Discussion: Hudson Valley Sprints - The Harriman Sprintathon

It's gonna be pretty drop-deadly, mind-blowingly, spectacular with three ultra-high-speed, multitudinously controlled Sprints, each with it's own unique style and kick-assness.

Can you handle 2 at 35 points? What about a third 45-pointer?

How about 60 controls in one day without having to run more than 8k?

At least if you give a darn about your all-too-momentous Sprint Series Ranking, then git yerself down to Harriman State Park on Saturday, June 3rd for the event that needs no introduction... The Blue-Eyed Hudson Whale Series, The Tail-Slapping Beaver Courses, The Harriman Megaton Sprintathon...

Yes ladies and gentlemanly-men, the 2006 - First Annual - Hudson Valley Sprints are upon us.

Be there.

Yeah.

Did I mention the post-race gorgeathon?

Rumors have it that there will be a feast of whale burgers and beaver tail (not to mention tons of the famous Breton secret nosh) for those who are worthy.

Make it a day for the family. Make it a day for connection with your inner Mielikki, with a multiplicitude of opportunities to become one with the forest... in more ways than one.

Has anyone ever watched one of those dog-agility contests?

Yeah. It's gonna be like that... but faster!

Talking to yourself again, huh, John?

Feet stink.

Yeah.

Hey, how late can i show up? And are feet coming?

I am working on a possible mini-training camp for Junior and Senior team members following the sprints. A couple days in Harriman should do everyone some good, and I've got floor space.

Only requirement is that you have to attend the sprints. I'll leave the flags up until you are done Boris. No matter how many days it will take. I will never let go.

No, for obvious reasons, if you think about it a bit, Boris.

60 controls? You mean you do a mega control sprint or what? Or do you just line them up in a circle on the parking lot and we run around?

As for the whaleburgers, they are excellent and self-inflammatory. I am working to get some of the overtrained turkeys back which are on the way to Laramie to make BBQ butterballs a la mode finnoise.

And yes, we hope Greg is presenting some results of his export/import business. No more baltering, we need to see results.

60 controls? You mean you do a mega control sprint or what? Or do you just line them up in a circle on the parking lot and we run around?

Something like the latter. There might be a couple in the woods too. We'll see.

Feet, i suspected as much, but thought i'd check, just in case you are crazy. :)

The sprint points seem to be getting outdated?

What do you mean, Jeff? You want more points? Say, when Sam beats Ross, we double her points? When Ross beats Boris, we double his points. When Sam beats both Boris and Ross, we triple her points. And so on.

Who knows, maybe we find some extra award for the best overall time combined? What about 100 points? Wow, now I am getting in trouble with the commissioner. Let's see how long it takes, until HMK the G-ness of Sunderland enters the premises of this particular discussion here.

If you are planning on coming, please pre-register so that we have a better idea of how many maps to print.

Hey John, I have some picnic food (uncooked) leftover from the SVO rogaine this weekend. 5 sausages, 10 hotdogs, 13 hamburger patties, 8 veggie burgers - all frozen, and buns to go with all of the above. 24-slices of American cheese, 1 bag of potato chips, 6 cases of "Smartzone" bars courtesy QOC, about 1.5e9 packets of Crasins courtesy PA State Parks, PBJ, tea packets, sugar, powdered creamer, some instant coffee, hot cocoa powder, one thing of mustard, salt and pepper, 1 can charcoal lighter fluid and matches, 5 cans of soda. We'd be more than happy to donate this to the picnic to benefit the junior team.

Sounds awesome Eddie.

Check out these stats:

Sprint 35a: 1.93km - 55m - 14 Controls
Sprint 35b: 1.74km - 65m - 12 Controls
Sprint 45: 2.18km - 65m - 18 Controls

That's 44 controls over just 5.85km, or 1 control ever 133 meters. Just enough to keep you on your toes, but not enough to turn it into a connect-the-dots. The 45-pointer goes through some of the coolest sprint terrain I have ever seen, but unfortunately it is only a 100m2 area, so I was only able to get 4 controls in there, but it will be pretty cool anyway. I think I'll have to do some sniping with my camera there.

I even heard the weather is supposed to be like a beautiful Swedish Summer day. There ain't no better Orienteering weather than that.

4 controls in a 100m2 area? I can't wait.

I have heard the rumor that John was stacking controls vertically to be able to fit them in. So this must be a great event.

Remember, the proceeds will prevent John, Mike and Erin from having to use a row boat to go to Lithuania. With some cash we can sponsor a small engine on the boat, with a lot of cash it will be the private jet loaned from the Yankees (ok, for the Red Soxers, get a better offer from Boston).

Have they thought of asking Mr. Benetis to repurpose a Lithuanian Navy aircraft carrier?

4 controls in a 100m2 area? I can't wait.
Just imagine area 10x10m with control flag in every corner:)) Or it could be a BIG rock feature with flags at each direction like North, South, East, and West:))

Hmm, pretty sure I know that spot you're talking about, John.

I have my own idea about this, having studied the map last night.

may be your ideas are the same?

I also think John's description of the area as "100m2" should be interpreted as (100m)^2, not as 100(m^2). In other words, we're talking about a hectare, not half a tennis court.

Something like that JJ. I don't think I made it to too many math classes in Middle School...

You are making this hard to resist....

I already knew you find me hard to resist, Boris. Can you resist these Sprints though?

The area is... you go across the... and cross two contours until you see the index contour (hmm, this precisely works in every direction at Sebago)... turn around the... cross two... Yes, right there: #1 on boulder, #2 on dot knoll, #3 small reentrant, #4 mountain laurel, E side. I might drive over right now, it is only a 40 minute drive, I can get there before midnight.

Doh! It looks like we are rescheduling for Saturday, June 17th in two weeks. Those troopers just couldn't be bargained with...

This was pretty much one of the weirdest orienteering days in a long time. Arriving at Sebago Beach and seeing the commissioner and a bunch of others rather unbusy on the parking lot told me that something was wrong. To hear that Harriman State Park was closed down, at least for a group activity like ours, because of one (maybe) roaming angry/criminal/on the run person seemed like somewhat of an overkill (hmm, pun?) I guess they didn't want to run a risk.
I was considering dissolving HVO for 24 hours, so that we could run as private citizens, like the hikers, canoe people and fishermen who were in the park.
I am glad all the travelers from far away took it with some cheeriness. At least we had some good food around for the BBQ, so firing the grill up early helped to keep the mood up.

I saw about 30 Koreans come off the AT to thier cars and vans at Tiorati circle. The parking lot attendant was happy to take my money, and did not seem to know about any restriction in the woods. (I hiked from Rt 17 instead.)

Seriously, I think we got shafted hard. It seems to be another of the inumerable examples of someone exercising their power because they can, in a kya fashion.

Nonetheless, it was still a good time considering the circumstances. Lots of good folks huddled under much appreciated tents, plenty of food, and Bernie and co. on the grill made it (almost) worth a 3 hour drive.

I am making some travel plans for the near future and wanted to confirm that the Harriman sprints have been moved to Saturday June 17th.

Yep -- check out their page:

http://hvo.us.orienteering.org/News.html

thanks

Please pre-register if you are planning on coming so that we know how many maps to print.