It rained. It poured. The wind blew. But eight brave souls ran in the Gilbert Lake Score-O on October 4, 2003. No one was from the Oneonta area -- they knew the weather. The pavilion near the beach was used for Registration and Start/Finish (thanks to Mark and Barb Dominie for putting up tarps on the windward side). The bathhouse facilities and drinking fountains were still operational. The park staff graciously waived the entrance fee of $6/vehicle for the orienteers. The director made hot soup and fruit for all.
There were three courses: White, Yellow, and Score-O. The White (2.75k, 80m, 10 controls) took people north from the beach pavilion to Ice Pond and back, with a loop over the hill near the Finish. A longish but easy and scenic Yellow (4.4k, 110m, 15 controls) circled clockwise northwest through the cabin area and on north to Twin Fawns Pond, then eastward to Ice Pond, and from there south to Finish. The Score-O (46 controls, 1235 possible points) went literally all over -- touching every boundary line of the park, plus some points within. All controls used for White and Yellow courses were also used as part of the Score-O.
The map, originally made for ski-o and needing trail information only, has had its problems over the years, compounded by various windstorms which definitely changed the terrain's appearance and runnability. Fortunately, the questionably mapped areas will be defined by a Dominie-produced new map of the park for the CNYO/EMPO dual A-meet October 30-31, 2004.
Flyers for the event were created and distributed in various places, and a notice submitted to the Oneonta Daily Star.
In addition to untold number of days spent by the event director hiking the remote reaches of the park during prior weeks to locate and streamer new and challenging control sites, thanks also go to Gary Brackett for hanging many of the controls; to Barb Sleight for an overnight and next day consultation and foray into the southwestern portions; to Pete Dady, Barb, and Gary for helping to pick up controls afterwards; and to Shawn Forney for explaining the mysteries of GPS and guiding the director to discover a web-listed Gilbert Lake geocache site.
Following are the Results. Thank you all for coming.
Verna Engstrom-Heg
Meet director
YELLOW COURSE
Name Club Home Minutes Shawn Forney CNYO Syracuse 60 Ruth Monticello BAOC Endicott 102 Jean Van Hoff BAOC Vestal 102 Joe Van Hoff BAOC Vestal 102
SCORE-O (penalty 15 points per minute overtime)
Name Club Home Minutes Points Robert Lange EMPO Albany 183 (3 min OT) 795 Peter Dady CNYO Homer 90 525 Rick Slattery ROC Fairport 163 470 Sam Carlson EMPO Altamont 50 125