Saturday morning on March 23rd, we filled up a car and drove from Pittsburgh to the Cleveland area for the first O-meet this year of the Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club. John came over to my house at 9:15, and and 9:30 we picked up Kristaps. Two hours later, we were at Coyahoga Valley National Park, in the Boston area.
The weather during the drive was one of light rain. As we got to the destination, the rain stopped the air humid, but quite warm and pleasant. Of all the clothing I had brought with me just in case, decided that I was going to wear my lighter long pants, and just a T-shirt. No need for warm clothing or rain protection.
The registration process was buzzing with activity. It seems that the bears of North East Ohio woke up after a lethargic winter, and came out in masse for this event. The club has a standardized form to fill in participant information, even with three holes on the margin for safe-keeping in a, I presume, three-ring binder. The form as a detachable control card and results slip for the event director to fill in.
There were four courses available: White, Yellow, Orange, Green. John and Kristaps decide that they will do Green. I will be doing Yellow first, to warm up, and then Green.
At the registration table noticed the foot sticker "On-On" of the Hash House Harriers, and ask, "Hey, who is the Hasher here?". And one fellow standing by the table identifies himself, and we exchange greetings. "Hi, I am Sherpes, from the Pittsburgh Hash".
I start my Yellow. Most of the controls are slightly off a runable trail. Trails have some gravel on it, but it is very wet and very muddy. There are large groups of boy scouts, and they stand and watch as I zip by, find a control nearby, punch the card, and zip out, all this while the troop leader is voicing out to his troop what I am doing, on a second-to-second real-time radio broadcast. I wave my hand as I leave the area.
Made a couple of mistakes, one control in particular caught me off-guard, and wasted two minutes looking for it. Eventually finish in 33 minutes. It was a good warmer-upper. Got my legs in shape again, my lungs elastic, my mind tuned-in again.
My back was covered in mud: descending a wooded slope, took a spill and landed on my behind, plowing down some topsoil. One participant asks how is the ground condition? I simply turn around and show my back.
I go back to the registration shelter and sign up for Green. Then, at the start table, see Kristaps returning and finishing his Green. The weather changed a bit, and it slightly started to rain. I'm off, the terrain this time is definitely off-trail, with lots of ups and downs on steep muddy hills. The area is alluvional, with deep creeks cragging the wooded land. The terrain offers very challenging course setting, and thus very favorable to stage the conditions for multiple decision making.
I see many participants on course, some walking and some running. Had some difficulty on a few controls, and overshot a couple, losing a couple of minutes. My mind is not into it: I am choosing inefficient routes, and climbing slopes when I should have instead followed stream beds around a hill. The alluvional terrain has deep crags left of dry ditches, and my efforts in short-cutting are blocked by these ravines. Should have studied the map closer. Two controls were also on Yellow, thus had immediately the knowledge of where to go. There was a burst of rain at one point, and got pretty much soaked, but, hey, orienteering is an all-weather sport. On the last two controls, recognized John's green jersey ahead of me as he was running along a road. I instead took the trail in the woods, and got to control #11 before he did. At arrival, because of the rain, the table was moved to the back of a van parked nearby, and my arrival time logged.
Changed my wet clothes to dry ones, and went to chat with the other orienteerers as they were waiting for the participants to return, and exchange impressions on the controls and itinerary chosen. Learned a few things from listening. The most effective tip I learned is NEVER staple your map-plastic-card, but instead use tape. Why? staples are magnetic, and if use a thumb-compass, the needle will align with the staple. Bob gave us an immediate demonstration. Very dramatic.
As participants finish their course, their time is computed and their result card posted on a string along a fence. On Green, the results are Stanislav (1st, 46m), Randy (2nd, 48m), Kristaps (3rd, 50m), Alexis (4th, 56m), John (8th, 1h10m). The results are tentative, since we left before all participants finished their course.
It was a good first day of orienteering for the year. Despite the weather, many people showed up. Cleveland metropolitan area has a very large and diverse population, and many nature lovers showed up and participated simply as hikers.
We said goodbye to the organizers and other participants, and started the two hour drive back to Pittsburgh. With highway tolls, and 6.5 gallons of gas to quench the vehicle's thirst of 237 highway miles, the carpooling expenses came up to ten bucks each. Not bad for a fun day in North East Ohio.
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