The weather was a little intimidating for a night event.  It had rained lightly much of the day and the day before.  Although I don't think it rained during the competition, the weather undoubtedly was a factor in the six groups and individuals who had preregistered not showing up.  This was the first use of the Yellow Creek South map; so we were hoping for a larger turnout.  As it was, the turnout was typical for our night events.

There were 40 controls.  Ten of them were worth 10 points each; ten were worth 20 points each ; ten were worth 30 points each; and ten were worth 40 points each for a total of 1000 possible points.  There was a 25 point per whole minute penalty for each minute late.   Jim Wolfe, meet director, designed the course so that the high-point controls were scattered over the map.  The idea was to allow everyone, including those with less experience, to reach at least one 40-point control.  Some high-point controls were distance challenges (far away but on or near a linear feature).  It was anticipated that the most experienced orienteers would concentrate on the western part where a maximum of 790 could be had.  It was also anticipated that the less experienced orienteers would concentrate on the middle and eastern parts.  That is pretty much the way it went.

An analysis of the punch cards shows that all but two people/groups visited at least one 40-point control.  In fact, control 35 (a 40-pointer) was the most visited control overall; this was followed close behind by several 10-point controls (1, 2, 3, and 8) and control 37, another 40-pointer.  For nearly all other controls, there was a nice midde-of-the-road number of visits.  Naturally, controls 39 and 40 were the least visited with just 2.  Control 39 is where Nate was chased by dogs; I don't know why Alexis wasn't chased; he came even closer to the house out to the west than Nate did.

Thanks to Sherry Shank and Laurie Opila for helping with registration.  Also, thanks to Gordon Huang, Yiyao Jiang, Hao Fu and Al Sheaffer for helping with control pick up.

You can see the routes taken by several of the competitors and their comments at  this location Thanks to Alexis for posting these routes.  Below are links to the pictures taken at the start;  if you were there, your image should be blurry in at least one of these pictures.

Flash Pictures:   Left    Middle     Right
Without Flash:   Left    Middle    Right

Our next event will be at Prince Gallitzin State Park, another new venue for us, on June 22.
 

Night-O   Score Course        2.5  hours    40 controls    Points as stated above
 
 

Name	Club	Controls	Time	Penalty	Score
Nate Ohrwaschel	DVOA	30	2:27:28		770
Alexis Rzewski	WPOC	24	2:27:22	lost card**	670
Jim Trautmann	WPOC	19	2:29:46		580
Mladen Kolar		22	2:24:55		570
Kevin Peterson	WPOC	20	2:29:57		480
Curt Mertz	WPOC	17	2:21:19		460
Yaki Barak	WPOC	19	2:28:16		440
Dave Battista	WPOC	15	2:29:46		400
Sherry Shank	WPOC	15	2:15:29		330
Yiyao Jiang		16	2:18:16		330
Hao Fu		16	2:25:39		320
Van Vranken (4)	QOC	12	1:58:39		250
The Weltners (2)	WPOC	12	2:23:45		250
GJAC (6)	WPOC	12	2:25:16		240
Brandon Snickles (3)		10	1:39:40		180
Nick McFerron (4)		9	2:13:58		180
Kit Eagon		7	2:14:30		170
Tom Knapp		9	2:26:06		170
Tom & Linda Gray	WPOC	7	2:10:18		150
Gordon Huang	WPOC	3	2:19:40		50
Ryan Knecht		8*	0:37:00	lost card	DSQ

* Ryan Knecht said he had punched 8 controls by the time he lost his card near control 29.
** Alexis Rzewski lost his card near control 24 but the card was found by another competitor and brought to the finish.  Alexis continued on his course and punched  additional controls on his control description sheet.  His score reflects both sets of punches.  As Alexis says, he should be disqualified for losing his card; if you like, you can envision his placement in the results as being at the bottom.