Runners' Reports
Possum Trot VI - December 8, 2002
Knob Noster State Park, MO
Brian May (1st)
Back from the Possum Trot, held near Kansas City on the weekend ... thought I'd
send a report.
Saturday was the MOKAN (Missouri and Kansas) Short course champs. Terrain was a
mix of fairly thick hillsides down to a lake and very flat, open fields above -
definitely easy orienteering technically. Mass start with a 2-out-of-4 score-o
at the beginning. Mike Platt, Mark Everett and I picked the same two controls to
start and it quickly became a 3-way foot race. I opened up a bit of a gap on the
transition from 3 to 4 (short leg) and managed to hold the lead to the end for a
25-second win (ahead of Everett), with Platt roughly 1 minute back. It was
definitely a satisfying race, hard running, technically very smooth, fast (~24
minutes for 4.5k).
Sunday's event was a pretty different deal - nice open woods, spur and gully
terrain, reasonable technical detail. 16 km Goat-style event, mass start with
option to skip 2 controls. Mike Eglinski obviously had the quickest reflexes and
lead the charge toward the first control. Mark Everett and Mike Platt lead the
charge on toward number 2 and I took over to number 3. Everett and I bobbled a
stream crossing, then had to work hard to catch back up to Platt/Eglinski who
were up front. At 5, Everett made a decisive move, using up his first skip and
headed straight to 7. En route to 6, Platt and I gapped the pursuers behind and
were running well. At 7, we caught David Frei, who had also skipped 6 but
obviously had some trouble with the execution. At 9 (road crossing/checkpoint),
we caught sight of Everett so he had clearly missed some time along the way. At
the checkpoint, Everett lead (1 skip), Platt and I about a minute back (no
skips), Frei just behind (1 skip), Eglinski and Eric Buckley about 2 minutes
behind us (no skips).
By 10, Platt and I had caught Mark and we three continued on, exchanging the
lead here and there. Some trouble at 12 (the vetting tape was in one pit, the
control in another and only one on the map!). Leaving the control, Platt veered
left to take the direct route to 13, Mark and I opted for the trail to the right
and that was the last we saw of him. Buckley (having skipped 13) appeared at 14
so there were three of us together briefly. I had the ace up my sleeve though
and turned left to 16 as they headed on to 15. At 16, I was clear out in the
lead and (skipping 18 as well) held on to the end. Mark appeared a few minutes
later, Eglinski finished well (skipping 15/18) for third, Eric Buckley in 4th.
Being noble, Platt had decided to do all 23 controls (no skips), so finished up
in 5th. Sharon Crawford finished among the mid-pack men to win the ladies
category. Overall, nice fast running (95 minutes for ~15k), good competition and
a fun weekend.
Cheers, Brian May
=============================================
Michael Eglinski (3rd)
1. (4:50) When I turned over the map, I saw that I wanted to go straight north.
So, I headed that way. I went up the hill to the campground, then planned to
look for the pond north of the powerline. I was in the lead for a short bit, but
Mikell, Mook and Brian all beat me to the control.
2. (3:35) The idea was to use the trail that points you right to the control.
That's what I did. At this point, the three leaders were easily in sight. They
were quite close together, too.
3. (no split) A nice easy leg. The leg seems to be designed to get you to a good
place to cross the stream. As I ran through the scout camping area, I took a
look at the entire map to consider which controls to skip. I decided I'd skip 15
and 18. As I came in to the third control, I saw a runner I didn't recognize and
figured it was probably someone who'd skipped the first and/or second control.
4. (9:23 from 2 to 4). I think the leaders left control three and stayed on the
east side of the stream. I crossed the stream just after leaving three and ran
along the gravel bars along the stream. After about 300 meters along the stream,
I found a good place to get up the bank and ran along deer trails through the
thickish vegetation. When I reached the powerline cut, Mikell went zipping along
(coming from the east), I got behind him on the cut and followed powerlines to
the paved road. The control itself would be very easy because it was right next
to the lake -- unless you made a huge error (like Eric S.) you wouldn't expect
to have any real trouble with this leg. As I came to 4, Mook, Brian and Mikell
were still easily in sight.
5. (4:40) I saw two routes -- up the creek or up the trail. I decided to stick
with the trail. As a general rule, if I see a trail option I usually take it.
Brain took the trail, too. Mook and Mikell went up the creek. Dave Frei was with
me here and took the creek route, I think (as did Eric Buckley). One advantage
of the trail route was that I had a good view of the control area as I approach.
