The New England Orienteering Club - NEOC promotes the sport of Orienteering -- navigating with map and compass. Events in Boston area, MA, RI, CT. All welcome!

Wrentham State Forest, Wrentham, MA
October 10, 2010
Meet Director: Bill Binette

There was beautiful weather for orienteering, including the days before and after. 120 people accepted the opportunity and kept the starts busy for 2 hours. And thanks to the helpers for keeping the line moving.  They worked in 3 classes.  Two were involved for weeks before the meet. Jim Paschetto and Joanne Sankus helped like they were co-directors, and provided much needed help on race day.  And the 2 helpers scheduled the week before for 2 hours on meet day were Pelle Wahlstrom and David Yee.  And then several people jumped in during the meet - Andrew McIlvaine, Alex Jospe, and Ann Harrer. Thank you all.  And thanks to those who pitched in without leaving a trace of their name. I know there were 2 others that helped novice orienteerers get started.

67 groups showed up and found an easy walk 200 yards south from the parking lot to the registration and starts; zero climb in this leg.  But this venue is sure to have a climbing challenge once a person enters the woods. The courses had 4% to 8% climb.  Foot placement is also a challenge. The whole state forest is littered with rocks, and bikers broke up the trails causing dirt erosion and more exposed rocks.  The courses were designed with the minimum length to balance the walking difficulty.

Constructive criticism was graciously given about 2 controls. Only Red had to contend with the clue indicating the top of the cliff, when the control was actually 6 feet down between 2 cliff tops. Anybody who climbed to the top should have easily seen the control.  And the clue sheet did have an extra symbol indicating "low" - on the cliff top.  Maybe a full word description was needed, because I only found the symbol in Purple Pen, not in the International list. Then the southeast water stop on Red/Green and the wall were completely hidden from view by the overgrown plants. The 2 cliffs up the hill pointed down to the control.  And a person could be leisurely sitting there drinking water, and remain hidden. The clue "overgrown" was a warning to find another attack point instead of the wall. (That control was there for the water boy to park on Melanie Street, and make only a short walk into the woods.)

The controls were placed on the map with Purple Pen, which was very easy to use, and with lots of neat functions. But it did change the "weight" of lines on the OCAD-generated map. The out of bounds lines were fewer and bolder than OCAD generated last year. And the contour lines were too dense, making it difficult to see the controls.  The final printing was done the day before the meet so there was no time to redo the maps in OCAD. I recommend test prints weeks ahead if Purple Pen is used.

All participants returned safely (some stragglers slightly after 3 pm made us wonder for only a short while).  Everyone seemed to enjoy the time outside. Thanks again to all who helped make this a successful meet.

Photos from the day are in the Galleries.

Split times for e-punch entrants available here (courtesy of Winsplits).

Use RouteGadget (in the "Results" menu above) to draw your route and see others' routes.