January 22, 2008
Last updated: Thursday, 07-Feb-2008 21:56:31 PST
By Guy Olsen, a member of Hudson Valley Orienteers
If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I might never have believed it: A local orienteering event with intermittent rain, 40 degree temps, all seven courses restricted to trails -- and 311 participants!
In my neck of the woods (New Jersey), the only O-Club that often breaks the 200 person mark at non-A-events is Delaware Valley O-Association (DVOA - host club of the 2007 US Interscholastic Champs) -- and it sure doesn't happen on cold, rainy days! On top of all that, Cascade O-Club (COC) pulls an event of this scale off eight times from November through February. The one I attended took place on January 5, 2008, at Bridle Trails State Park, in Kirkland, Washington.
Now, to be fair, 161 of those 311 participants were juniors competing in the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League (WIOL), and were semi-committed to attending at least five of those eight events. But even if *none* of the WIOLers would have otherwise shown up (unlikely) that still left 150 others. I'm not sure what brings them out in that weather -- aside from the distinct possibility that avoiding rain at O-events in the Pacific Northwest would essentially mean avoiding all O-events from October through April. I certainly knew what I was getting into when I decided to go to the Seattle area in January! And I was not all that displeased about having to stay on trails.
As impressed as I was by the attendance level, I was also impressed by the level of organization. COC seems to have it down to a science -- a must when processing that number of people in a 2-hour (10am-12pm) start window. With e-punching and pre-marked maps on all courses, the start crew only had to worry about handing out the correct maps and spacing starters on the same courses; the start-punch-box presumably kept track of whomever had actually started. The finish crew entered participant data and took e-card downloads. I missed seeing results posted at the site, but my understanding was that was the result of printer problems.
Afterwards, teardown went smoothly and everybody had left the park by 3 pm. All results were posted online within 48 hours.
Great job, COC!
Thank you, Guy, for sharing your impressions with us. We look forward to seeing you in Texas, where you will see about thirty of the same kids, even if it happens to be sunny.