The first event of the Fall season for FLO was National Orienteering Day.
Would it Rain?
Would it be miserably hot and humid?
Would I be prepared to run really hard for the first time in months?
Would I sign up for Blue, or drop back to Red?
Questions, questions....
Answers came quickly: (1) Tim Bucholtz from Miami wrote to say he and Anna would be attending. (2) I boldly reply to say "reason enough for me to train hard and prepare for the Blue course!!". (3) Ray wrote to say the Blue course would be 8-point-something kilometers. (4) I woke up Saturday morning knowing perfectly well I was not going to run the Blue course this day. (5) The weather was not bad after all, for an early September Saturday - maxed out in the high 80's, F, with seasonable humidity and no rain.
And that Red course I decided to run after all: turned out to be just right - All controls in the right spot, and I got to hustle around most of the course bouncing off a pair of JROTC guys trying out a Red Course for the first time. Good workout. Good course, Good company.
Hopefully everyone had as fruitful a day as I did.
From the look of things it was a pretty exciting day all around. Ocala's Francis Marion Military Academy crew set up a real "Class-A" style Start and Finish area, with call-up lines at -2 and -1 minutes, and provided a ribboned Finish Chute with actual printout of finish times on the brand new no-doubt-easy-to-use (?) clock timer donated by FMMA. It was a bit labor-intensive, but everyone got the hang of it right quick, so no glitches and no confusion.
Thanks to Ray Bruneau for both Course Design and Event Coordination. Other helpers that I noticed were Mike Dempsey, Russ Steinke, Frank Kuhn, Duane Adams, Jack Cash, Joe Maliszewski, Greg Owens, Cameron Ogletree and a whole bunch of FMMA supporters.
We shared the park, as usual, with the riders from the horseback riding concession adjacent to our staging area and when last I checked there had been no encounters or incidents. The Wekiwa Springs Park Manager who administers RSRSR, evidently arranged to have our parking area mown the week prior, so that was just perfect, and no one violated our parking/no-parking rules in any way. Thank you all for that. The un-manned kiosk at the RSRSR entrance did not run out of envelopes this time, until later in the morning and it was restocked by the time I departed just after 1pm. But the odd thing was that the iron post deposit slot for the day use fees was chock-a-block full from very early on, so people could not deposit their fees. Therefore, FLO took a few of them and will need to figure out how to square that with the Wekiwa.
It was a treat to see long-ago FLO member and regular volunteer Jay Murphy visiting Central FL again after a many year absence. Congratulations to the Blue course winner, Eric Heritage, a British Army liaison from McDill Airbase, contending for the first time at a 'real' FLO event and showing us how its done. Note also in the results Chris Johnson who once again ran a Blue course in great time and still had not had enough, so went back out to blister the Orange - in the heat of the day.
A fine contingent of JROTC units turned out for the opportunity to train a little without the pressure of an inter-school competition. Their presence swelled our attendance to exactly 250, not counting the Helpers who chose not to hike.
Check out the photos and videos on this web page, all taken by Jerry Sirmans, who still finds time to run a Red and then Retrieve.
Reflecting on such a fun and successful event, I am encouraged we can still squeeze a good event and good courses out of RSRSR after 10 + years of once or twice a year usage. Still, we're thinking of adding a little variety to this venue next time out and may try something like a Score Course, or a map exchange on longer courses, or some such variation. Folks interested in influencing these decisions should go to the Yahoo Group for FloridaOrienteering or to the Florida Orienteering Facebook page to let us know what your preferences are.
I have one last Technical Review Note to add, because in going over the punched control cards from this event, I found one that tells me we don't do a good enough job of "training" everyone before they go out on a course. So here is the governing rule: The numbered boxes on the control card must be punched with the coded needle punch hanging from the Correct Numbered Control on your course, not with just any ole control you encounter so that after finding any nine controls you may return to Finish. remember the whole purpose of having coded punches and providing you with the two-digit control code on the Clue Sheet is so that you can prove you found the correct controls, in order.
Of course there are more things I forget to tell people before they go out on their course, but this one will serve for this week.
We hope to see you all next month at Moss Park, Split Oak Forest, where the courses will be a little longer than usual, so be prepared.