I could see the leaders heading to and from the control. I punched at 5 just
after Mook and noticed that he was skipping 6. I think I said something like,
"go for it, Mook." Dave Frei went with Mook.
6. (3:39) On the way to 6 I lost sight of the leaders. But, as I got near the
pond, I saw Jan Ingebritzen (sp?) ahead of me. He seemed to be moving pretty
well, but I wasn't sure if he'd skipped an early control.
7. (5:09) Eric B. was just behind me and we chased down Jan. At first glance,
this control looked tricky. It was, in fact a bit tricky. Coming over the
flattish area on the hill top makes it easy to drift and go down the wrong
reentrant system (I think Mook missed this control for that reason). As I left
the trail, I got out my mangifier and read the map carefully to the control.
This was the first control all day that I spiked.
8. (4:02) I don't know where Jan went, but I don't remember seeing him again
until the finish. Eric was with me. We went around the hill top, following a bit
of an old trail.
9. (7:54) My initial plan was to follow the streams south to the road. When I
came to the powerline cut, I changed my idea. The powerline is mapped as slow,
but was actually very nice (it had been mowed). I stuck to the powerline until I
saw a good place to get out to the road, then ran the road to the control. As I
was running along the road, I saw the leaders and Dave Frei ahead of me.
10. (5:11) Running along the road to 10, Eric and I discussed the fact that Dave
had already skipped a control and was not far ahead of us. We agreed that his
lead was not worth a control skip. I left the road right where it crosses a
stream (on the south side of the road) and read contours to the control. I was a
bit suprised at how the spur the control was on looked, but I knew I was at the
right spot. On this leg, I tried to pick up the pace a bit in the woods with the
hope of getting away from Eric.
11. (4:58) Coming in to 11, I saw Dave just ahead of us. I got a bit hung up in
some junky vegetation just before the control.
12. (5:39) Dave got caught in some junky vegetation in the stream valley south
of 11. I was ahead of Eric and Dave going up the hill to 12. I decided I'd walk
a bit as I got nearer the control. One reason was I didn't see any point of
going fast in to a small depression -- it'd be easy to miss it. Another reason
was my attempt to pick up the pace and drop Eric had failer and I thought
slowing down might get him to think I was so tired it wasn't worth staying with
me.
As I approached 12, I spotted the vetting tape hung above a depression. I went
to it. There was no control. But, earlier runners had been there (a bit of paper
was hung next to the tape). I was ready to leave when Dave spotted the control
in another small depression maybe 10-20 meters away.
13. (9:39) Dave and Eric decided to skip 13 while I decided to stick with my
plan of skipping 15 and 18. So, I was alone. I think skipping 13 and 18 was the
best. But, skipping 15 and 18 was a decent decision. I was on my own to 13 and
running alone made it a bit harder to push the pace. I'm sure I eased off a bit.
My legs felt tired on the way to 13.
14. (no split) The map seemed a bit sketchy in the flattish area near 14. As I
ran along the trail, I was looking off to my right and caught sight of the
marker. I headed in and spotted Mikell standing there drinking water and looking
at the map. He said he thought the marker was in the wrong marsh.
16. (13:18 for 13-14-16) I stuck with my plan to skip 15. 14 to 16 gave me a
very flat route. With the dry year we've had, I figured crossing the stream
wouldn't be much trouble. It wasn't (though I got my feet wet). My legs felt
tired along this leg. As I approached 16 I saw an orienteer ahead of me and
thought it was Dave. It was Mook! Mook headed off toward 17 at a pace I couldn't
match.
17. (4:03) I tried to move at a reasonable pace leavingt 16 so that anyone
behind me (especially Dave and Eric) wouldn't see me. Mook was long gone. The
leg itself didn't look tricky, except when I came to the stream junctions
100-150 meters west of the control I was a bit suprised at how the terrain
looked. It wasn't quite what I'd expected. So, I slowed quite a bit on the way
up the reentrant toward 17. I was a bit concerned that I might have gone up a
parallel stream (to the north). Things fit together quickly and I realized I was
in the right place. Easing off the pace a bit must have helped my tired legs
(sucking down some energy gel helped, too). My legs felt a bit better by the
time I reached 17.
19. (3:48) I skipped 18. I ran the trail/road to 19. It was nice and fast. After
the race, Eric B. commented on how rough the trail was (it is a horse trail),
but I didn't have any trouble. Maybe Eric was more tired than I was? When I
reached 19, Mark Roodhouse told me I was about 5 behind Brain and 45 seconds
behind Mook. I told him I didn't expect to catch those guys, but I'd give it a
try.
