Ramblers Orienteering Club

Mount-Royal Score-O — November 2, 2008

A bright sun, no wind, and a crisp temperature. It was a great morning for scampering around the paths on Mount Royal Park, the Mount Royal Cemetery and all the way to the edge of the Université de Montréal.

It was our 10^th annual Score-Orienteering meet on the mountain – and our largest yet! There were 131 “starts”, mostly individuals but also some families and other groups. The total participation, including children, was 197. Karen Oljemark brought 39 students from her John Abbott College Phys-Ed/Outdoor Education class. One, a German exchange student, Thiemo Wambsganss, was clearly the head of the JAC class.

After an explanation of the rules and procedures, the mass start took place outside the Grand Chalet near the Lookout at precisely 10:19 a.m. Competitors scattered rapidly in different directions and in seconds the previously crowded plaza was quiet. Before starting everyone had two minutes to study the map and the course, and to make route-choice decisions – decisions that would be crucial in determining the ‘score’ they might achieve.

There was a nice change again this year’s. I had a chance to play a less significant role. Bruce Glen, a very competent member of the Club, did all of the course planning and control placement…and a great success he made of it! The feedback afterwards from the runners (and walkers) was definitely positive.

Bruce used 40 ‘controls’, spread out in the area between Beaver Lake in the south, Pine, Park and Mt-Royal Avenues in the east and north, and as far west (through the Mt-Royal Cemetery) to the edge of the École Polytechnique. The six farthest controls were revealed only on a second map. The location of a cache of #2 maps was shown on Map #1. Not only is there a lot of terrain in that entire mapped area, but a lot of climb too! There were many perspiring athletes at the Finish!

The farthest away sites were worth up to 40 points; the nearest ones, 10 points. Bruce and Elaine had put them all in place Saturday afternoon. The scale of both maps was 1:7,500, a little easier to read than 1:10,000 used in previous years.

TWO HOURS was the time limit allowed. Returning “late” triggered a PENALTY of 10 points for each late-minute. Exact finish times were irrelevant for those with less than the 820-point maximum ‘score’.

Seven Orienteers succeeded in finding ALL of the controls and returning in under the 2-hour time limit. Two or three of our top runners hadn’t been listening closely enough to the pre-start briefing and missed the explanation on finding “the second map”, necessitating premature run-backs to the Start area.

Possibly as a result, the expected favourite, Francis Falardeau ended up 3^rd with a time of 1:38:45. Thomas Kneubühler was 2nd in 1:35:48, and Tapio Haarlaa, an unknown, last minute entry from Helsinki, Finland (see below), won the day with a time of 1:26:33. Pretty good for someone who had been in the country for only a few hours! In the “1^st-map-only” event 3 runners shared the 700 point-maximum and were placed according to their elapsed time: 1^st – Michael Bole (1:27:50), 2^nd – Sandra Billet (1:53:00), 3^rd – Xavier Gaubert & Julien Gorgone (1:55:42). Complete results are attached.

A Big THANK YOU to the many members who helped with the event at the Registration and Timing tables…Barbara Schumann, Andrea & Dominic, Stéphane, Stephen N, Christian R, Florent V, Michael B, and especially Bruce, Elaine and Gloria for multiple tasks – and Andreas Rutkauskus who took down all the controls. We hope everyone enjoyed the glorious weather and the challenging course.

John C

A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK at the complications that can arise.

In an effort to reduce the last-minute rush and stress that often harasses preparations for our annual Score-O, this year we set noon on Friday as the “absolute deadline” for entries. Well, that didn’t last long. The hour arrived and we soon realized that life needs its little exceptions.

Phone calls and e-mails arrived from people who wanted to be squeezed in, and it was obvious that these were special cases. For instance :

1) The Swiss fellow who was passing through and learned that we did orienteering here;

2) The foursome who were active members of a well known Orienteering club in France;

3) The gal from the UK who hasn't been in Montreal long ...and just found out about of us;

...and 4) probably the most unusual :

The Romanian who belongs to an O-Club back home and didn’t know Orienteering existed here…until… with rare good fortune, he found an O-map lying on the ground in Mt. Royal Park the day before the meet. (A school group had a small meet there on Friday. Someone must have lost their map.) He looked us up and discovered that our event was taking place the very next day;

...and, 5):

Even more unusual, the e-mail that came on Friday from Helsinki. An elite Finish Orienteer had a conference in Montreal this week. He checked web pages and found that there not only was an O-club in Montreal but that the club was holding a meet that weekend...in a park...in the middle of the city. He flew in on Saturday, found his way to our start at 9:15 Sunday...and breezed around our 40-control, Score-O in a time 33½ minutes under the two-hour limit …to place first.

