- Hefe 'O
To those of you who turned out for this most unique event: Congratulations! You were a part of a very nearly record crowd for a FLO Mid-Summer event. A total of 109 people apparently paid no heed whatever to my advance 'publicity' regarding the fun we'd all have slurping through the slop of LBE. We've averaged 58 people at all our July events, until now. Compare that tot he 250 people we've averaged for the first 5 events of 2002.
Still, we're proud of all of you putting the lie to the idea that summer heat in Florida prevents O-fun. And it was fun.
Despite the weather report, the morning dawned bright and clear with sunny skies through 11:00 a.m., while the temperature rose to and through 85F, then a funny thing happened.
Rain. Lots. Wind. Lots. Lightning. 'Nuff.
The results show 40% of the field did not finish for one reason or another. "Another" in this case mostly meant Lightning. Too bad, because there was much to learn on these courses. Plenty of newcomers trying O' for the first time were unable to complete the course because they didn't like the idea of crossing those large fields with the storm blowing through. Some of it had to do with the luck of the start time. Those starting early mostly finished OK. Some of the late arrivals were caught in the downpour, though many folks, including several families with kids, didn't seem to mind the storm at all and came back drenched and grinning as much as I would have. No one was ever at great risk since the lightning stayed well away from us.
Afterward we convened the annual Summer Meeting of FLO and cleared up some vital business, including elections.
Many thanks and congratulations to Bev Ousley for completing her 3 years of service as FLO President. Bev was elected as the new FLO Treasurer. Arild Orlseie has moved over from being a Board member to being the new President. All agreed it was portentous that immediately after his election the sky itself rumbled like the very Hammer of Thor, in apparent approval of our choice. Your new Administrative VP is Mike Dempsey, Bob Putnam continues as Technical VP and Ray Bruneau continues as Publicity Chair. The Board is rounded out, in addition to the officers, by Rick Orcutt, Jonathan Linforth, Ron Eaglin and new member Tim Orcutt. Bring all your questions, concerns, complaints and praises to one of these folks.
As for the courses, no one even tried the White course. Oh well; it happens. All the courses had control descriptions sheets with lots of training tips and advice on them, qualifying the day as a Training Event. Discussions with several people at the finish table revealed that many did not read any of it (sniff, sniff). Your poor course-setter went to some extra trouble to not only set courses with specific techniques in mind for each leg, but explained it to you beforehand on those description sheets. What your poor forgetful course-setter forgot to do was remind everyone to actually read the stuff before going out. Duh, as they say.
It was terrifically gratifying to see the large turnout of first timers. As soon as I receive the Waiver sheets, I'll send this report to all those folks who left us with an email address. Thank you all, and we hope you enjoyed yourselves despite the conditions.
Particular attention must be paid to Glen & Andrea Holman as well as the Karen Pardy party, all of whom beat out Walenty Prytulo on the Orange course. They may not be aware that such a thing is the very measure of excellence on Orange. Nigel Gallier's winning time on Green was by nearly a 20 minute margin, (no more Green, Nigel; may be time to move up) larger even than George Cheney's [Any relation to U.S. V.P. Dick? -ed.] 15 minute margin on Red. George, by the way won out over Igor Sazonov of Russia, an accomplished orienteer who was running for the first time in Florida; that is, in the Florida heat, to which he is most unaccustomed. Igor promised to prepare a report of his impressions for the club newsletter, as soon as his body temperature returns to normal sometime next week, maybe. He did mention how odd it seemed to navigate without ANY contour details to go by, just vegetation boundaries, echoing the feedback from other 'imports' we've hosted in the past.
My parental instincts were touched by newcomer David Frazier retiring early from the orange course while his daughter Heather, also new, finished in fine fashion, although with enough elapsed time that David stood around awhile looking anxiously at his watch. I know that feeling. Sympathies, too, for Rick Orcutt who had to run in borrowed shoes after son Tim drove off with all the shoes in his truck. Rick was being urged to run the course barefoot, as befits a FL Native, but he pretended not to hear. Later this weekend, Ron Eaglin promises to try running the Red course (without controls, of course) as a calibration of sorts, but it won't be as much fun with the water levels receding steadily.
We were surprised to get another request for a String-O course, having planned none for quite awhile. If some one would like to volunteer to take charge of String-O for future events, we have all the material necessary. Simply contact an officer and let us know you want to try it.
Next event: Wickham Park in Melbourne August 3. Perfect venue once again for Practice and Training to prepare for the 'real' orienteering in the Fall. Hope to see you all there!
Bob Putnam
| Name | Time |
| -no entrants- | -no DNFs- |
| Name | Time |
| Suzanne Flagler (3) | 56:00 |
| Denny Zahrt (7) | 69:25 |
| Robby Barnes (M-1) | DNF |
| Joyce Fisher (2) | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Glen & Andrea Holman (2) | 38:38 |
| Karen Pardy (2) | 50:38 |
| Walenty Prytulo (M-1) | 50:45 |
| Greg & Rosaida Cranford (2) | 55:02 |
| Jane Gallier (F-1) | 61:30 |
| John Biggs & David Puzzo (2) | 62:31 |
| Bohn & Durjan (2) | 66:35 |
| Dion & Kara Santi (2) | 66:50 |
| Scott Myers (M-1) | 67:30 |
| Bob & Shelby Panzak (2) | 69:31 |
| Rick Hall & Tyler (2) | 84:01 |
| Dan & Jen & Danielle (3) | 84:55 |
| Gregg Schwieterman (2) | 104:20 |
| Heather Frazier (F-1) | 116:05 |
| David & Alisa Gatlin (2) | 117:30 |
| Alicia Johnson & Joanne Wojnarowicz (2) | 156:00 |
| Alan Fisher (5) | TNR |
| Rick Holley (4) | DNF |
| Keith Escue (5) | DNF |
| Cameron Pollak (2) | DNF |
| Morena Cameron (4) | DNF |
| Troop 71 (7) | DNF |
| David Frazier (M-1) | DNF |
| Kevin Harrelson (4) | DNF |
| Dave & Elsie (2) | DNF |
| Rich Castle & Cathy Vienneau (2) | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Nigel Gallier (M-1) | 72:20 |
| Erik Nielsen (M-1) | 91:00 |
| John Crowley (M-1) | 98:39 |
| David Aaronson (3) | 140:15 |
| Tony Ludwig & Sandy Wordell (2) | DNF |
| Keith Zeitler (2) | DNF |
| Troop 524 Panthers | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| George Cheney (M-1) | 65:34 |
| Igor Sazonov (M-1) | 80:42 |
| Rick Orcutt (M-1) | 84:40 |
| Chris Johnson (M-1) | 86:33 |
| Joe Maliszewski (M-1) | 113:45 |
| Alex Jasiukowicz (3) | 134:00 |
| Matt Hahnfeld & Tony Flohre (2) | DQ |
| Bret Barker (3) | DNF |
| Arild Orsleie (M-1) | DNF |
| Bev Ousley (F-1) | DNF |
| John Sherwin (M-1) | DNF |
| DNF | Did Not Finish |
| DQ | Disqualified - over 3 hours |
| TNR | Time Not Recorded |