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Great Brook Farm, Carlisle, MA
October 22, 2017
Meet Directors: Kelly Guarino, Pia Webb, Wendy Johnecheck  

We had beautiful weather and beautiful fall colors for the second (!) successful orienteering meet of the weekend. There were 150+ starts, spread fairly evenly over a full range of courses. We had families, individuals, friends of orienteers, scout troops, a huge high school team, grandparents, kids in strollers, next gen, beginners, and experts. A family of 4 came from CT and made full use of the day, doing multiple courses and participating in the youth activities. A number of adult beginners headed out on advanced courses ... because why not, it was a beautiful day!

On the upper courses, Red, Green and Orange got to explore a seldom-used portion of the map - Thanksgiving Ground Forest in Chelmsford. Even with extra trails not marked on the map, I got positive reports of this new territory. I also got several comments that it may be time to update the map overall, and I heard second-hand about a creative (waist-high!) navigation of River Meadow Brook.

Pia Webb and Wendy Johnecheck (and their volunteers) directed an inspiring assortment of youth training and activities (for ages 3 - 13+) as the fifth installment of the Greater Boston Youth Orienteering Series:

• They sent ~25 4-7 year olds out on a string course through some adventurous terrain, and the kids returned happy, many talking about shortcuts.
• They updated the new map symbol station, which had 5-8 year olds running around in delight.
• They rolled out a three-stage demo station (Beginner, White prep, Yellow prep) and worked with numerous kids who navigated on their own to their first controls ever.
• They created a first-ever "Hard Yellow" course to bridge the gap between Yellow and Orange.
• They held intermediate/advanced training where kids spent quality time in the woods with coaches.

It was really great to see all of the kids and families that came for these special orienteering activities. The next event in the Youth Series will be on November 19th, at Camp Sayre Blue Hills, in Milton. Check the schedule for details and a different start time.

I am still new at creating courses and meet directing, so an extra thank you to the general meet volunteers: Tim Parson for reviewing draft courses and answering my meet director questions; Pia W. for creating the lower courses; Gary Gallagher for vetting the courses and helping hang controls; Michael Dwyer, Joanne Sankus and Tim P. for set-up and registration; several early arrivers for help with setup (sorry, I did not get your names!); Tim P. for adult mini-demo/beginner instruction; Ed Despard for the computer, command station and results displays; Joanne S. and Bud O'Leary with clean-up/pack up; and Joanne S. for taking tables and chairs back to the storage locker. With the longer event time and shorter daylight, I was worried about control pickup, but ended up with great help - Ian Finlayson (who took care of the far reaches of the map), Stephen Tarry, Tim P., Bob Dangel and Jim Paschetto.

In addition to Pia and Wendy, a large contingent of volunteers made the youth activities happen: Ed Despard, Evgeny Ivanov, Kristin Hall, Becky Carlyle, Barb Bryant, Bud O'Leary, Ethan Childs, Mark Webb, Katia Bertoldi, and Ian Finlayson.

Also, a special thank you to Steve Carlin, Park Supervisor, DCR Great Brook Farm State Park. He is always helpful, and great to work with.

The next regular NEOC event is next weekend - Nobscot Night-O on Saturday, October 28, 6:30-8:00 pm.

See you in the woods!
Kelly Guarino

View the splits here (courtesy of WinSplits). For the raw splits file, click menu Results>Raw Splits Files.