Results for Upper Huffman

Around 80 orienteers & volunteers came out to enjoy summer weather and take on the challenging courses from Upper Huffman trailhead on Wednesday, June 3rd. Steep slopes, hot yet muddy conditions, and challenging control placement conspired to yield long course times across course difficulty levels despite being of ordinary-length on paper.

Right off the bat, most orienteers on Orange, Green, and Red had trouble finding a route through open hemlock forest to their first control at the multi-story tree house, either getting misled by numerous social trails throughout or finding unfortunate routes through alders. White and Yellow competitors had to “ford” a mucky snow-machine access route in order to complete their courses.

Ian Moore had the fastest Men’s time on Red (1:26:18), edging out runner-up Scott Patterson by passing him on the last control. Jen Jolliff was the night’s only competitor braving the Women’s Red course (2:22:50).

Bill Spencer had the fastest Men’s time on the Green course (1:35:40). Jamie Shearer led the Women’s field (2:40:40).

Frank Witmer led the Orange course (1:19:02) with a 47-minute margin over the next Men’s finisher Steven Kotecki (2:06:03). Sofia Aguilar led the Women’s Orange competition (1:38:24) with more than an hour margin over runner up Annette Iverson (2:50:28). Illustrating the challenge of this course, only one team of six entered completed the orange course – Two Peas in A Pod.

Celebrating his birthday, John Weddleton (1:25:00) led the way in the Men’s division on the Yellow course. Mark and Marcel Rosier were close behind leading the Team division. Weddleton and his family shared festivities with the club including party hats, kazoos, and homemade cookies for finishers.

A more challenging than typical White course was led by Penelope Spencer (0:43:19) for Women followed closely by Kenny Churchill (0:46:19) leading the way for Men. Also finishing in under an hour, Dawson & Brett led the Teams division (0:53:06).

The meet directors were Brian Kirchner and Björn Bjartmarsson. Many thanks to Robin Beedee for help setting the course and working the event table. Thank you to Dave Evans and Michael Malvick for picking up controls. Thank you to Executive Board members Ian, Steve, and Dorn for help resolving some last-minute mapping issues, Mike and Todd for some technical support, and Anne Billman getting us a permit secured for the event.

–Brian Kirchner