website Manager for his club. In July he will serve as IOF advisor to the upcoming World Masters Orienteering Championships in Denmark. Nice to meet you, Steve, we hope to meet again!

Also, a large group of cadets from the Sahuarita Navy JROTC batallion came all the way from Green Valley to participate. They are highly interested in orienteering, and quite skilled at it, too. It was a pleasure to see them enjoy the courses. It was also a pleasure to work with their leader, Brad Roberson, Commander USN (Ret). Brad is responsible for getting the Red Wolves involved in orienteering some 10 years ago. They've posted excellent results in JROTC orienteering events, as well as in many other sports and activities. And they make time for community service projects. This is one squared away group of young men and women. They look forward to our upcoming events, especially classic courses. Bravo Zulu, Red Wolves! You are welcome anytime!

OK, for the results. Tristan Thomas (Sahuarita JROTC) finished first amoung the men in Sprint 1, closely followed by Steve McKinley, Matthew Mayer (Sahuarita JROTC), Noah Plumb, Paul Kent and Dan Yamashiro. Newcomer Jigeesha Upadhyaya was the fastest woman. Alicen Barney and Francisca Molina (Sahuarita JROTC) were the fastest women's team. Nathan and Abigail Nutter were the fastest mixed team. Three men's teams from Sahuarita JROTC tied for the best time in that category (Tim Napier & Cristian Ruiz, Tyler Stephens & Hayden Turney, and Kareem Hernandez & Jackson Wennmaker).

In Sprint 2, Steve McKinley was the fastest man, followed by Paul Kent and Brian Blanchard. The team of Tristan Thomas & Matthew Mayer (Sahuarita JROTC) were the first place men's team, with the team of Justin Hansford, Gage Karschnik (Sahuarita JROTC) second. Anna Hoge was the fastest woman. Once again, Alicen Barney and Francisca Molina (Sahuarita JROTC) were the fastest women's team. Kassandra Delgado, Cristian Ruiz (Sahuarita JROTC) were the fastest mixed team.

There were quite a few tie results. This is due to Gary's scoring method, in which he rounded up runner's times to the next minute. He was pretty busy at the timer's table, and felt he could not accurately record times to the neareset second. If anyone feels there has been a mistake inteh results, please feel free to let him know.