Great Falls, MD - Nov 18, 2012

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The weather was perfect for orienteering at Great Falls. The temperature was in the low 50s and there was a light breeze blowing.

Many of the controls on the advanced courses were close together. There were only a few that I had trouble finding.

2/128 was placed higher on the hill than I thought it would be. I made a couple sweeps along the bottom of the hill, close to the road before it occurred to me to look higher on the hill. Once I looked at where the control was supposed to be in relation to the bend in the road I realized that the logical place for me to look was at the top of the hill.

I "followed" other orienteers more frequently than I usually do. I wasn't always within sight of the orienteers that I was following. Sometimes they got a ways ahead of me but then I would see them after I rounded a turn or came to the top of a hill. Having them in front of me helped to confirm that I was headed in the right direction.

I found the beginning (11) of the second of the second butterfly loop unassisted. I was quickly passed by one orienteer and ended up following him through the first half (12-14) of the loop. About the time I lost him I was passed by another orienteer who I ended up following for the second half (15-19) of the loop and on to the next control (20) following the loop. About the time I lost him I was passed by another orienteer who I ended up following for the next few controls (21-26). I lost her after that and was on my own for the last couple controls.

Course: Advanced [Controls: 27; 7.6 km; 310 m]
Time: 2:16:10 - Winsplits - RouteGadget - AttackPoint
Actual Distance Traveled: 9.56 km / 5.94 miles

Great Falls, MD - Nov 13, 2011

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The weather was perfect, much nicer than it has been the past few times I have orienteered at Great Falls.

There was a huge turnout. Over 200 people participated.

For the most part the controls didn't give me too much trouble. To be fair I had some help in the form of other competitors who, one way or another, led me to some of the controls.

When I was looking for control 6/112 I got off course. I was heading down the wrong side of a large reentrant. I thought I was headed in the right direction based on my compass but it felt wrong. So I took a chance and crossed the reentrant and quickly found the control flag. That experience gave me a boost of confidence.

I dropped my map when I was looking for control 12/114. It wasn't long before I realized it was missing. I had a good guess as to where I might have dropped it. In the process of heading back to the spot I found the control.

While looking for control 22/119 I'm pretty sure I wandered into the forbidden zone by accident. I should have headed southwest from the previous control in order to avoid the out of boundaries area but I headed south. The forbidden zone didn't cover a very large area. It was shaped kind of like the letter U. The control was right in the middle of the hollow of the U. I can't have the been only person to mistakenly cross into the forbidden zone. There were no signs of any sort to indicate the boundaries of the zone. It was just marked as such on the map. When I sketched my route on RouteGadget I lied about the actual route I took to get to control 22/119. I made it look as though I skirted the forbidden zone but did not cross into it.

Red [28 controls; 8.5 km; 345 m]
Time: 3:03:46 - winsplits - routegadget

Great Falls, MD - Dec 5, 2010

Course: Intermediate [5.2 km; 175m; 13 controls]
Time: 1:15:22 - winsplits - routegadget

It was cold and windy at Great Falls. I can't remember an orienteering experience at Great Falls that wasn't cold and windy. I'm grateful that there wasn't any snow. Last year there was at least a few inches of snow on the ground.

I spent the first 1.5 hrs at Great Falls volunteering. I helped Heidi with the e-punch. She ran the computer. I taught people (who needed some instructions) how the e-punch works. I got a few technical questions that I was unable to answer. In one case I referred the person to Jon. In the other I just shrugged my shoulders and apologized for not knowing what all symbols were on the clue sheet.

When Heidi let me go it was around 12:20. I had less than 3 hours to complete a course. Based on a number of factors I decided to walk the intermediate course. I would have preferred to try the advanced course but I think it was just a little too long for me to complete in 2.5 hours.

The intermediate course wasn't challenging. I had help with a few of the controls. For the last 7 or 8 controls I was being followed by a FUMA student. He passed me briefly as we approached a couple of the controls and I passed him as I headed off to the next control. With 3 or 4 controls left on the course he met a buddy of his also from FUMA, who also proceeded to follow me. I took it as a compliment that they were following me and didn't try to dissuade them from doing so.

I finished 25th out of 84 people/groups that completed the course. There was a combination of 10 DNFs and MPs. I can't remember the last time I finished that high in the rankings. I didn't finish ahead of anyone that I normally wouldn't have. The intermediate course was a little more difficult than the usual intermediate course. This may have contibuted to some of the slower times.

Between the 13th (and final control) and the finish I got whacked in the (left) eye by a small branch. It didn't hit me. I walked into it. I normally have lots of near misses with branches, big and small. This was the exception to the rule; contact was made. The pain wasn't extreme but it did bother me for the next 36 hours.