What kind of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times. (those trivia nuts among you will recognize this as Walter Cronkite's intro line to the famous late-lamented program "You Are There".) And in this case many of you were there to alter and illuminate your own time!!! Or were you?

Evidently, apart from the dedicated JROTC Contingents and a hundred or so faithful FLO'ers, lots of you had something else to do on that fine, beautiful Saturday. Can't say as I blame you, but 100 FLO'ers is a pretty small turnout - especially at Wekiwa where we have had 300+ of you in the past. Anyhow - It was a wonderful day to be doing anything at all outdoors. Florida Orienteering's idea of doing something outdoors was achieved with near perfection.

Check out these superlatives:

1. The 20th Anniversary of Florida Orienteering events, beginning at Blue Springs March 10, 1991.
2. FREE Food! Provided by David Haynes and the JROTC corps from Winter Park High School. Thanks (burp) so much!
3. A full set of TOUGH courses, White through Blue, with winning times 10% to 30% longer than anticipated. This only means my ambitions for all of you are outpacing your training. It's not, of course, my course designs, it's your training that needs to improve. Hah.
4. A visit by long time past-President and original FLO Co-Founder Frank Kuhn, who has returned to FL from various peregrinations and will now be in evidence at most upcoming events, urging all non-members to join FLO or USOF, and providing general all-around support. Welcome home Frank.
5. Indoor plumbing! Hope you appreciated that? And except for a glitch or two, the increased capacity of the whole New Youth Camp Plumbing System has now weathered its first test-weekend.
6. Multiple Volunteers ensured all controls and courses were well vetted (Fluegels) and that controls were set out well in advance (Ray B., Cameron O., and Greg O.). They were a great crew and saved my jungle-crudded-lungs in this worst of all cold-seasons for yours truly. Amen to each of them.
7. A registration/start/finish/clean-up/retrieval/crew as fine and welcomed and as thorough as any, ever: Janet Putnam, Jamie & Dad Sheriff, Mike Dempsey, Russ Steinke, Kris Mante, Jerry Sirmans, Joe Maliszewski, Ron Eaglin, Ray Bruneau and surely one or two more I failed to note because Janet and I left early. Note that "Clean-up" is in that list. At Wekiwa Youth Camp this is especially important after having 200+ people use indoor facilities; we always need to leave the premises spotless - you know : "Better than you found it", like you parents always taught you to do. Extra Thanks to each person who helped Ray Bruneau and Jerry Sirmans perform this vital function. You too, can assure yourselves of eternal rewards and a special seat of honor in Heaven, whenever you help FLO in such matters.
8. And then there was the forest itself - STAR OF THE DAY!! Did you pause at some point in your run, most likely in the midst of some vast expanse of wiregrass, and look around at the stunningly re-stored forest? This is the product of 20 years of conscious effort and carefully controlled burns on the part of park rangers and forest managers to restore it to a semblance of its primal state. Even though we know it's not all there yet, the current status is awesome. And in light of the momentous and even tragic things filling the news from around the world on this weekend, we realize are blessed indeed to be able to enjoy such a forest and such a day.

We hope to see you all in the woods next time!

Bob Putnam

Related Links:

Wekiwa Photos

Event Master Map from Wekiwa Photos

An animation of the red course by Ron Eaglin using Google Earth flyby (taken from Ron's Blog at http://eaglinar.blogspot.com/):

Link to Ron's Blog
Animation here on FLO website under Wekiwa Photos

Name	Time
Christian, J	50:31
Robinson	70:09
Lobels	82:20
Pheonix Patrol	84:12
Rupert, N	99:01
Team AR	105:53

YELLOW

Name	Time
Will	58:25
Christian, J	62:54
Steinke, R	83:20
Brault	87:17
Evans HS	97:32
Romero, J	108:35
Braue, T	110:29
Brooks, M	158:47

ORANGE

Name	Time
Falcon 1	77:56
Crane, D	86:30
Cougars	86:54
Christian, J	87:10
Bly, S	113:41
Aber, C	134:40
Givens, A	DNF

GREEN

Name	Time
Dempsey, M	82:41
Maliszewski, J	89:50
Geraghty, J	89:55
Mante, K	92:10
Gladding, T	102:00
Griffin, J	104:10
Dennis/Carolyn	121:19
Sheriff Posse	123:50
Guerro, R	125:32
AH team	149:20
FL Trekkers	DNF
Steve/Dominic	DNF
Po-Dunk	DNF
CNP	DNF
PAR	DNF
Wekiva HS	DNF

RED

Name	Time
Bruneau, R	65:14
Eaglin, R	84:48
Henson, T	90:15
Scott, D	102:00
The Fussels	129:30
Huber, P	OT
Birchfeild, B	OT
Ogletree, C	DNF
Denney, R	DNF

BLUE

Name	Time
Primal	97:22
Johnson, C	101:10
Buchholz, T	101:30
Hearn, G	102:13
Nummelin, A	118:41
Sirmans, J	127:20
Go Blue	138:50
Warburton	143:15
Boris/Lammi	152:20

DNF	Did Not Finish
DQ	Disqualified (Missed Controls)
OT	Over 3 Hour Time Limit