Well, we tried, but you can see how our best laid schemes did gang aft agley. But, we’re very pleased that we had the opportunity of having some great new friends join us.

J

Ramblers Orienteering Club
RESULTS
Mount Royal Score-O — November 2, 2008
	First Name/s	Last Name/s Time	O-Club	Points	Penalty	Net Points
1	Tapio	Haarlaa 1:26:33	H.S.OK, Finland	820		820
2	Thomas	Kneubühler 1:35:48	RAMBLERS	820		820
3	Francis	Falardeau 1:38:45	RAMBLERS	820		820
4	Michka	Guillot 1:52:37	O'Jura, FR	820		820
5	Stephen	Novosad 1:55:58	RAMBLERS	820		820
6	Stéphane	Rousseau 1:58:09	RAMBLERS	820		820
7	Marius	Curca 1:58:15	CSU Brasov,ROM	820		820
8	Andreas	Rutkauskas	RAMBLERS	790		790
8	Mike	Quirion		790		790
10	Francis	Lambert		780		780
11	Guillaume	Girard		790	20	770
11	Jeremy	Barnes		820	50	770
13	Doug	Balmer	Oct-Droobers UK	790	40	750
14	Florent	Vilotte	RAMBLERS	710		710
15	Julien	Bodennec	FR	690		690
16	Donald	Watson	Interlopers, UK	690	20	670
17	Ariane	Burke	Interlopers, UK	550		550
18	Beat	Richert	RAMBLERS	510		510
19	Christine	Rogers	RAMBLERS	440	30	410
USED MAP 1 ONLY
1	Michael	Bole 1:27:50	RAMBLERS	700		700
2	Sandra	Billet 1:53:00	O'Jura, FR	700		700
3	Xavier & Julien	Gaubert/Gorgone 1:55:42		700		700
4	Jessica & Ken	Douglas	RAMBLERS	670		670
4	Matteo & Rosalie	Fontana/Langevin	SWITZ. / —	670		670
4	Pierre	Brassard	OTTAWA O.C.	670		670
7	Alain + Alexia (bèbè)	Harel		660		660
7	Jessica	Auer	RAMBLERS	680	20	660
7	Pierre	Mauger	RAMBLERS	660		660
10	Jeff	Blezius	RAMBLERS	670	30	640
11	Pierre	Grondin	RAMBLERS	620		620
12	Thiemo	Wambsganss	JAC	600		600
13	Julie	Larivière		590		590
14	Yee Fun	Wong		580		580
15	Juan	Olivera		570		570
16	Laurie	Dallaire		560		560
17	Alexandre	Provost		550		550
18	Jennifer	Dessett	O'Jura, FR	530		530
19	Christopher	Labos		510		510
20	Eric	Lillie	RAMBLERS	500		500
21	Stéphane + Rana (11)	Lamy	RAMBLERS	480		480
22	Patrick	Fernet	RAMBLERS	460		460
23	Claudine & Stephanie & Joelle	Lanthier/Pilotte/Daigle	RAMBLERS/–/–/	470	20	450
23	Isabelle & Luc + Ariane,12, Valerie,12	Gauthier/Benoit		450		450
25	Martine	Sanfacon		430		430
25	Mélynda	Hansen	JAC	430		430
25	Robert + Kevin (11)	Darby	RAMBLERS	430		430
25	Stéphanie	Bédard,	JAC	430		430
29	Clinton & Emma	Mercier		420		420
30	Marie-Pierre	Gauthier		410		410
30	Claude	Nadon		410		410
32	Céline & Daniel	Périer/Brodeur		400		400
33	Caroline & Sophie	Rivest/Crête-D'Avignon		390		390
33	Sylvaine & Valérie & Bonnie	Grousset/Gauffre/Fung		390		390
35	Fabrice	Bouty	O'Jura, FR	380		380
36	Jennifer	Ashfield,	JAC	370		370
36	Alain + Felix	Maurice		370		370
36	Philip & Raymond + Sebastian,10	Chung	RAMBLERS	370		370
39	Jill	Baker	UK	370	10	360
40	Melanie	Gagné		410	60	350
40	Yannick	Prévost Tanguay	JAC	350		350
42	Rachelle & Caroline	Leger	RAMBLERS	340		340
42	Guillaume & Ariane	Leger		340		340
44	Vincent	Thiverge		330		330
44	Maninder	Sohal	JAC	330		330
