The event was a big success, (except for the water spout/whirlwind, but more on that later). With the registration tables set up in the big field along Sturgis street we had prime viewing of the O'Brien Memorial racers as they went by, and fielded a lot of questions from people looking for the Fishing Derby registration. ("I think it's at the other end of the pond.")

Aside from people from other towns who saw the advertising for this event, there were local people from Woburn, and one or more of them may have won a new Brunton compass, or a Maptech CD. I say may, and this is the tricky part, because the waterspout/whirlwind that I mentioned, came across the pond and through the field, lifted both of the shade canopies we had set up, and removed every scrap of paper from the registration table.

The last we saw of most of the sign-up forms, maps, clue sheets and schedules was a whirling mass of white specks rising higher and higher in the sky. And while the results cards survived, being taped to a rope, without the registration forms there are no addresses to go with the names once I do a random drawing for the prizes.
So if you, or someone you know, was out running through the woods on Sunday with a map and compass, or just strolling around on one of the easy courses, check to see if your name is on the list of winners below. You can contact me by email: jsankus@aol.com, or call me at 781-938-1740.

Winners of the Brunton compasses are: Robert Thompson, Alina Griner, Terry and Kelly O'Donnell, M. L. Smith and Luke Duffy, and John Mitchell.
The winners of the Maptech CD's are: the Crawford family and Ben Parson.
Did I mention that the registration cash box landed out on the grass? The lid was still shut so we thought it survived intact. But it was empty. Two really nice young men returned a dollar bill that they found in a yard nearby. So that might be the sum total of the proceeds from the event. We use the money to make new maps and update old ones.

The whirling cloud of paper seemed to be heading toward Woburn center, but Reading and Stoneham could just as easily have received a share. If you find any maps of Horn Pond in your yard, or other things that say New England Orienteering Club on them, we did not intentionally litter the countryside!

This is the report I sent to our local newspaper. The winners of the Maptech CD's are known club members, but the Brunton compass winners are all newcomers (not club members). If you know any of those people, please ask them to get in touch with me so I can send them their prizes.

A special thanks to the Brunton and Maptech companies, sponsors of the now yearly National Orienteering Day. Over 50 events were held across the country this year, with Brunton compasses, hats and banners, and Maptech CD's supplied to all the event directors. With posters and press releases available to help advertise, "NOD" keeps getting bigger every year!

Thanks go to the helpers for the event: Nancy Sankus, Joel, Ben and Beth Gould, Patti Miller, Ann Harrer, Steve VanNess, and special thanks to Carol Geis, who almost went up with the canopy over the registration table. (I guess we really aren't in Kansas, since she was still there after the whirlwind left.)

(Does anyone know how many NOD events Dave Dunham went to on that weekend? He blazed through the Orange Course and said he was on his way to another one.)