Thanks to everyone who came out for the annual Canoe-O at Busse Woods. It's hard to believe we've been doing this for 7 years already.
We had very warm weather, with breezy conditions in the afternoon. The forecasted thunderstorms never arrived, although we heard them nearby. The ePunch worked well this year, and folks didn't have to wait too long for boats, although there was some confusion about whether canoes were reserved for the 9:30 time slot. Sorry about that. Thank you for your patience.
We had a slightly smaller turn-out than last year, but those who came out seemed to have a good time. The Kratka family dominated the results, with Martin coming in first on the Short course, and Tomas with a commanding lead on the Long course (a 6-minute lead is a long time in a Canoe-O like this). Milan came in 4th, and could very well have come in first, except for a difficult time getting to control 3. Chris Svoboda took 2nd place on the Long course, with consistently fast split times, even though he was only fastest on a single leg. On the Medium course, The Aqua-hounds took first place with only a 23-second lead over team Tippy Canoe, who were only 55 seconds faster than team Rob & Dad.
The Sprint course wasn't as popular, perhaps due to its remote start and finish, and the heat of the day. Matt Baughman took first place, beating Chris Svoboda by 5 minutes. Congratulations to all of the brave souls who survived the tall grasses and only significant hill on the whole Busse map.
Extended split time results
As an added challenge, there were many "decoy" controls out along the shore, making it more important to pay attention to navigation than in previous years, where any glimpse of orange and white was probably a control on a course. A couple of teams were confused by this idea.
Thanks to Michelle (and friend), Tina (and friend), Gordon and Yan for helping out at the start/finish and registration areas. Thanks to Milan and Chris for helping with control pick-up, and thanks most of all to my wife, Christina, for everything she did from helping set out controls, to getting things set up in the morning, to helping oversee registration and start/finish, picking up controls, and watching the kids. I couldn't have done it without you.
Michael Collins
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