EMPO Times Fall 1998
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EMPO Hosts the Billygoat
This year EMPO, and specifically our President Bill Jameson, was
asked to be Director of the 20th Annual Billygoat Run. The Billygoat
is a unique orienteering race in that it is a mass start event,
following is allowed, and you get to choose a control to skip. The
course is always quite long, with a winning time around 90 minutes,
and T-shirts are awarded to all who complete it in 3&1/2 hours or
less, which can be a real challenge for those of us who are less than
elite orienteers. Though EMPO hosted it, this year's 'Goat was run on
a NEOC map, Mt. Norwottuck, which is at least a couple hours East of
EMPO-land. Norwottuck has the advantages (for the Billygoat) of being
a large area with lots of potential climb. In fact, it has been used
for one or two past 'Goats, and there is still plenty of territory to
send exhausted runners in new and devious ways. Director Bill worked
out an interesting course, but then suddenly duty, in the form of the
US Army, called, and he had to leave for Korea, and the Club VP picked
up the ball. Fortunately Bill had also picked up the help of a number
of other folks by then, so taking over wasn't too onerous a task.
The weather on the day of the race was a bit iffy, but in the end
was actually pretty good for running, if a bit cool and damp for
standing around. We had a fine turnout, from literally across the
country (and beyond). None of our worst fears (misplaced controls, too
little water, serious injuries) transpired, though it was a close
thing on handling of the finish line and results. We barely avoided
blowing it until more experienced help took over. In the end, about
the only complaints heard were inability to hear the start (next time
be sure to have some way to stand above the crowd, and have a
megaphone), the choice of the control to skip being a bit too obvious
(well, it wasn't so obvious to me until I had been out on that
side of the mountain), and there being no place warm to wait for
results. The times and percentages of finishers turned out to be
pretty much in the normal range, and the course made for an excellent
race, and a lot of interesting commentary.
One of the fun things about the Billygoat is that over the last few
years it has become a common practice for participants to write up
their experiences and post them at a site on the Internet. The runners
who do this run the full gamut from worst to first, and you get a
great sense of the fun, frustration, effort and anguish that goes into
each participant's race. Since EMPO directed the race this year, we
had a few less members who could actually run in it. But the three
older Trysons all managed to both work and compete in the event, and
two of the three bettered the maximum time allowed to earn a T-shirt
(3 & 1/2 hours). Stories from competitors can be found through
the results list at EMPO's Web site.
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Peebles Island
Preparation for the Peebles Island meet began long ago, sometime in
the fall of 1996, by John Beatty, original meet director. He had
everything all set to go for April 19, 1997. But fickle April weather
brought snow and slippery conditions, and the meet was cancelled. So,
with the preparatory work complete, it seemed a good 1998 event for
Phil H.-T. to offer us as first-time meet directors. And we
accepted.
Following a meeting with John to go over his courses and maps,
etc., we proceeded to plan our duties. In April, we arranged to visit
Peebles Island. We had never been to Peebles previously (except for
having shown up for the cancelled meet!), and, upon arrival, were
immediately taken by this quaint island tucked in the midst of urban
life. With master map in hand, we set out to locate John's orange
tapes. Time and weather had removed a few of them. As we proceeded
control to control, we found ourselves trying to think analytically
like an orienteer might? Due to time constraints, we were not able to
finish this job on day one, and Rob returned in May for completion of
this task.
On Sunday, May 28, hoping to visit Peebles one more time, we were
greeted on 787 en route to Peebles with the emergency broadcasting
system via radio, warning us of TORNADOES! We discerned that home
would be a safer place to be than Peebles in a tornado, so we drove
home directly, and our plan for a final tour was postponed. But, we
made it back to Peebles the following week for our final check, and
recognized that we still had more work to do. With the new pavilion as
a tease, perhaps we should move the start from its original location
near the parking lot. And, several changes due to the recent
construction prompted the need for map changes. And, we needed to
re-label the controls since John's control codes from a year ago no
longer happened to match the control bags we had received. The next
several days gave us a chance to deal with these issues.
Saturday's weather report for Sunday, as well as verification that
the pavilion had not been reserved, convinced us that the start should
be relocated. We had previously mutually agreed to make as few changes
to John's work as possible. This is one change we're really glad we
made. Sunday, in fact, delivered an abundance of rainfall. At around
8:00 AM, we arrived at Peebles to hang controls. The beautiful, new
pavilion was looking more and more inviting with each falling
raindrop. So we, indeed, did set up registration at the pavilion. A
fisherman, having had enough of the rain, passed by the pavilion,
grinned and exclaimed "Stay dry!" as we set up map boards and the
like.
