Discussion: ghosts of sprint series finals past
in: North American Sprint Series Finals (Nov 13–15, 2009 - San Francisco, CA)
Oct 7, 2009 7:29 AM
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What are your memorable memories of the past few sprint series finals events, and what would you hope to see in the 2009 version coming up in November?
The inaugural event at Pawtuckaway certainly left an impression on me. I was inspired by the head to head competition format with the mini mass starts; we've tried it since in some BAOC sprint events.
I enjoyed Will's courses and the camaraderie with all the participants. Lots of fast forest running, and a nice variety of challenges. I learned that my slashy forest running was a weak part of my game needing improvement.
On the first sprint, I lost my rental car keys, lost my hat, got stung on the top of my bald head by a yellowjacket, and just as we were emerging from the forest to the finish, a tip of a tree branch swiped a contact lens from my right eye.
Unbelievably, my car keys were found from the forest before the second round. (but not my hat.) I popped my left contact out and put my glasses on. Then, in the second round, my glasses were swiped off by another tree branch only a couple controls in. And I spent about 1/2 hour looking for them, including running back to the parking area on the road while essentially blind (each eye is about -8 uncorrected) to get some help finding them. They were found with help. I pressed on. About two-thirds of the way through the course, I encountered the yellowjacket nest ... they were already agitated by previous runners. I must have been stung about 40 times, mostly on the legs, and I ran off in a panic, losing map contact. I did finish... just before the third round started. Once I got back, it was time to run again.
I wasn't exactly charged to sprint through the last round, but was thankful to be able to do it and just enjoy a course, considering all that had transpired that day.
In one of the next 2 years, I had my plane tickets to go and registered, but I got the flu, and canceled the trip. Not the swine flu. That hadn't been invented yet.
So, I'm looking for some inspiration. You've been to many of these sprint finals. Share some stories. And some dreams for sprint series finals of the present and future.
Rex
The inaugural event at Pawtuckaway certainly left an impression on me. I was inspired by the head to head competition format with the mini mass starts; we've tried it since in some BAOC sprint events.
I enjoyed Will's courses and the camaraderie with all the participants. Lots of fast forest running, and a nice variety of challenges. I learned that my slashy forest running was a weak part of my game needing improvement.
On the first sprint, I lost my rental car keys, lost my hat, got stung on the top of my bald head by a yellowjacket, and just as we were emerging from the forest to the finish, a tip of a tree branch swiped a contact lens from my right eye.
Unbelievably, my car keys were found from the forest before the second round. (but not my hat.) I popped my left contact out and put my glasses on. Then, in the second round, my glasses were swiped off by another tree branch only a couple controls in. And I spent about 1/2 hour looking for them, including running back to the parking area on the road while essentially blind (each eye is about -8 uncorrected) to get some help finding them. They were found with help. I pressed on. About two-thirds of the way through the course, I encountered the yellowjacket nest ... they were already agitated by previous runners. I must have been stung about 40 times, mostly on the legs, and I ran off in a panic, losing map contact. I did finish... just before the third round started. Once I got back, it was time to run again.
I wasn't exactly charged to sprint through the last round, but was thankful to be able to do it and just enjoy a course, considering all that had transpired that day.
In one of the next 2 years, I had my plane tickets to go and registered, but I got the flu, and canceled the trip. Not the swine flu. That hadn't been invented yet.
So, I'm looking for some inspiration. You've been to many of these sprint finals. Share some stories. And some dreams for sprint series finals of the present and future.
Rex
Oct 7, 2009 11:56 AM
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The inaugural event at Pawtuckaway was one of the most enjoyable weekends of orienteering I've ever had. Several high speed sprint races on Saturday and then followed by the 200+ CP mega course the next day. I travelled that weekend with several GHO clubmates and we brought along this new guy named Patrick Goeres that impressed people with a strong performance in the B Finals. yeah he wasn't 'ggod enough' then to be in the top 20 for the 'A' Final and now the dude is racing toe-to-toe with the World's best. So for inspiration see what you can accomplish with solid training and focus. For future inspiration get Patrick to race in San Fran. this autumn.
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