Let’s get right to the point:
The 2013 Champions and their medals:
White Course:
Female Gold: Nikki Rupert.
Yellow Course:
Female Gold: Julianna Alberton (Robinson HS)
Female Silver:Rhianna Pergola (Titusville HS)
Female Bronze:Brooke Discher (Crystal River HS)
Male Gold: Bradley Bays (Robinson HS)
Male Silver:Ryan Agan (George Jenkins HS)
Male Bronze: Cesar Lopez (Timber Creek)
Orange Course:
Female Gold: Kayla Knowlton (Robinson HS)
Female Silver: Alexa Keeler (Robinson HS)
Female Bronze:Hannah Sheppard (Robinson HS)
Male Gold: Sebastian Figueroa (Robinson HS)
Male Silver:Daniel Williams (Titusville HS)
Male Bronze: Andrew Dunn (Crystal River HS)
Green Course:
Female Gold: Tracy Acuff
Male Gold: Gord Hunter
Male Silver: Robert Hilyard
Male Bronze: Russ Steinke
Red Course
Female Gold: Donna Fluegel
Male Gold: Craig Weber
Male Silver: Mike Dempsey
Male Bronze: Will Pirnasch
Blue Course:
Female Gold: Carolyn Schultz
Male Gold: Bob Putnam
Male Silver: Jason Scott
Male Bronze: Ray Bruneau
Congratulations to all these folks. They will either have their medals mailed to them, or they will be attending (RSVP?) the FLO Winter Annual Meeting where a presentation is accompanied by a round of applause.
Jonathan Linforth set a terrific batch of courses for us all and the forest obliged by being every bit as picturesque as the well-established cycle of controlled burns can make it. Reading between the lines there, you may detect the truth of this: the wire grass upland forest is golden-gorgeous, while the sand-live-oak undergrowth has not quite yet been eradicated. Running through waist high charcoal tinged leafless oak brush is an adventure that must be experienced, wiregrass or no wiregrass. Made for a great day in my mind.
A special Congratulations to Carolyn Schultz, who beat the one-who-remains-nameless by, what, 40 seconds on blue! Congrats to our ‘furriners’ Gord Hunter and Craig Weber, from Canada and New York, respectively, who carry home gold. And for the first time ever we have a complete triplet of Advanced Female Gold Medal Winners in Tracy Acuff, Donna Fluegel and Carolyn Schultz.
On the JROTC side, notice the cadets were also eligible for FLO medals, in addition to their own JROTC Trophies. By the way, Congratulations to George Jenkins High School, who just may have been attending their first such competition (unless I’m wrong in this?) and took home top honors on Yellow. Hats off to the ‘powerhouse’ team from Robinson High School for taking the overall JROTC title. We apologize, also, for misspelling “Jenkins” in various places.
As for the event itself, thanks go to Jonathan Linforth for the terrific course designs, the days in the woods vetting, and the other days in the woods setting out controls. Jonathan was ably assisted by many others who must be thanked profusely – Janet Putnam, Frank Kuhn, Russ Steinke, Ray Bruneau, Linda Brew, and if I’m not mistaken Mike Dempsey, plus ‘Retrievers’ Jerry Sirmans, Donna Fluegel and Russ Steinke again. To all who read these notes, please be reminded as to how vital such volunteers are to the success of this club and to its very existence. If you have not helped out before, or recently, please consider doing so (again) if only to relieve the burden of these ‘Usual Suspects’, whose names you may notice reoccur in these Thank You notices quite often. End of sermon.
On to the back-story:
You’ll love this. Last Spring when we first scheduled this Kelly December event, among others, I was tasked with getting all the permits and reservations for the Fall season. Jonathan’s event directing efforts for Kelly kicked in about November 1, when he asked me for an e-copy of the Kelly pavilion rental agreement. Uuuuuh, Ooops…. I’d forgotten. Luckily, no one else had reserved our favorite pavilion in the meantime, so all’s well.
The other back story is that Pangea Adventure Racing had a race this same day, so certain of the top competitors otherwise contending for FLO medals were not present. We’ll coordinate better next year, or better yet, leave the controls in the woods and make them run Sunday!
Speaking of next year, it is our intention to return in 2014 to the Wekiwa Springs Youth Camp for these Championships, with their first rate facilities and indoor auditorium. We’ll see.