Bob Putnam
Related Links:
| Name | Time |
| Flower Power | 40:48 |
| WS HS | 47:13 |
| Sharkey, M | 94:04 |
| Eastside HS | DNF |
| Bouilla, I | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Land, P | 22:56 |
| Mt Dora #2 | 31:21 |
| Mt Dora #1 | 32:21 |
| THS #2 | 36:19 |
| CCHS Xaldin | 40:24 |
| Chris Crusaders | 41:22 |
| Watts, A | 42:42 |
| CCHS Vargas | 43:52 |
| Robinson #4 | 44:03 |
| Mt Dora #4 | 45:03 |
| Mt Dora #3 | 46:07 |
| Robinson #3 | 47:04 |
| Ball | 47:18 |
| Robinson #1 | 47:43 |
| Triolo, A | 48:59 |
| THS Parents | 50:49 |
| Vanderford | 51:46 |
| THS #1 | 52:07 |
| THS #3 | 56:26 |
| Spiezio, E | 58:23 |
| Vanguard #1 | 62:54 |
| Vanguard #2 | 63:00 |
| Vanguard #4 | 63:43 |
| Vanguard #3 | 64:06 |
| Oliver | 66:06 |
| Kalereed | 67:13 |
| Eastside A | 68:55 |
| Berglin, J | 69:28 |
| Vanguard, Max | 69:34 |
| FL 955 | 69:47 |
| Towle, C | 78:29 |
| Aviles, A | 97:55 |
| Robinson #2 | DNF |
| Walker, B | NTR |
| Lee, N | NTR |
| Nuneviller, B | NTR |
| Eastside B | NTR |
| Name | Time |
| Johnson, Chris | 34:03 |
| Team Odwalla | 37:15 |
| Konstanz | 48:44 |
| MybuddyJake | 60:26 |
| Lewis, C | 60:59 |
| Roberts, M | 68:39 |
| Artur/ DJ | 73:11 |
| Summerfield, M | 85:58 |
| Crumly | 91:17 |
| Holley, R | 93:59 |
| THS Piazza | 94:09 |
| Lk Howell #2 | 99:48 |
| Say, D #1 | 102:44 |
| Tuding, K | 102:52 |
| Rodriguez, E | 106:05 |
| Ogletree, c | 106:26 |
| GW Hawkins | 106:30 |
| Brooks, M | 107:30 |
| Steinke/Berlin | 115:52 |
| Benton, J VHS | 117:00 |
| VHS Ezzo, J | 120:46 |
| Fulton, A | 130:23 |
| Francisco,C | 141:05 |
| Gill, M | OT |
| Laila, S/G | DNF |
| Lk Howell, #1 | DNF |
| Boone HS JROTC | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Henson, Toby | 60:58 |
| Dempsey, Mike | 80:20 |
| THS Wensel | 84:06 |
| Maliszewski, Joe | 95:55 |
| Johnson, G | 103:50 |
| THS Sawyer | 124:25 |
| Deb/Paul | 128:33 |
| Murphy, J | 141:01 |
| Thomas, L | 144:18 |
| Boris/Danielle | 152:44 |
| Jones, A | 160:20 |
| Keels, N | 161:14 |
| Holley, R | DNF |
| Stanton, J | DNF |
| Dennis/Carolyn | DNF |
| VHS Robledo | DNF |
| Bishop, V | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Putnam, Bob | 73:58 |
| Nusbaum, A | 90:45 |
| Mante, Kris | 99:08 |
| Triolo, V | 104:19 |
| Stabler, J | 105:07 |
| Culbreath, J | 106:29 |
| Sirmans, J | 107:11 |
| Carr, Zoey | 124:28 |
| Burchfield, B | 135:47 |
| MybuddyJake | 146:57 |
| Jim/Nicci | 160:38 |
| Humberg, N | 179:00 |
| Griffin, J | NTR |
| Name | Time |
| Heritage, E | 97:27 |
| Johnson, C | 107:17 |
| Buchholz, T | 112:48 |
| Ashley, D | 114:09 |
| Nummelin, A | 115:40 |
| Hearn, G | 127:33 |
| Potential | 135:33 |
| Photo Finish | 143:13 |
| Eaglin, R | 151:06 |
| Mukhalis, J | 154:37 |
| Yak Attack | DNF |
| Sucka Meow | DNF |
| DNF | Did Not Finish |
| DQ | Disqualified (Missed Controls) |
| OT | Over 3 Hour Time Limit |