20. (4:03) Initially, I thought I'd run the road to the top of the hill and then
back toward the control. But, I saw the indistinct trail and realized that was a
better way to take the control. It also got me out of sight of any runners who
might be behind me. I kept moving up the hill to 20. I wasn't going fast, but I
wanted to avoid walking so that any runners behind me wouldn't think I had hit
the wall. If you're chasing someone and they look strong it is easy to give up.
21. (4:49) I went straight and kept looking for Mook. The visibility was good
and I figured if I was going to catch him, this would be a place to spot him. I
saw Mook! Except as I got closer I realized it was Bob Lane (doing the green
course, I think) who was wearing the same O' top as Mook. My legs were tired.
But, that was ok because from 21 to the finish was almost entirely down hill.
22. (1:43) Leaving 21 I glanced to my left and didn't see anyone behind me. I
didn't see Mook ahead of me either. The forest was very open around here and I
was a bit disappointed that Mook wasn't in sight.
23 (1:26).
Finish (0:37) The run-in was up a gentle hill.
=====================================================
Eric Buckley (4th) -
The Possum Trot is always one of the highlights of my season. And I do mean
always - just as I have been to every Trot, the Trot has been around as long as
I've been orienteering. PT I was one of my first events. The Trot always gets a
good field, but this year's was the best ever. In past years, I've generally let
the lead pack of elites go and focused on my running my own race. While this has
produced decent results, I felt my form had improved enough this year that I
should try hanging with the big dogs, at least for a while.
Start - 5:
While I'm not above following, I do like to maintain contact with the map. So I
spend a few seconds at the start finding the start triangle and determining that
I need to head north. I'm on the south side of the group, so by the time I start
running, there's a group of about 15 ahead of me. I push pretty hard up the
first hill and catch up to Mike Eglinski. As we run along the campground road, I
unfold the map to check for skips. Skipping 18 immediately jumps out at me, but
I don't see anything else obvious. The legs in the middle of the course seem the
longest, so I figure I'll probably skip something in there.
I'm sixth into 1 and hold that position through 2 and 3. Everyone is still in
sight and there's a fair bit of trail running, so I'm not too worried about
booming. I just fall into line and try to stay in contact with the map.
The three leaders (Brian May, Mikell Platt, and Mark Everett) stay north of the
stream leaving 3, but Mike, Dave Frei, and I cross immediately. This turns out
to be faster, so we all bunch up again approaching 4. To 5, Mike takes the trail
to the north, but Dave and I follow the stream. Mark is just ahead of us and
Dave follows him out of 5 towards 7. I don't want to skip this early, so I head
north with Mike (who neither gains or loses with his route).
Control Split 1 4:55 2 3:36 3 2:38 4 6:50 5 4:42
6 - 12:
Mikell and Brian are out of site, so Mike now takes the lead in navigation. We
go straight at 6, which is easy, and take the trail around to 7. From the top of
the ridge I spot the reentrant, but forget to check the clue (ruined tree) so I
panic a bit when I don't see the bag. Mike zips down the hill to the rather
large fallen tree and finds the control on the far side. I hustle after him and
manage to catch up by the time we get to the top of the ridge heading to 8.
Attacking from the top of the ridge, 8 is fairly easy. Mike follows the stream
out of 8, but I hate pushing though all the crap in the stream bed, so I contour
along the western bank. We get to the power line and find it nicely mowed (it's
mapped as thick undergrowth). I had considered skipping 8 but now I'm very glad
I didn't as this makes the route from 8 to 9 quite fast. Once on the road
approaching 9 we can see some of the leaders ahead. It looks like Dave and Mark
didn't benefit much from skipping 6. Brian and Mikell are ahead, too, but they
haven't skipped yet.
At 9 we are greeted by encouragement and cups of Gatorade. I've got water with
me, but I'm happy to down an extra cup. The early pace has me sweating hard
despite the cold temperature. Leaving the control we get back on the road and
can still see Dave ahead. Mike, aware of the Buckley-Frei Death Match, comments
"Looks like we've got Dave."
We leave the road at the stream crossing and follow the spur down to 10. Mike
stops short of the circle and comments that things don't seem quite right. He
certainly reads a lot more detail than I do, the fact that we're at a stream
junction is good enough for me. Turns out we are in the right spot and both the
knoll and the control bag are just over the next spur.
