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Norwottuck
Mt. Holyoke Range State Park
Amherst, MA
October 16, 2011
Meet Directors: Ian Smith & Alison Crocker

Conditions were clear, breezy and cool, with a temperature in the low to mid 50s for the second Western MA event of the year.  Mt. Norwottuck is a very large map with considerable climb and many small contour features.  The map is in need of an update, and that was exacerbated by my accidental use of an older version of the map for course setting and printing.  About 90 people showed up for the event, with a healthy mix of clubs and a solid girl scout contingent.  While I spent the day before the event setting controls, I overlooked some beginner controls which were set near a shooting range.  After Peter Gagarin and Alex Jospe alerted me of the problem, a quick scramble in the morning averted disaster.

I overextended myself setting this event, and that miscalculation had adverse consequences for some competitors.  Apart from the shooting range problem - which was fortunately discovered before anyone ran to those controls - one of the controls on the green and blue courses was hung about 30-40 meters away from its intended location in a vague reentrant.  Mishanging a control is one of the most egregious errors a course setter can make, and it would have been easily rectified by asking for help or setting a more conservative set of controls.  I do apologize to everyone who was affected.

Despite my errors, many people had a good time out in the woods.  The courses were challenging; the blue course, which I had invested considerable effort designing, was a 10-km adventure in the wilderness.  Many thanks to everyone who helped out - Pete Lane, Michelle Faucher, Ali Crocker, and Richard Powers at registration, the ever-reliable Jim Paschetto on results, Dean Sturtevant and Phil Bricker with beginner instruction, Bill Binnette with white/yellow course pickup, and anyone else I may have forgotten.

Special thanks must go to co-meet director Ali Crocker, without whom I would have been completely overwhelmed.  She spent almost nine hours at the event, tracked down some hapless orange runners to confirm they had the correct map, worked registration, won the blue course, fed a hungry meet director, and picked up controls with me well into the evening.  She did all of this without complaining, despite considerable cause.

RouteGadget and Lost-and-Found items will be posted soon.

Photos from the event are in Galleries (in the News menu).

Split times are available here (courtesy of WinSplits).