Florida Orienteering
Lake Louisa State Park
December 29, 2012


With ten minutes to go to the scheduled start of FLO's 'End of the Year Motala-style One-person-relay Bubba Goat Re-run' at Lake Louisa State Park, things didn't look good. The twenty-six registered participants and the one event organizer were bunched together in the small breezeway connecting the two parts of the park's beach pavilion. All around them a heavy band of rain was pelting down.

'This is good for the last-minute instructions,' thought the organizer, 'no need to call everyone together. This one spot out of the rain is where we all want to be.' "I'm going to hold off the start until this band or rain passes," he announced. There were no audible complaints.

To the joy of all, the morning prediction of the half-dozen or so Orlando area TV weather people proved correct. That was the last shower of the day. From the start of the 'E-O-T-Y-O-P-R-B-G-R-R' the weather just kept getting better and better. The pre-start photo shows a crowd of glowing and eager athletes. I'm happy to report that most if not all seemed to be 'glowing' as they finished their courses. OOPS orienteers and adventure racers don't glow; they sweat.

Motala-style means the course consisted of three loops of about 3.1 to 3.4 km each returning to the start/finish area where participants received a new map. It is like a one-person relay. The Bubba Goat re-run meant the participants could choose to skip one control on each of their loops. Participants were given the option of completing one, two or three of the legs. Most elected three.

Right from the start David Ashley (aka DAsh) proved to be the class of the field. Sprinting through the parking lot to the first control he completed his first loop in 18:06, ten minutes ahead of Ray Bruneau in second place and fourteen ahead of Ron Eaglin. Bruneau and Eaglin closed the gap a bit on the second loop with Donna Fluegel and Greg Owens also in the hunt. (It turns out Ashley had spent about ten minutes on the loop looking for a dropped pair of sunglasses.) In the end Ashley came to the finish in only 1:15:32 of elapsed time, thirteen minutes ahead of Eaglin and nineteen up on Bruneau. It was also before fifteen of the participants had finished their second loop. Greg Owens (4th), the team of Matt Hayes and Jason Lees, Donna Fluegel (7th), Boris Humberg & Lammi Lambert and Matt Mahoney rounded out the top ten finishers.

However, also in the tradition of goat races, it is not so much about finishing first as it is about finishing. All who participated received the now-coveted 2012 FLO Bubba Goat souvenir t-shirt. Even the last finishers, Cathy Evangelo and Steve Haley came in with smiles on their faces and with Cathy riding on Steve's back.

The results show the number of loops completed and the overall finish time. For those who completed less than three loops it also shows where they were standing as they finished.

Gord Hunter
Event co-ordinator


Related Links:

Photos - Lake Louisa - Bubba Goat Re-run - 29 Dec 2012


GOAT RE-RUN

Name Loops Time
David Ashley 3 1:15:32
Ron Eaglin 3 1:28:30
Ray Bruneau 3 1:34:15
Greg Owens 3 1:39:48
Matt Hayes 3 1:43:30
Jason Lees 3 1:43:30
Donna Fluegel 3 1:50:08
Boris Humberg 3 1:51:10
Lammi Lambert 3 1:51:10
Matt Mahoney 3 1:55:02
Eric Smith 3 2:10:45
Hana Smith 3 2:10:45
Junos Reed 3 2:21:00
Steve Fluegel 3 2:43:00
Rick Holley 3 2:45:30
Rod Price 3 2:45:30
Cathy Evangelo 3 3:05:00
Steve Haley 3 3:05:00
Felix Robinson 2 1:32:47
Alani Charboneau 2 1:32:47
Al Caamano 2 1:32:47
Jack Cash 2 2:00:17
Vicki Bishop 2 2:15:36
Kevin Newell 2 2:17:00
Deb Kohan 1 0:55:50


Created 30-December-2012