We push hard on the trail to 11 and catch Dave just after the control. Mike
starts to lead up the hill but then slows. He later tells me this was supposed
to be some kind of psych job to get us to think he was toast. It certainly
didn't work; the possibility that he had completely misjudged his effort didn't
even occur to me. I figured he was just using the uphill to decide whether to
skip 13. I take the lead and quickly find a small depression with a vetting
tape. Unfortunately, there's no bag. Mike comes up and says this has to be the
right spot, but then we see Dave hop down into a larger depression just to the
west. "There's nothing down here!" he says with a grin as we run over
to punch.
Dave actually has the audacity to ask Mike "Are we skipping 13?" to
which Mike responds rather incredulously, "That's up to you." I've
already decided that 13 has to go, so I head off east with Dave while Mike (no
doubt happy to be rid of us) runs off towards 12. A part of me realizes that
letting Mike go is a mistake. Nonetheless, I want to run my own race and even if
I did manage to outsprint him after following him around the whole course, it's
not the sort of thing I'd take much pleasure in.
Control Split 6 3:35 7 5:09 8 3:59 9 7:39 10 5:26 11 4:43 12 5:52
14 - 17:
If there is any doubt that letting Mike go was a mistake, it's clarified when
Dave and I both boom the route to 14 (which should have been the easiest leg on
the course). Running on the trail heading northeast, we completely miss the
junction with the trail that runs to the control. When we get to the where the
trail bends back west, we realize our mistake and grudgingly head down the hill.
I find the trail at the base of the hill and lead to the marsh. Just as I turn
into the marsh, I see Mark coming towards me, presumably leaving the control. As
soon as he sees me, he stops and turns around. Apparently he overran it. We both
head back to the control and meet Brian May there as well. It suddenly occurs to
me that this is the head of the race! I've certainly never been with the leaders
at this late stage. I assume Brian has not skipped yet, but it's still pretty
exciting.
In my excitement I pick up the trail heading north rather than the one heading
east. Fortunately, I realize my mistake quickly, but it's enough that Dave is
back in front of me by about 50 meters. Mark certainly doesn't want us tagging
along with him so he blasts away at a pace we don't even attempt to match. Brian
has headed north to skip 15 so it's quickly back to reality.
Just after leaving the trail to approach 15, Dave trips badly on a barbed wire
fence. He's pretty slow getting up so I stop to see if he's OK. He says he's
fine and we push on again. We split leaving 15, Dave taking the red line while I
go left to follow the base of the hills. My route looks OK on the map, but gets
pinched off where the hillside comes down to the stream, so I have to go back up
the hill again to get through. By the time I get to 16, Dave is about 20 seconds
ahead.
I'm a bit concerned about making a parallel error on 17, since the correct
stream looks a lot like the stream just to the north. I stay on top of the ridge
until I've picked up both streams and then head down to the correct one. Dave is
still a little in front of me as we head up the spur to the road. As I turn left
on the road to skip 18, I consider tossing him a barb like "Tell me how 18
looks" but then remember that a similar taunt in PT IV resulted in such a
surge of rage that he caught and dropped me and only a last minute twist of fate
allowed me to beat him. I decide that he's probably a little depressed about
going to 18 and I'll just let him stay that way.
Control Split 14 11:17 (estimated, I missed the split) 15 6:30 (estimated -
total for 12-15 was 17:47) 16 8:36 17 3:46
19 - Finish:
For the first time in the race, I'm completely alone. While 19 is pretty much a
no-brainer, as I leave the highway for 20, I suddenly feel quite unsure of
myself. I'd hate to boom a control now and let Dave back into it. I follow the
indistinct trail down to a rather substantial bridge over the stream. From there
I head up the spur to the pit. It's an easy leg, but I take it carefully.
Feeling a bit more confident, I pick up the pace again to 21. I cross the creek
just south of the stream junction and use the trail bridge to get over to the
northern ridge. After climbing the ridge, I check off the reentrant system on
the left and then head straight across to the spur.
Only two to go, and they're both pretty easy. I'm getting really tired so the
chance of a complete brain meltdown is high. Running along the ridge to 22, I
actually count out loud the reentrants as I approach them, "One! Two!
Three! Control!" Then, it's down the spur to the go control and one final
uphill push across the field to the finish.
Control Split 19 4:23 20 4:23 (not a typo, just a coincidence) 21 5:14 22 1:39
23 1:31 Finish 0:33
Total 105:56 for 14.1K, 390m climb.
I don't think there's any question that this is the best orienteering race I've
ever run. My curious string of good runs on even Trots and disasters on odd
Trots continues. What I'm happiest about is that, while I benefited greatly from
running with Mike, my pace didn't go in the tank after we split.
This was certainly the best field and best course for a Trot to date. I also
think the race organization has come up a notch. All in all, an excellent race.
