Although not without some anxious moments, the 2008 edition of Rocky Woods went off largely without a hitch. Upwards of 150 people attended, many of them taking advantage of the option to use e-punching on the upper level courses. The weather was chilly but clear and dry, and probably almost perfect for the more seriously competitive orienteers, notwithstanding the fact that much of the water on the course was frozen for at least the early starters.

For the second year in a row, winning times were generally in the desired range, and even the Orange course proved manageable in a welcome variation from form. The Parson family performed particularly well, with Meg comfortably winning the Yellow course and Tim blistering the Green course in under 10:00/km, a standard which has only rarely been achieved in the past over the relatively rugged terrain. Several competitors did appropriately comment on some map deficiencies where controls were placed unfortunately close to some significant yet unmapped features. Your comments have been appreciated, and the problems should be rectified (at least to the best of my mapping capabilities) when the 0CAD version of the map makes its debut for next year's event.

As usual, the event was only made possible by the efforts of many volunteers. Specific gratitude is due to Mykal Rosendahl, Tom Livak, Jessica Rykken, Jim Paschetto, Ian Smith and Scott Turner for manning registration, Donn Springer, Kathy McArdle, Pete Lane and Amy Schapiro for running the Start/Finish and providing instruction, Joanne Sankus and Jason Tong for providing the expertise to implement e-punching, and Ian Finlayson for setting out the String Course. I also wish to recognize the efforts of Bill Pullman who assisted an injured orienteer out of the woods (and then shamelessly solicited a donation to the club :). However, my most heartfelt thanks must undoubtedly go to Joanne and Jim, who stayed to finish the pick-up even after the meet director beat a rather hasty retreat in order to meet his work obligations.

As usual, it was a joy to have all of you attend this year's event. I look forward to an even more enjoyable experience next year using the updated map.

Results have been adjusted to reflect a 30 second discrepancy noted between the Start and Finish timers. Times for the manually timed courses will be faster than those reported at the time of the event.