May 29,1999

The Mt Falcon meet on Memorial Day weekend was something of an experiment. We had no idea if anyone would stay in town and come orienteering that weekend, or if they would all have other things to do. Added to that uncertainty was the weather. Although it appeared lovely in the morning, by the time we got up to the park at 11, it was raining. The rest of the day was spent in cycles of rain and sun, punctuated with thunder and lightning that was sometimes a little too close for comfort. Since we had not really prepared for rain, a certain amount of chaos resulted. The ink used to print the control descriptions was not waterproof. The master maps were placed in plastic bags, but some of the downpours were such that the maps eventually became quite soggy. The names on several of the results cards were sufficiently smeared that the list below is sometimes no more than a guess at the correct spelling.

The hardy orienteers still braved the weather and headed out, although a few folks were observed to delay their start times while they huddled in the shelter of a car for a spell. A few others scurried back to the finish before finding all their controls, citing the tremendous storm and the furies it had unleashed. And a few finish times were longer than they might have been, had not the orienteers found it prudent to take shelter until a nasty downfall of rain (with a hail character to it) passed.

However, those who ventured out had a good time. Due to the limitations of Mt Falcon, we had a white course with a few more challenging controls (called the white-yellow), an orange course (probably the best course of the day) and green and red courses (which were quite similar, with a few extra controls thrown into the red). The navigation was fairly straightforward. Any point chosen for a control was absolutely unambiguous on the map. (There are plenty of ambiguous points on the map, and this first-time course setter did not want to get lynched by selecting any of those). The map has not been updated recently. Due to growth of trees in previously open areas, fires in previously forested areas, disappearance of a number of trails, and an uncanny proliferation of large rocks, there are parts of the map where things don't quite look like you would expect. However, the lack of great navigational challenge was made up for by the abundance of hills, and everyone got a workout.

The jury is still out on whether it is worth while to hold a meet on a holiday weekend. The turnout was lower than it has been at some recent meets, but the weather was also a contributor. We did have several newcomers, who we hope to see again.

Thanks to Mark Hughes, Kitty Bladt and Pete Naseth for picking up controls.

White-Yellow 2.5k, 90m climb

Orange 3.0k, 130m climb

Green 4.5k, 230m climb

Red 5.5k, 280m climb