Now if I can just break this odd/even thing, I might look forward to next year.
=======================================
Mikell Platt (5th)
I thought the weekend was almost perfect. Fine and fun courses, a really nice
forest and map for the Trot, weather made to order for fast running, good
competition, and an armadillo on the way to #13. Who even knew there were
armadillos that far north of Texas?
And it will be wholly perfect once I get my gift certificate for 2 whoppers! : )
==============================
Eric Saggars - (15th)
I went into the race with fairly high hopes, mainly based on my general fitness
level and getting another year of orienteering experience. But, on Saturday, I
realized the field was much stronger this year and I sure didn't expect to
repeat my fluke of a 6th place finish from last year. I secretly hoped to come
in around 10th place or so. It was not to be...Consider this a tale for the
middle of the pack folks.
Right before I flipped the map over, Keith put the idea of skipping 1 into my
brain. I don't know why I fell for it. In every Possum Trot, I've struggled with
the skip choices and again this year I was very indecisive. You would think
after completing 4 Trots that I would understand the importance of staying with
the pack as long as possible. I now know that I have a problem making quick
decisions on the clock. (The same thing happens to me in the Score-O events.)
Anyway, I think I was the last person out of the start triangle as I debated the
merits of skipping 1 vs. some of the others. Almost the entire field headed
north, FAST!
I saw JP heading west for 2 and I followed him. For about 20 seconds I thought I
was going to swing around and head to 1 after all. But I was having trouble
locating which trail was which on the map. Why??? By the time I figured it out,
I was halfway to 2, so I just said screw it and decided to skip 1. My best
moments of the race were the easy run to 3. I crossed the creek immediately and
looked back to see the leaders approaching 3 already. That was the last time I
saw any of them.
I made a huge blunder on the way to 4 that I would rather not talk about, but I
finally arrived there around the same time as Fritz, Sharon, Foresman, and
Luffman. Unfortunately, I had already used my 1st skip, but I didn't tell them
that. I saw Gene on the way to 6, but it looked like he was looking in the wrong
area. I caught Aaron by taking the trail around towards 7, we slowed way down to
find it, it was tricky coming over the top of the ridge into the right area, I
spotted a likely tree, but didn't see the control. Aaron looked back and said
"There it is." We got out of there just ahead of Sharon. The trail
option sucked me down, way to the south, and Aaron followed me. The trail was a
terrible route choice. I think that I'm so used to running through our forests
and taking trails that I didn't appreciate how fast these woods were. Sharon
went more direct and was coming out from 8 as I was heading up to it. Aaron must
have lost track of where he was here.
We took the powerline down towards the road, but it got kind of nasty under
there on the south side of the creek, so we followed the ditch. I beat Sharon to
9 only by getting up on the road when she stayed in the creek bottom too long.
Somehow, Gene had beat me to 9, I figured he took a skip, but he hadn't yet. I'd
like to know how he got in from of me between 6 and 9! When I saw Mary at 9, I
was pretty down and I didn't want to know what place I was in or if she had seen
Keith, my main rival ;-) She seemed understanding and reassured me that I
wouldn't make another blunder. Thanks, Mary!
Anyway, I spent much of the race leapfrogging with Sharon, by running faster and
gaining some time on her, only to struggle inside the circle or by running the
trails and finding that her direct route was faster. I lost a couple of minute's
right before 12 when I took a branch in the eye and had to stop. From that point
I was dealing with a bad contact lens the rest of the race. Gene was on the
trail ahead of me on the way to 14 and he was not walking! I tried in vain to
catch him.
Sharon and I were together until 15 anyway, but she still had a skip to use on
18. I decided to go NW down towards the creek and run the flat, white forest to
16. It was not that easy. But, unlike Buckley, I went down into the creek to get
past the hillside. Looking back at my times and Eglinski's and May's decision to
skip 15 seems like a good one. It was surprising to me that I spent almost the
same amount of time running from 14-15-16 and I did from 17-18-19! I was bonking
pretty badly at this point in the race though. I felt very alone on the golf
course running towards 18. I had lots of quiet time to consider the rash
decision to skip 1.
Fritz was on the road heading towards 20 as I was heading into 19. Foresman
caught me at the aid station with a mouth full of cookies trying to get over my
bonk. He took off right before me and I didn't expect to catch Fritz, but I saw
that I was ahead of him at 21. After 22, I made a very costly parallel error
going down the wrong spur to 23 and almost lost my lead on Fritz. I pushed it up
the hill to the finish, my calves almost giving out. Man was I glad it was over;
I barely had the strength to walk to my car. Another great Trot!
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