Officers Elected,
2002 Meets Scheduled

Dave Macaulay, Secretary

The annual general meeting of the Club was held Saturday, November 17, 2001 at the Lincoln Park Library in Chicago. Only fourteen club members attended the meeting despite an emailed message to the membership.

Led by President Carl Larsson, Club officers and directors reported on the 2001 season. Secretary Dave Macaulay announced that the club experienced a four percent increase in membership to 228 members. Treasurer Bliss Packer said that total attendance at the twelve meets totaled 2640, or an average 220 per meet. The November 4 Willow Springs Woods event attracted a whopping 365 people. Club finances are in good shape. Local meet fees provided most of the income while mapping costs for Palos North made up most of the club's expenses. The members approved a 2002 budget that includes no increases to dues or to meet fees. As in previous years, the club intends to use most of its income to revise existing maps and prepare new maps.

Carl Larsson reported that the club organized the orienteering segment of the 2001 Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race which was later televised on ESPN. The Wild Onion Race netted almost $1000 for CAOC, and gained the Club some national publicity.

VP Charlie Shahbazian led a discussion on the 2002 local meet schedule. Eleven local events will be held in 2002. In addition, CAOC will host a national, USOF-sanctioned two-day "A" meet on April 27 and 28, 2002, on the newly revised Palos North map—see the Orienteering Calendar for the full 2002 schdule.

Charlie stated that at local meets, control pick-up should commence no earlier than 2 p.m.; some meet directors have been starting control pick up earlier, thus giving some registrants insufficient time to complete their course. The 2 p.m. pick-up time will be publicized on the web site, O-Phone and at each meet so that members will have fair warning.

Mapping Director Rich Gaylord reported that the club has 16 maps in its current inventory but some maps are in need of revision and others need to be reprinted. Several new maps are in various stages of development, most promising is the Beck's Lake map which should be completed next Fall.

Club members elected the following officers and board members for 2002: Carl Larsson, Charlie Shahbazian, Dave Macaulay and Bliss Packer were reelected to the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Rich Gaylord (Mapping Director), Emma Larsson (Youth Program Director), Clark Maxfield (Newsletter Editor), and Marie Larsson (Championship Tallykeeper) will continue in their positions. Recently appointed Web Site Coordinator Michael Collins was formally elected to his position.
New Club officers will be Rachel Ashley (Course Reviewer), Bliss Packer (Permits Director), Ed Bannon (Publicity Director), and Viktor Nikolenko (Equipment Director).

Members approved the revised rules for the 2002 CAOC Championships that were presented by Marie Larsson. The revised rules are intended to clarify who may score points. As before,
juniors will score points on the Orange course, women on the Green course, and men on the Red course. Points are totaled only for each individual's best six events. Only Club members are eligible for the Championship. Scoring at each local meet will be: 10 points for the first Club member, 9 points for the second Club member, and so forth. Members must be "in good standing," i.e., must have paid their membership dues. And for the first time next year, you must register for the Championship. The registration form will enable us to place you into the proper gender and age categories. The registration form will be available at the meets and on the CAOC web site.

A-Meet Director Clark Maxfield said the Club had been awarded the 2002 U.S. Intercollegiates Championship as well as status as a World Ranking Event (WRE) for its A-meet to be held next April 27-28, 2002. Joe Sehnal finally came up with the winning name for the event after much discussion: "Bramble Ramble—Extreme." On Saturday afternoon, USOF members from across the country will hold a Board meeting at the Event Center. The attendance of the USOF Board will raise the visibility of the Club's event significantly.

Club members have been generous in volunteering their help: Carl Larsson is the Course Setter; Rich Gaylord and Joe Sehnal are the Mappers and Vetters; Michael Collins (Registrar), Rachel Ashley (Starter), Jeff Schafermeyer (Finish), Charlie Shahbazian (Splits Board), Dave Macaulay (T-shirts and String-O), Bliss Packer (Map Hiker Registration). Additional volunteers are needed for a variety of positions including Child Care, Parking, Intercollegiate Champs Coordinator, WRE Coordinator, Map Hiker Start/Finish, Equipment, and Awards. It was decided that to further encourage participation by Club members, the local meet that weekend for Map Hikers would only include the White, Yellow and Orange courses. All other courses (Green, Brown, Red, Blue) would be available only for registered A-meet competitors.

The final order of business was a discussion about other ways the Club could appeal to the increasing number of Adventure Racers who are attending our meets. Clark noted the positive reaction he received to the Scatter-O format on October 4, which gave Red runners the challenge of orienteering outside of normal orienteering terrain. The Library was closing and time was running out, so we tabled discussion of the possibility of conducting a Long-O in 2003 using several adjacent maps in the Palos area.