44	Chantal & Marc + Stephanie,8, Alex,6	Pharand/DeLaPlante	RAMBLERS	330		330
47	Martin	Poirier,	JAC	320		320
48	Marie-Hélène & Alain	Tremblay/Gauthier	RAMBLERS	330	20	310
48	Christos	Kikessis	JAC	310		310
48	Linda & Linda & Martha Desmarais	DiMatteo-Homsey/Harvey		310		310
51	Barbara + Andrea,11 + Dominic,8	Schumann	RAMBLERS	300		300
51	Karine	Ferland-Hébert		300		300
51	Niki & Maria Alexis	Kolokotronis		300		300
51	Steve	Cabilio	RAMBLERS	300		300
55	Erika & Anna	Mitkus/Zuckerman		290		290
55	Christina	Larder,	JAC	290		290
55	Alexandra-Marie	Gosselin,	JAC	290		290
55	Daniel	Lavigne,	JAC	290		290
55	Marie Josée & François	Aubry/Dionne		290		290
55	Jacques & Joanne	Aubry		290		290
61	Louise	Valiquette	RAMBLERS	280		280
61	Mary & Laura	Goyens	RAMBLERS	280		280
81	Robyn	Desouza,	JAC	280		280
61	Robert Marian	Ortopan,	JAC	280		280
61	Michael	McKernan,	JAC	280		280
61	Stéphane&Karine+William,8,Charlotte,6	Duquette/Tourangeau		280		280
67	Carolyn	Hoskins		270		270
67	Meghan	Bajzath,	JAC	270		270
67	Robert & Lucie	Paquin/Lefevbre	RAMBLERS	270		270
67	Matt & Elizabeth	McMahon	RAMBLERS	270		270
67	Serge, Patricia + Charlie Dery,12	Dery/Bench		270		270
67	Patrick & Celiane + Marc & Annie <10	Boucher/Chagnon		270		270
73	Mike + Kristof, 9	Senderak		260		260
73	Mirit	Privorotsky,	JAC	270	10	260
73	Stéphanie	Lebire,	JAC	260		260
73	Frederick	Koehler	JAC	260		260
73	Steven	Kallini,	JAC	260		260
78	Thomas	Davignon	RAMBLERS	250		250
78	Stanley	Lee	RAMBLERS	250		250
78	Benjamin	Courchesne	JAC	250		250
78	Carole & P & C + 2 enfs: 3 ans, <2 ans	Comtois-Nadon/Letendre		250		250
78	Scott & Marian + Maeve,4, Ian <2	Bohle/MacNair		250		250
83	Derek + Kassandra,11, Kim,9	Horan		250	10	240
83	Julie	Lécuyer	JAC	240		240
83	Justin	Kanis,	JAC	240		240
83	Gregory	Fischer-Rush	JAC	240		240
83	Ryan	Denis,	JAC	240		240
83	Jonathan	Aubry,	JAC	240		240
89	Jeanne	Ward		230		230
89	Sylvie	Perrault	RAMBLERS	230		230
89	Josiane & Eric + bébé, Mia	Marquette/Veilleux		230		230
89	Anaïs & Olivier	Laplante/Théroux		230		230
93	Karine	Leclerc		290	70	220
94	Kimberly	Wong,	JAC	200		200
94	Matthew	Vann,	JAC	200		200
94	Amanda Krystyna	Padowicz,	JAC	200		200
94	Marie-Pier	Levac,	JAC	200		200
94	Sundeep	Aujla,	JAC	200		200
99	Jennifer	Canty	JAC	190		190
100	Marla	Vicente-Gamboa	JAC	210	30	180
100	Cory	Schiffman,	JAC	210	30	180
100	Jedidat	Matoush,	JAC	180		180
100	Veronique & Tania, Ramana, Sylvie	Gagné/Angulo/Zanfongnon/Grenier —		180		180
104	Eva	Apelian,	JAC	210	40	170
104	Shaumia	Ranganathan	JAC	170		170
106	Isabelle,Sebastien,Francis, Sylvie	Jorg/Doucet/Loiselle/Ducharme —		160		160
107	Guillaume	Vallée		150		150
107	Christian	Reber	RAMBLERS	150		150
107	Léonie	Laflamme + 'teen youths		150		150
110	Neha	Vir,	JAC	130	40	90
111	Venesa	Tangredi	JAC	150	70	80
112	Rachel	Liew	JAC	70	80	–10
131 "Starts"; Participation: 129 Adults + 13 children 10 & over + 14 children under 10 : 197
Ramblers Orienteering Club