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Possum Trot X A record number of orienteers started this year’s Possum Trot despite the frigid temperatures. The nearly 70-degree temperatures of a week before had given way to falling temperatures, sleet, ice, and snow by the time of the Possum Trot Weekend (always the first weekend in December). At the start of the race at 9:00 a.m., the temperature was 15, only 2 degrees warmer than the year before. And it only had risen 12 degrees by the early afternoon. 45 racers started the race; a few more couldn’t make it because of the big ice and snow storm in St. Louis. Possum Trot X was held at the Heartland Conference Center, a Presbyterian church camp in Waldron, Missouri, just northwest of Parkville. Part of the course also ran into Camp Shawnee, a Campfire Girls camp. Like a few other PTOC maps, this area is situated on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River flood plain. As such, there are steep hills and gulleys. The vegetation ranged from somewhat “scratchy” to very open runnable woods. There are some steep cliffs. The route choices involved choosing to run around the long way on the windy, cold ridge tops or to go straight up and down the steep reentrants. The course consisted of two loops through the camps with a map exchange in the middle of the race. Participants were allowed to skip one control per loop. Mike Shifman, course setter, designed many possibilities for the skips. The racers chose 7 of 13 different controls to skip in the first loop, and 6 of 17 in the second loop. The 45 participants came from various parts of North America: Manitoba, Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, were all represented in addition to Kansas and Missouri. As in past years, there were some US Champs and a World Champ. There were also a record number of females in the race – 7. Mikell Platt (LROC) led the men and had the overall fastest time of 1:47:00. Eric Buckley (SLOC) had his best ever finish in 2nd place just 7 minutes behind Mikell. Justin Bakken (MNOC) edged Tom Carr (NTOA) for 3rd place. Anna Shafer-Skelton (SLOC) was the fastest female (and winner of the coveted dead Australian Bushy-Tailed Possum); she had the 14th overall best time of 2:46:44. Sharon Crawford (RMOC) won the can of Creamed Possum for her 2nd place finish (17th overall). Julia Bohnen (MNOC) was 3rd female (23rd overall). Participants were treated to a Hot Potato Bar and bonfire at the finish. The hot potatoes were good to warm hands and just plain good to eat after the long race. More information about the race can be found here: http://ptoc.org/trot/PT10main.htm Thank you to Mike Shifman, Course Setter and Results; Reta Roe, Registration and Vetting; Mary Jones, Vetting and Split Times; Nick Hockman, Refreshments, Vetting; Dick Luckerman, Vetting and Results; Nancy Neuburger, Vetter and Hospitality. |