The New England Orienteering Club

Wrentham State Forest, Wrentham, MA
October 10, 2010
Meet Director: Bill Binette

There was beautiful weather for orienteering, including the days before and after. 120 people accepted the opportunity and kept the starts busy for 2 hours. And thanks to the helpers for keeping the line moving.  They worked in 3 classes.  Two were involved for weeks before the meet. Jim Paschetto and Joanne Sankus helped like they were co-directors, and provided much needed help on race day.  And the 2 helpers scheduled the week before for 2 hours on meet day were Pelle Wahlstrom and David Yee.  And then several people jumped in during the meet - Andrew McIlvaine, Alex Jospe, and Ann Harrer. Thank you all.  And thanks to those who pitched in without leaving a trace of their name. I know there were 2 others that helped novice orienteerers get started.

67 groups showed up and found an easy walk 200 yards south from the parking lot to the registration and starts; zero climb in this leg.  But this venue is sure to have a climbing challenge once a person enters the woods. The courses had 4% to 8% climb.  Foot placement is also a challenge. The whole state forest is littered with rocks, and bikers broke up the trails causing dirt erosion and more exposed rocks.  The courses were designed with the minimum length to balance the walking difficulty.

Constructive criticism was graciously given about 2 controls. Only Red had to contend with the clue indicating the top of the cliff, when the control was actually 6 feet down between 2 cliff tops. Anybody who climbed to the top should have easily seen the control.  And the clue sheet did have an extra symbol indicating "low" - on the cliff top.  Maybe a full word description was needed, because I only found the symbol in Purple Pen, not in the International list. Then the southeast water stop on Red/Green and the wall were completely hidden from view by the overgrown plants. The 2 cliffs up the hill pointed down to the control.  And a person could be leisurely sitting there drinking water, and remain hidden. The clue "overgrown" was a warning to find another attack point instead of the wall. (That control was there for the water boy to park on Melanie Street, and make only a short walk into the woods.)

The controls were placed on the map with Purple Pen, which was very easy to use, and with lots of neat functions. But it did change the "weight" of lines on the OCAD-generated map. The out of bounds lines were fewer and bolder than OCAD generated last year. And the contour lines were too dense, making it difficult to see the controls.  The final printing was done the day before the meet so there was no time to redo the maps in OCAD. I recommend test prints weeks ahead if Purple Pen is used.

All participants returned safely (some stragglers slightly after 3 pm made us wonder for only a short while).  Everyone seemed to enjoy the time outside. Thanks again to all who helped make this a successful meet.


Photos from the day are in the Galleries.

Split times for e-punch entrants available here(courtesy of Winsplits).

Use RouteGadget (in the "Results" menu above) to draw your route and see others' routes.

White 1.5k 105m
Name Club Time
1 Joshua Trahan + 1 26:57
2 Joanne Sankus NEOC 29:57
3 Allison Donoghue + 1 36:12
4 Team Bigfoot: Faucher, Tenney 40:19
5 Cathy & Dave Taher (4) 40:52
6 Reed Renolds 41:25
7 Rob Porter + 1 55:08
8 Adam Lechowicz NEOC 57:54
9 Hugh Herr + 1 103:04
Rick Power + 1 DNF
Yellow 2.1k 175m
Name Club Time
1 Spencer Tingle NEOC 39:09
2 G Faucher (4) 50:09
3 Anna and Michele 56:27
4 Luis Luis 58:03
5 David and Jacki Mayall NEOC 59:34
6 Jakubiak Family 68:37
7 Ed McDonough 72:59
8 Andrea Whitcomb + 1 77:06
9 The Greyhound team 77:27
10 Sarah Carley & Debra Skele 89:15
11 Connie Nelson 137:00
Linda Ingram +2 DNF
David Donoghue + 1 DNF
Orange 3.2k 190m
Name Club Time
1 Bo Nielson 50:28
2 Lisa Mykyta NEOC 63:29
3 J. F. Leiserson 68:29
4 Ann Harrer NEOC 88:19
5 Steve Feldman NEOC 103:31
6 David Penfield 110:15
7 Caroline Fleming 119:23
8 David Kelly +1 126:35
9 Robert Light (4) 133:52
10 Paul Yannetti 142:35
11 Langhauser Group (4) 142:53
12 kathy Girard 186:33
David and Ozma Gibbs, Laura NEOC DNF
Michael Dwyer DNF
Sisters - R (2) DNF
Chris Noon NEOC DNF
Green 4.9k 295m
Name Club Time
1 Bill Pullman 56:38
2 Pia Webb NEOC 66:46
3 Eileen Underwood 85:40
4 Jim Crawford NEOC 100:00
5 Aims Coney NEOC 113:16
6 Mark Webb CSU 114:45
7 David Miller 119:55
8 Peter Degan 121:10
9 Don Hall NEOC 127:27
10 Peter Frykman NEOC 138:03
11 Nat Brooks 138:18
12 Steve Kellogg NEOC 152:42
13 John Keraochan 187:59
14 Faye Doria 193:17
15 Valerie Murray NEOC 249:14
16 Cameron Murray NEOC 249:39
Stephen A. Van Ness NEOC DNF
Caroline Luis DNF
Sara Bellini DNF
Alex Jospe DNF
Meg Parson NEOC DNF
Karl Stephens NEOC DNF
Pelle Wahlstrom NEOC DNF
Red 6.2k 330m
Name Club Time
1 Ross Smith 52:15
2 Jordan Laughlin 58:38
3 Samantha Saeger NEOC 65:47
4 Carl Underwood 72:04
5 Chris Degan NEOC 72:50
6 Aaron Aaker NEOC 73:23
7 Tim Parson NEOC 81:53
8 Peter Gagarin CSU 82:28
9 Phil Bricker NEOC 88:55
10 Greg Barbour 91:53
11 Ed Despard 96:34
12 Dean Sturtevant 97:15
13 Scott Turner NEOC 99:58
14 Jeff Schapiro NEOC 102:49
15 Andy Mykyta NEOC 104:30
16 Andrew Vakhutinsky NEOC 113:35
17 Tom Randall NEOC 118:37
18 Andy McIlvaine 122:22
19 Dmitry Lavrov 139:32
20 Leszek Lechowicz NEOC 142:29
21 Alan Lange 177:57
Dave Yee NEOC DNF