This year was my first year as a meet director for an orienteering meet. It went pretty well considering that it snowed the day before and the morning of the event. The snow made running through the woods
harder, but after running for a while, the cold didn't mean too much. The snow did make the trails beautiful though. One location in particular, the scenic overlook that looks out onto Boston, was fabulous. It had stopped snowing by the time registration opened, and most of the people who came had fun despite the snow and the cold.

I thing I've learned from doing this meet is that I should started getting legal permission 6 months in advance instead of 2 and a half months. The last piece of legal paperwork didn't show up until Tuesday, 4 days before the meet. The insurance was especially annoying to get. The company that owned the parking required three names to be insured, and in past years, they didn't even require proof of insurance for a single name.

Friday afternoon, I had to go set up some of the controls. It had just started snowing, and my mom got kind of worried about me breaking my leg when out in the woods alone. So, she gave me a backpacking backpack with a sleeping bag and tarp just in case something should happen to me in the woods. I thought that it was just extra weight, and I'd be fine with just my cell phone, but mothers will worry.

Saturday finally came, and for the most part, the snow stopped falling. It wasn't freezing either, just a little cold. The first person we met was not an orienteerer, but a skier enjoying the new snow. She ended up circling around a lot, but she had time too stop by the orienteering tables and talk. Of just orienteerers, there were 21 people who showed up, most of which who had a lot of fun. Probably the
most peculiar of participants during the meet was a little girl who ended up doing the white course with her father. The interesting part was that she did the course on a sled being dragged by her father. Needless to say, the two stopped the course before the big hill.

There was one major problem during the day. The people who went on the yellow course couldn't find the third control. Later when I was picking up the yellow controls, I found that the third control was in
fact there, but the snow had pulled down the branch on which the control hung. The control ended up lying on the ground, half-buried under the branch and the snow.

Finally, I'd like to leave a giant thanks to Pelle Wahlstrom. Pelle helped me get the map, and gave me the contact information for both Prospect Hill and the parking. In addition, he helped work at the meet
and picked up all the orange controls. Once again, thank you very much for all your help Pelle.

See the Gould family web site for more information and for pictures.