October 7, 2001
Bemis Woods Scatter-O
A new form of orienteering was presented at Bemis on October 4 by Meet Director Clark Maxfield....Scatter-O!
In Scatter-O you are required to select your own route past any set of controls (12 for Green competitors; 20 for Red) and get back to the finish line in as short a time period as possible. There were a total of 25 controls hung, not only across the Bemis Woods orienteering map, but also in three adjacent forest preserves to the north and east: LaGrange Park Woods, Possum Hollow Woods, and Mayfair Park. These three areas expanded the competitive area to twice the size of the regular orienteering map. And a new foot-bridge across Salt Creek (added this summer) gave easy access to these new eastern areas.
In order to prepare the competition map, Clark enlarged the local USGS map to a scale of 1:15 000, and then superimposed the cut-out orienteering portion on top of it. Then he premarked the 25 control locations across the entire map, and made 50 color-Xerox copies that were distributed to competitors only 5 minutes before the 11 a.m. mass start.
Since the Red runners were required to get 20 of the 25 available controls, they were forced to leave the forest and run 10 or more blocks through the suburban homes of LaGrange in order to get the required 20 controls. Unfortunately Salt Creek snaked its way across the center of the entire map, a ìnd numerous crossings were required in order to accumulate the 20 controls.
Red course winner Carl Larsson didn't need no stinkin' bridges; in the true spirit of adventure racing, he plunged directly into fast-moving Salt Creek and found himself swimming for the other side, perhaps a bit slower than he was being swept down river. But he made it. Wife Marie, not to be left behind, used the same technique on the Green course, which enabled her to beat Elena Backiev and Svetlana Sergeeva for third place.
Director's thanks to meet volunteers: Michael Collins, Al Silinis. Chad Baker. and Donatas Ramanauskas. And also thanks for control pick up to: Valentas Totoris, Viktor Nikolenko, Leonid Shatskin, Jim Marshall, and Kris Sabataitis.
