Silver Lake and southeast Michigan featured full fall color, sunny skies, light wind, and temperatures in the fifties for near perfect orienteering conditions this day. With great conditions and the Tigers having just won the ALCS, I saw more smiles than usual all day long before and after runs.
Mark Voit polished off the Red course in just under an hour with a few other elite runners right behind him on a fairly hilly and long course. Lew Kidder finished Green, a little shorter course but just as difficult, in just over an hour with Mike Keating around ten minutes behind. I think Mike wins the award for most improved orienteer this year. He’s cut his time in about half over the last few years.
On the Orange course, Eric Bacon showed the way at 48:20 with Art Ostaszewski a couple minutes back. This course challenged runners with a few controls being shared with Green and Red.
The Yellow and White courses generally ran to the north and west. The Patrick McNeal group led Yellow, and Andy, Caleb, and Mitchell Wershing led White. We also had a well-managed scout troup 1634 which finished the White course in four different groups. I know these guys had a great time.
By the way, one of the ways to improve orienteering times is to be a meet director. Mike is doing this, and the results speak for themselves. We are looking for meet directors for next spring. So if you want to volunteer, please call me at 734-812-6744.
Thanks to Rick Waldo, Joel Billau, John and Joan Walker for picking up controls and to my son Michael for helping put controls out. Thanks also to my wife and daughter Kim and Allison for checking people in during the rush from noon to two pm. This one was a lot of fun with the great weather and fall colors. Be sure not to miss John and Joan’s Night-O in two weeks also at Silver Lake!
| Red: 7.6 km, 13 controls | |
| Mark Voit | 54:20 |
| Juha Heinonen | 60:20 |
| Joel Billau | 61:50 |
| Rick Waldo | 64:50 |
| Finn Knudsen | 84:30 |
| Al Newman | 84:40 |
| Alan Opersol | 86:10 |
| Alex Izzo | 98:30 |
| Mike and Kristal Coronado | 109:00 |
| Caleb and Andy | 200:00 |
| Gordon Seeley | 217:15 |
| Chuck and Sara (Red and Orange Combined) | 226:00 |
| Harrington Group | DNF |
| Green: 5.4 km, 9 controls | |
| Lew Kidder | 63:10 |
| Mike Keating | 70:20 |
| Greg Lucas | 71:20 |
| Mike Ryan | 73:45 |
| Roddy Wares | 89:50 |
| Laurent Fournier | 93:30 |
| Mark and Mike Cripe | 113:00 |
| Megan Donahue | 117:40 |
| Rich and Jeremy Mathei | 120:30 |
| Chuck and Jill Kovack | 127:20 |
| Hughes Group | 184:00 |
| Orange: 4.2 km, 10 controls | |
| Eric Bacon | 48:20 |
| Art Ostaszewski | 50:10 |
| Jess Franklin | 52:20 |
| Brian Halliwell | 53:00 |
| David Wiechman | 72:30 |
| Lowell and Angela | 79:40 |
| Gillian Carney and Robert Messer | 94:15 |
| Mike and Pat Villemore | 97:00 |
| Julie Simms and Brad Simmons | 105:50 |
| John Satchwell | 115:15 |
| Alan Baljeu | 127:20 |
| Doug, Angela, and Lynn | 132:20 |
| Kittel Family | 137:20 |
| Brian Hermit | DNF |
| Sonya Talwalker | DNF |
| Wyatt and Reno | DNF |
| Oates Group | DNF |
| Yellow: 4.0 km, 10 controls | |
| Patrick McNeal Group | 62:10 |
| Mary Joscelyn and Catherine Roberts | 66:40 |
| Sherry and Cheng | 72:00 |
| Pat Steadman | 72:10 |
| Finley Group | 124:00 |
| White: 3.2 km, 8 controls | |
| Wershing Group | 28:40 |
| Scout Troup 1634 #4 | 32:30 |
| Scout Troup 1634 #1 | 32:50 |
| Voit Family | 37:20 |
| Scout Troup 1634 #2 | 40:20 |
| Spencer Group | 65:10 |
| Scout Troup 1634 #3 | 81:40 |
| Heinonen Family | 97:00 |
Modified January 17, 2007, by Robert Messer.