Our support team of Janet and Glen, and John arrived prior to 11:00
registration. As the hour neared, rain was falling steadily. Who in
their right minds would come out in this weather? Well, as is true to
form, some folks will come NO MATTER what is falling from
above. Orienteers came from Oneonta and Massachusetts and New York
City, as well as several local areas. We were quite amazed, and
enjoyed talking with old friends and meeting new faces.
Despite the rain, we really did have a blast. We learned to
appreciate the amount of time and effort which goes into each O
meet. We're glad we could give back a bit of which we've taken over
the past couple of years. We would like to say special thanks to John,
for sharing his preparatory work and brain with us; to Janet and Glen
and Phil for answering additional questions along the way. And
especially to each and every one who took the time to brave the
elements, run the courses, and partake of the homemade chocolate-chip
cookies. We hope each one experienced at least a portion of the amount
of fun we had.
-Robert & Rita Reed
Tawasentha Park
Tawasentha Park has become one of our seemingly endless series of
maps which requires a lot in the way of course notes, map corrections
and special attentions in order to keep it viable. Even so, it still
made for a rather nice start to the EMPO Spring season, with
entertaining and competitive courses for all those who dared come out
on a cool and damp Saturday in April. The Meet Director/Course Setter
(Sue Hawkes-Teeter) tried to keep the numerous differences between the
map and reality from coming into play more than necessary, and was
reasonably successful. Despite getting a bit muddy, everyone seemed to
enjoy themselves, even the entrant self-identified as "Grumpy." The
park's other recreational options make it a nice place to bring the
family, and many of the younger "O" set spent a lot of time sliding,
swinging and climbing on the various pieces of (unmapped) equipment. A
lot of fun!
![[image]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jUQqsi9imW0/SwYOWV-5JfI/AAAAAAAAASs/OQXCZGa3_Y4/s800/tawasentha-gipp.jpg) |
![[image]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_jUQqsi9imW0/SwYOWhGj0wI/AAAAAAAAASw/x73PX0f-6c4/s800/tawasentha-jackson.jpg) |
Fred and Matt Gipp dash to the Tawasentha finish
line |
Steve Jackson punches the final control beside the
Normanskil at Tawasentha Park |
Blueberry Hill
At the start of the week before Blueberry Hill, we were unsure
whether the Pine Bush Commission was going to have a planned burn in
the area. The rainy turn to the end of the week, however, postponed
the burn, and our event went off as planned.
Numerous changes to the trail network since the map was last used
were noted on a scanned/altered version of the map, which we feel was
more readable than a marked-up copy of the old map would have
been.
Courses offered were the usual White, Yellow and Orange; Red
offered a "twist." Red course runners copied control
locations on their maps, noting the control codes rather than a
sequence of numbers for each location. The starter then told them
which control to visit first; each control had a streamer telling them
which control to visit next. Their clue sheets carried only control
codes and description, with no sequence given ahead of time.
-Glen & Janet Tryson
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'O'ctober A Meets
October is arguably the most beautiful month of the year in the
Northeastern US, and that's especially true in the fields and woods
through which we orienteer. This year the Northeast is home to three
USOF "A" Meets in October, all within a half day's drive of
EMPO-land. Leading off will be the annual event put on by the Cadets
at West Point. It's always rugged, competitive, and fun. You can eat
and sleep cheaply in the military training barracks, with good
opportunities for comparing notes and swapping tales with your fellow
orienteers. While the t-shirts aren't quite as prized as those from
the Billygoat, you'll be in good company wearing one.
After a weekend at home to challenge the best(!) of our own
offerings at Thacher Park, the Rochester Orienteering Club is hosting
"The Long & Short 'O'f It", two US Championship events: The
US Long-O Championship and the US Short Course Championship, at
Letchworth State Park. They have a new section of the Park mapped, and
have re-done the map of the portion used several years ago for another
A meet. Even without the orienteering, Letchworth is a place you
should see. It's known as the "Grand Canyon of the East", and the
views are spectacular. Compare the awesome drop-offs with what you
just saw at Thacher. In mid-October it should be awesomely
beautiful.
