We emerge drenched in superlatives!

• Best weather: 96F, high humidity, Heat Index over 100 all day, relentless sunshine.
• Furthest Travelers: Fiona and Derick all the way from England.
• Shortest blue course in a while (6.9km) in deference to the (superlative) weather.
• Oddest Map Note: “Gator at #41”.
• Probably the most sweat-drenched clothes on all competitors.
• Probably the most competitors retired early due to the heat/humidity.
• Most US Team members at a single local FLO event = 2. (See the Tracy/Missy note below)
• Most number of staged surprise Marriage Proposals = 1.
• Best deadpan one-liner response to the question put to the Woman Proposed To, when she was congratulated at the finish line by yours truly: “For what?” Yours truly not often caught at a loss for words. Tension quickly relieved with a smile. Whew!

No one tried the white course at all. A few overly ambitious folks chose this day to ‘move up’ in difficulty, only to be surprised.

Now let me explain the Marriage Proposal Adventure. Erik Wise contacted me a few weeks prior to the event to ask if I could help him arrange his Proposal as a surprise while out on the course. He and his Intended-Fiancé Jeanette Ciesla would, as usual, compete together as a pair/team on the Blue course. So we made a plan, involving help from his friend and fellow AR-er Junos Reed. I would design the Blue course as usual, but would insert one additional control toward the end that would appear only on Erik’s and Junos’ maps. I would see to it that the Start table secretly gave Erik and Junos the proper one-of-a-kind competition map. Junos would leave on his Blue course just before Erik & Jeanette, and he would then be required to keep ahead of them, placing the Unique Control just before they arrived (hopefully), with the (very valuable) ring hanging from the string where usually the needle punch would be; plus, he’d hang a note with the Proposal just where Jeanette could read it. And, miracle of miracles, it worked. Slightly more sweat and significantly deeper exhaustion was involved than had been expected, but it all worked out…. and…. she said “Yes”! Pretty cool, I’d say.

Congratulations to both Fiona Clough and Derick Mercer, who came all the way from England for their first try at orienteering-Florida-style. I didn’t actually ask them if they’d run in 105 Heat Index before, but I figure this might have been their first such exposure. Good News: they both survived, and thrived. Thus, the “Congratulations!” As it happens, they are both acquainted with Eric Heritage, one of the McDill AFB liaison officers who orienteered many times in the past several years, now re-homed, so they’ve pledged to say “Hi” for us all. I expect a short “Report” from them, discussing their FLO-Impressions, in the near future.

Here’s another item: Ray Bruneau, in his post-blue-course review, explained how he apparently missed Blue#2 to its south, and walked on westward, entirely through the “Land-o-Palmetto” (see map) to the big north-south ditch bordering its west side. This is remarkable for two reasons: (1) He went east to west through Land-o-Palmetto! My own view has always been that the L-o-P cannot be traversed by humans (course design assumes this to be true), and (2) He kept going – and going, through that Big Green Stuff. I think he just said “The heat….you know”.

And after Saturday’s event, I can say that I do, now, know. I had set courses that I believed were short enough to account for the expected heat. Evidently not short enough. Look at the winning times: [Blue = 122 mins; Red=112 mins; Green=98 mins; Orange=80; and Yellow = 67]. NOTE: I’m discounting Tracy Acuff and Missy Kaler on Yellow because they were both second courses for them, as part of their Training, since both are on the US Team competing at the World Deaf Orienteering Champs this August in New York state.

So, “Congratulations”! to all those winners on each course – I must say especially to Blaik Mathews on blue – for triumphing over both other competitors and the elements, logging his second Blue Course Win of 2015.

Thanks to all who made this event go smoothly – you know we need just as many helpers at an event attended by 87 people as we do at a more ‘average’ event with 250 – Blaik Mathews, Jonathan Linforth, Ray Bruneau, Cheryl McDonough, Janet Putnam, Mike Dempsey, Bill Birchfield, Jerry Sirmans, Jack Cash, Nicci Wright and Jim Feudner. HUGE Thanks, also, to the staff at LBE for allowing us to stage from the East Side like this. A rare treat! One very likely to be repeated June 2016. Look for it!

Thank you all for coming! Hope to see everyone - even the Brits - at the next event September 12, Rock Springs Run State Reserve, west of Sanford, FL.

Bob Putnam

YELLOW

Name	Time
Acuff, T	32:54 (2nd)
Kaler, M	44:56
Schmid, A	67:10
Thompson, B	91:50
Sharkey	104:08
Neville, M	DNF
Shimmer/Raymo	DNF

ORANGE

Name	Time
Birchfield, B	80:03
Parnell	85:28
Bob, Anne, Nick	87:11
Spencer/Armond	96:00
Braue, T	105:45
Kaler, M	109:58
Eaglin, C	115:10
Bachura's	129:02
Griffin, J	130:30
Rangers #53	140:50
Eric/Aaron	161:20
Glore, C	DNF
Yoon/Caitie	DNF

GREEN

Name	Time
Acuff, T	98:58
Wright, N	110:26
Maliszewski, J	118:45
Dempsey, M	121:52
Sheriff, J	144:23
Crane, D	155:10
Bruneau, R	DNF
Hawkins/Lunt	DNF
Northcutt, T	DNF
Summerfield, M	DNF
Steve & Annemarie Storer	NTR

RED

Name	Time
Clough, F	112:07
Boris/Lammi	158:52
Haupt, J	172:10
Running/Empty	172:12
Bruno, J	DNF
Stolk, B	DNF

BLUE

Name	Time
Mathews, B	122:57
Canyoneros	127:20
Eaglin, R	128:30
Mercer, D	134:16
Craig *	141:38
Shuman, D	184:16
Pogorzelski, H	197:12
Jenkins	DNF
Paroline, P/T	DNF
Pirnasch, W	DNF
Reed, J	DNF
Willer, A	DNF

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