List Categories of Archived Results

Great Brook Farm
Carlisle, MA
September 29, 2012
Event Director: Tim Parson

The weather for this year's meet at Great Brook Farm State Park was grey, cool and slightly drizzly, but attendance was still good, and the wide range of people who came all seemed to have fun. 

The highlight of the event occurred unbeknownst to most participants. James Batey, a new orienteer from Brooklyn, New York, had contacted me before the meet asking if something special could be arranged. With a bit of subterfuge, he and his girlfriend Claire Magruder were given a Yellow map with one extra control at the end. When they got to that control, Claire found a box on the ground, and in that box, nestled in flowers, was a smaller box... and within that box was an engagement ring. James knelt and asked Claire to marry him, and (judging from the long embrace viewed from afar by discreet observers) the answer was affirmative. They eventually finished and received many congratulations, and a bottle of champagne from NEOC as their first engagement gift. (See photos of James's proposal.)

This event also offered extra training for beginners and a high-level String course on a color map, all organized by Mika Latva-Kokko. Both of these activities went well. Helping Mika with instruction were Joanne Sankus, Dave Yee and Marcie Berkeley.

There was tight competition on all the courses. Isaac Shapiro won the White in a blistering 12:57; both he and Bridget Hall ran at a sub-10 minutes/km pace. There were several newcomer boys who ran the White multiple times because they liked it so much – come back to another meet, guys! On Yellow, Ethan Hall prevailed over clubmates Isaac Shapiro and Linc Berkeley (also in the mix was the “Professional Orienteers” group). Orange was won by Richard Powers, and Isaac Shapiro did well in that race too. Isaac gets the “maniac of the day” award.

On the advanced-level courses, past JWOC team member Anna Shafer-Skelton won the Brown, closely followed by Lori Huberman and Presto. On Green, Mika Latva-Kikko was first, ahead of Kristin Hall. The Red course had a bit of everything, from technical rocky terrain in the north to a trip to “Tophet Island” in the south, with a fair bit of trail running in between. A number of very good orienteers ran the course and posted fast times; of them, Ian Smith was the winner in an impressive 60:10 for the 7.9 km. distance.

A note to all: if you want to make someone happy, e-mail a meet director ahead of time and volunteer to help at their meet. A number of people did that, others said Yes immediately when asked, and others just jumped in on the spot, so the meet ran smoothly and easily. In addition to Mika and the teachers cited above, thanks go to Kristin, Bridget and Ethan Hall, Andy McIlvaine and Patty Moran, Kelly Guarino, Richard Shapiro, Linc Berkeley, Jeff Saeger, Jim Paschetto, Alex Jospe, Ian Smith, Keith Durand and Dean Sturtevant. Pre-race map updates were done by my OCAD expert, Ben Parson, out in Colorado Springs. Finally, we're grateful to Steve Carlin and the staff at the park for their friendly and accommodating attitude – this is a great place to put on a meet!

P.S. If you did a course at Great Brook, you're encouraged to post your route on Route Gadget (linked under Results).  

Split times (courtesy of WinSplits)
          [raw splits file available here]

RouteGadget for this meet available under Results > RouteGadget. Please share your route!

They say that the couple that orienteers together stays together.

Congratulations to James Batey and Claire Magruder, who got engaged at the last control point of their orienteering course at Great Brook Farm, Carlisle, MA, September 29, 2012.  The New England Orienteering Club wishes you a long and healthy lifetime of adventure together!

Event Director Tim Parson worked with James to set up the surprise, which involved an extra control point with a black box containing flowers and a smaller box, and within that extra box an engagement ring. Pretty sweet, James- nice work!