Rock Springs Run State Reserve
Labor Day 1999

Courses: WHITE | YELLOW | ORANGE | GREEN | RED
WHITE

Mead, Kevin 34:35
Dave Moraseski 39:54
Smullin 66:00

YELLOW

Johnson Troop 1344 53:18
Pigott Troop 1344 61:36
McNally, Tom 62:02
White 72:20
Tanner 73:20
Danagher 80:35
Spillyards 82:10
Vanderhayden 84:00
Parker 90:55
Nancy Richards 123:22
Sottardi DNF

ORANGE

Prytulo, W. 41:05
Yeadon 64:50
AHS NJROTC #1 65:13
Weiss, D. 65:15
Wells, Charlie 66:05
Bunner, John 67:10
AHS NJROTC #3 68:10
T. Reynolds 73:18
Barbara Moraseski 79:10
Johnson, Jason 79:50
Cox 88:15
BSA Troop 699 #1 92:10
Berlin/Steinke 94:20
Den 2 96:00
Matthews/Turner 99:11
Steve Savrda 102:22
John & Michael McGrath 106:00
Kern 108:08
BSA Troop 699 #2 111:10
Stern, M. 113:00
AHS NJROTC #2 117:00
AHS NJROTC #5 117:23
OHS NJROTC #1 122:33
AHS NJROTC #4 123:22
OHS NJROTC #2 127:15
Mike Johnson 133:20
DuBrosky, B. 148:50
AHS NJROTC #6 155:55
OHS NJROTC #3 165:00
Lavigne DNFBHF
Lauterer, Pete DNF
Johnson, Kim DNF
Kathleen Davis DNF
AHS NJROTC #7 DNF

GREEN

Mahoney, Matt 62:18
Dan Moraseski 125:49
J. Linforth 133:05
AHS NJROTC 136:09
DuBrosky, W. 167:50
Richelle Wasinger 185:00

RED

Bob Putnam 64:56
Ron Eaglin 77:05
Joe Maliszewski 101:50
Jim Hartnett 116:45
Taylor 148:30
Yutani, K. 185:20
Wilson, Allen 224:52
Orsleie DNF

Rock Springs Run State Reserve. Labor Day Monday. Weather: FINE, with a 1PM drenching for 5 minutes.

THE EVENT

What a day! What a day! I told you it would be great. I hope you came out to enjoy it. Over 160 did. I'll get the total count from Dave & Bev later, but it was a pretty good crowd in light of the Hot Sunny 95F weather. Everyone must have been slow to get out of bed though. When I arrived at 9:45 there were only three other cars there, so rather than do my usual Training duty, I decided to go out on the red course right away. Looked as though there would be a really disappointingly light crowd, and I could do a little training when I got back, I thought.

Surprise. By 11:00 everyone had arrived, registered and gone out on a course. Very unusual timing. But a nice problem to have. And Tom Reynolds was there to offer training anyway. Everything turned out Great.

One thing, though. We're in trouble with the park again for having so many people fail to pay the honor-system $2 parking fee. The rangers checked us out and found a dozen or more. Someone saves two bucks and the club is back in hot water. It's not fair but it's reality. They didn't give out tickets because FLO promised to make good.

THE COURSES

As for the courses, I only got a good look at red/green, and I can tell you it was challenging. It was all I could do to run the 3/4 or so of the course that I did. Nice control selections by Bev & Dave. One particularly perverse one: but only because I, and a few others, approached from the south, blackberry, side, rather than from the north where Dave had trampled a nice path to the control. Then there was the pit with all the bear bones in it. Interesting stuff that is not often seen on an O' course. The park rangers have favorite places to dump the carcasses of road-killed bears - recycling, you might say - and we've managed to locate most of them. The trouble is that the horseback riders have also discovered this one and have rerouted their trail directly to the pit. The park will make them change. B&D gave red a classic route choice dilemma with controls on opposite sides of a gigantic green wedge. Do we go through or around, and if around, which way? I went (walked and crawled) through and did OK. Going around on a hot day takes a lot out of you unless you're carrying some sort of super juice with you, like water.

Speaking of which. We had some vandalism of sorts at the water stop (yes, you read that right, 'the one water stop; Northern readers have to understand that Floridians ALL carry water and are better acclimatized to O'ing in the heat anyway without many waterstops). It seems two of the three jugs were missing and cups were scattered hither & yon. Not cool. The biggest problem for me, and for Ron Eaglin too he reports, was the big open fields, which were mown and looked lightning fast. But you find the grass is about 12" high and just draining to run through. So we walked, and walked. Over a KM at one point. So much for prideful training. The orange course had 34 parties. That's probably 100 people. We'll have to keep that quiet because the rangers are looking carefully at O's loading for each control. No word yet on whether they will really start to limit us.

THE PEOPLE

I want to mention by name some of the people who were there for the first time in a long time. That's the Best news. It was like Old Home Week. Arletta Prytulo was out and about, taking a short walk after Walenty finished his course, after her open heart surgery, and looking really chipper. Becky Berlin came out again after a few years' footrest and she and Russ Steinke did an orange course in near record time, so although she was looking pretty chipper also, the heat provided a few extra shades of pink in the complexion. The VanderHaydens, perennial UCF helpers, came out after a long absence, with their new baby in a snazzy trail-worthy stroller. I wish they had those when our kids were that age. And Michael McGrath was there with his dad John. You might remember Michael was FLO's prize-winning 10,000th participant a few years back at an event at Shockley Ranch. (we'll hit 20,000 sometime next year, by the way). The Kevin Mead family also turned out after a few years' absence, only to let us know that they'll be moving soon. They have helped out in the past with some of our special ROTC programs and will be missed. The Dubrosky's made it all the way from Jensen Beach (2 1/2 hours) only to tell us they were moving, too, next year. (I picked on them, though, for help at the next event, before we lose them). They will also be greatly missed. Then there was the Danaghers, friend of Dave Ousleys, as I recall, who are back after a fairly long break. Then there was the Search & Rescue crew, (including John Russell, and Orange County firefighter, and a friend of my next door neighbor's, in one of those small-world coincidences) all rousted out by Allen Wilson, to hone their map skills, and to try out some GPS techniques. If you saw them in the woods, you might think they were cheating with the high-tech gear, but rest assured the GPS slows them down.

Welcome, too, were the high school JROTC units from Auburndale and Oviedo. They haven't been gone long. Only for the summer. But it's nice to see them all back out there.

One Dad & Son team whose name I missed told us where an old control was still hanging. It turned out to be the next-to-last Yellow from the Feb 98 O-Thaw. Pretty ragged. The fabric was Gone, but the code was perfectly intact. Good test for laminating at Office Depot.

SUMMARY

Bev & Dave will probably have a writeup for the newsletter with all the proper Thank-you's. The results are on the web page (Already!)

Congratulations to all the crew who pulled off a first rate event.

Now brace yourselves for an even finer Fall Season.

Next month: the gorgeous forests of Split Oak - accessing through Moss Park. November: the Nationally Sanctioned Class "B" event on the Newly enlarged Little Big Econ map, starting out of the Geneva Wilderness Area on Route 426. December: The Florida Championships at Kelly Park, using the north end of the Wekiwa Springs map, and enjoying the cool Rock Springs Run at the end of your hike.

See you all in the Woods.

Bob Putnam
Created Tue Sep 7 1999