Visit RouteGadget
to draw your route, or to share your GPS track.
Introduction to RouteGadget.
The map has been georeferenced and the tracks need no adjusment. For this event,
selecting "View routes" will show the team's control order even if no route or track has
been entered.
Well, they all came... and barely anyone
got lost. ! !? Fifty teams and individuals scaled the slopes of Henry
Coe in a fun- and sun-filled day of rogaining. Deer, turkeys, and a lone cougar
were sighted, along with many newts. Some bought into the course setter's
devious traps of single-contour reentrants in the middle of a poison-oak hill,
most didn't. And most seemed to enjoy the long-range navigation experience,
brand new for some, sought and cherished by others.
No team got all controls. The overall
winners, TrackMe360, got the most—20 checkpoints.
Team SOAR, all the way from Redding, took the Mixed honors and fourth
overall. But one performance stands out, that of the winners of the 4 hour
division, Evil Geniuses for Better Tomorrow. They got 15 checkpoints, and
had they been able to maintain the pace for the full 8 hours, would have cleaned out
the course—but that's where endurance comes in, doesn't it? We only hope that
Mikkel and Jonas keep up their training, and come back to Coe next year to challenge the
folks in one of the longer divisions...
We are very happy
that the event went smoothly; it sure didn't look like it would have in the wee hours of
Friday morning, when one of our checkpoint placers didn't show up from the woods. And not
just someone—Eric Bone, the many-time U.S. orienteering and rogaining
Champion. Anxious minutes passed as we contemplated whether to initiate search and
rescue... when, all of a sudden, Eric showed up. No problems (other than a dead
headlamp)—Eric's Crackberry turned itself on in his backpack and decided to chat
with the world, draining the battery, so Eric couldn't tell us about his altered plans
and the headlamp issue. Many thanks to Eric's assistance and advice, checkpoints and
water were placed on time, and the course was shortened appropriately.
A big thanks to John Verhoeven and
Jennifer Naber, the kind rangers of Coe who facilitated our event. Jennifer
checked in on us during the event to see how we were doing. Carey Gregg and
Cherie Zeiler formed the backbone of our volunteer efforts, helping with setup,
registration, parking, shuttling participants, food prep, and whatever you could think of
that needed to happen. Superstars!
Another superstar,
Lani Schreibstein, showed up around noon to get the tasty soup going, and helped
with our event takedown efforts. Greg Khanlarov provided registration support and
Johanna Merriss gave impromptu navigation and map-reading clinics to many of the
teams. Also, a big thank you to all the teams for your flexibility, cooperation, and
helping hands. We really appreciate the carpooling efforts, and so many of you were
willing to take away a bag of trash or recycling. Both Rex's car and Lani's car were
absolutely full after we packed everything up, so we were glad most all the trash was
gone!
We thank the Bay Area Orienteering Club for renting us equipment (including
the e-punch) and helping promote the event. Some of the cooking supplies were kindly
loaned by Jay Hann and Ellen Grace Henson. We also thank the California Adventure Racing
Association for helping promote, and appreciate the turnout of local and
farther-out AR teams. Racing With Giants brought a lot of folks out, and SOAR wins
the long distance award for coming from Redding. I think the team that came the farthest
was a pair of orienteers from Los Angeles, Steve and Terry Churchill. What
really amazed us was the number of fresh faces who are newer to the game of navigation
sports, and they took on a tough challenge with aplomb, all coming out with something to
show for it.
Of course, when we left, all the
checkpoint markers and e-punch stations were still out in the park. Our intrepid,
impromptu checkpoint pickup crew gets a big thank you! Jonas Kjäll, Luc Poppe,
and Cedric LasFargues came with me on Sunday, and we met up with Trinka Gillis,
Bjorn Widerstrom, and Gautham.Dennis Wilkinson and Bob Cooley
got the rest Monday and Wednesday.
You got a taste of
the big country. But there's so much more to explore at Coe; the park is large enough for
at least five non-overlapping 24 hour rogaines! We sure hope to see you at one of the
future events by Get Lost!!—the date for the 2011
Henry Coe rogaine is rapidly getting finalized, and we are set to offer you a 24 hour
experience in addition to the 4 and 8 hour divisions. If the wait is too long, check out
our Street Scramble urban navigation events—full calendar
is here.
Created: 05 June 2010
Last updated: 29 December 2010