A very-nearly-final Thank You goes to the rangers and staff at Kelly Park for making this event so easy for us to stage – and for this event, to have helped us in relocating more than one mis-oriented cadet who stayed out longer than expected.
In closing we must also say Thank You the Wekiwa Springs State Park rangers and staff for their enthusiastic cooperation in these events. We cannot stage out of Kelly and venture into Wekiwa’s pine flatwoods without their approval, you know.
In all, a fine day: Terrific courses, perfect weather (maxed out at 80F, clear skies), 225 people including 89 JROTC cadets and a few folks who will have metal-medals as mementos to hang on their walls.
Thanks for coming!
Bob Putnam
| Name | Time |
| Team Mahaken | 43:10 |
| Nikke Rupert | 51:06 [Gold - F] |
| Name | Time |
| West Orange HS | 54:59 |
| Treasure Coast #2 | 60:36 |
| Irma Banda | 69:15 |
| Gators Ocala | 72:20 |
| Treasure Coast #1 | 114:14 |
| Cristal Jimenez | 153:10 |
| Joan Landor | 156:17 |
| Araceli Gonzalez | 92:46 |
| Auburndale HS #2 | 98:00 |
| Kayla Semino | 98:15 |
| Auburndale HS #1 | 105:46 |
| Auburndale HS #5 | 108:47 |
| Nicole Wesling | 113:04 |
| Auburndale HS #3 | 114:22 |
| CCHS Bears #3 | 116:00 |
| Auburndale HS #4 | 121:39 |
| Kelly Mumbert | 127:30 |
| Not Dead | 129:32 |
| Michele Blankenship | 132:00 |
| Joe & David Kays | 148:24 |
| CCHS Not Lost | 157:52 |
| Troop 72 Boys | 159:02 |
| Evans HS #2 | 165:10 |
| CCHS Bears | 179:41 |
| Evans HS #1 | OT |
| Nacho & Rhyan | DNF |
| CCHS #4 | DNF |
| Williams THS | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Araceli Gonzalez | 92:46 |
| Auburndale HS #2 | 98:00 |
| Kayla Semino | 98:15 |
| Auburndale HS #1 | 105:46 |
| Nicole Wasling | 113:04 |
| Auburndale HS #3 | 114:22 |
| CCHS #3 | 116:00 |
| Auburndale HS #4 | 121:39 |
| Kelly Mumbert | 127:30 |
| Not Dead | 129:30 |
| Michele Blankenship | 132:00 |
| Joe & David Kays | 148:24 |
| CCHS Not Last | 157:52 |
| Troop 72 Boys | 159:02 |
| Evans HS #2 | 165:10 |
| CCHS Bears | 179:41 |
| CCHS #4 | DNF |
| Nacho & Rhyan | DNF |
| Williams TVHS | DNF |
| Evans HS #1 | OT |
| Name | Time |
| Gord Hunter | 65:00 [Gold - M] |
| Tracy Acuff | 82:39 [Gold - F] |
| Robert Hilyard | 101:15 |
| Sandy Clardy | 102:10 |
| Russ Steinke | 120:08 |
| 3 Summerfields | 133:24 |
| Dennis & Carolyn | 138:35 |
| Nils Humberg | 146:20 |
| Donnie Slone | 156:53 |
| Hawkins-Lunt | 161:02 |
| Brown Family | 164:45 |
| Jax McIlrann | 178:55 |
| Jay Murphy | DNF |
| Auburndale HS #7 | NTR |
| Name | Time |
| Craig Weber | 95:08 [Gold - M] |
| Mike Dempsey | 133:45 [Silver - M] |
| SBF | 138:48 |
| Will Pirnasch | 160:52 [Bronze - M] |
| Donna Fluegel | 163:35 [Gold - F] |
| Steve Fluegel | DNF |
| Name | Time |
| Carolyn Schultz | 124:15 [Gold - F] |
| Bob Putnam | 124:55 [Gold - M] |
| Go Blue | 133:05 |
| Jason Scott | 152:25 [Silver - M] |
| Ray Bruneau | 160:05 [Bronze - M] |
| Blaik Mathews | 216:15 |
| John Garel | DNF |
| DNF | Did Not Finish |
| NTR | No Time Recorded |
| OT | Over 3 Hour Time Limit |