To stay with peak colors you need to move South a little, so the
final "O"ctober event is in Connecticut. My only familiarity with this
venue is that I almost went to school there, and I remember being
greatly impressed with how pretty it was (it was in the Fall when I
visited, of course), but I've been to several Western Connecticut
Orienteering Club (WCOC) meets, and have always appreciated the
quality of the job they do. So, make it an October of "O". Just two
Meets (four days) and you can be nationally ranked and a larger part
of the orienteering world.
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Handrails and Re-locating
A handrail is any linear feature you can follow to where you
want to go. The most common kind of handrail is a trail, but they are
so obviously something you can follow that we don't really think of
them as handrails in this sense. More commonly we mean any linear
feature other than a trail or path or road, etc. A good example would
be a stream. I have seen a lot of controls placed on stream bends or
stream junctions, and one good way to get to the right spot is to
first get to the stream (you might use aiming off to get there,
remember that one?), then follow it in to the flag. Another excellent
handrail is a stone wall, with which the Northeastern US is
crisscrossed. There are some maps down in HVO territory where it's
hard to set a challenging course because there are so many of them. Of
course, you've got to keep track of which one you're following, which
I have failed to do on a couple of occasions. And when that happens,
you get to our next topic: re-locating.
Every orienteer blows it now and again. In fact, that's part
of what makes the sport fun, the risk of discovering you don't know
where you are because you were too busy going fast to keep good track
of your location. Sure, you strive for consistency, but to really do
your best you have to push your effort to the edge of your ability
navigate cleanly, and sometimes you'll go over that edge. What do you
do then? Pick the safety bearing and go home? Eventually, perhaps; but
before that try to see if you can get yourself back on track. There
are a few basic approaches. First, stop and look around; then look
closely at your map. You're not where you thought you were, but can
you find some fairly distinct feature, or better yet a group of
features, within view and on the map? This is tricky, as it can
sometimes be easy to convince yourself that now you've figured it out,
and then you proceed a bit and discover you have even less idea where
you are than you did before. So if that doesn't work pretty clearly
and pretty soon, you're left with the second and third options: go
back or go forward. Going back means to get back to the last place
where you were sure of your location on the map. That can be easy or
hard depending on how you got to your current location, and it's
always frustrating. Still, if you're sure you know the way
back, it's the safest method. If you're not sure just how to
retreat, or if you have reason to believe you can bail out on a
compass bearing and reach a good catching feature or
handrail, then do that. As you go, keep looking for other
points that may allow you to place yourself even sooner, but don't
waste a lot of time that way. Once you've started re-locating, you
want to get it done quickly so you can move forward once again.
Perhaps the toughest question is just how long to try to muddle
through before you decide to go into serious re-locate mode. And there
is no easy answer. It's a tough calculus involving how long it has
been since you were last sure of the location, how close easy
re-locating features might be, how sure you still are that the flag
"must be just over there," and your experience. In the end, that's
what you fall back on: your experience. Therefore, to re-locate well,
you may have to experience getting lost a few times. Which means
you've got to get out and orienteer. So, orienteer, get lost, and get
better!
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![[image]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jUQqsi9imW0/SwYOWGE-tpI/AAAAAAAAASo/Bf81dIx1kRc/s800/EMPOsuit.jpg) |
Sue, Marty & Phil H-T show EMPO's colors in
Wyoming |
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This Spring, while attending HVO's "Deja Blue" Meet, EMPO's O-Suit
design committee had a chance to meet with Jeanne Walsh, the
owner/operator/seamstress of The Compass Needle. Together they worked
out colors and a pattern for a new line of orienteering tops and
pants. They're bright blue, with gold trim and a little white, and
they look great. They are made of supplex nylon, which makes them
comfortable yet tough, as well as light and very quick drying. For the
next issue I'll try to be sure we have a picture of someone wearing
one, but better yet come to the Fall meets and you're sure to see at
least one person already outfitted, as several suits have already been
purchased. They are all individually made to order, and the way to do
it is to contact The Compass Needle, 25 Summer Street, Milford, NH
03055 (e-mail c-needle @ ma . ultranet . com),
and indicate you would like an Empire Orienteering Club suit (or just
a top, which is what I did because I prefer to wear tights rather than
pants). You'll be sent back a form asking for your measurements and
advising you of the price. Then measure, write a check, and in no time
you too can look (and, more importantly, feel) way cool as you glide
on through the woods.
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