2005 North American Rogaining Championships
Hat Creek Ranch - Stunning Course
04.08.2005
Full results are available at:
www.orienteeringbc.ca/sage/2005narc/2005NARCplacing.htm
The course was situated in stunning Hat Creek Ranch area near Cache Creek, BC – famous cattle country. At the intersection of three valleys, the course ranged from grasslands to dense forest. Fence lines, cow trails, ATV trails, dry knee-high grasses, dense thickets, and the odd bull standing their ground are what competitors faced.
Despite what many teams had planned, it was clear from the start that only Achilles would have been able to get all the controls. The heat from the noon start combined with the constant climbing and descending, wore many teams down. Finding water on course was crucial to success. There were remote water drops, but in all cases, they were not at control stations and many routes had to be diverted to get to the water stations. A more effective strategy was to treat and drink water found in some of the drainages.
During nightfall, careful navigation was crucial as controls were only visible when you were on top of them.
Not being able to get all the controls changed the strategy to gathering the most points as possible. Effective route planning to go after larger point control stations was necessary. For example, the winning team had only 2010 points out of a possible 3600.
This was a stunning venue and an excellent event. Thanks go out to Sage Orienteering for all the planning, mapping and general hosting of the events. Also thanks go to the landowners for allowing access and to the sponsors (Valhalla Pure Outfitters Kamloops) for the prizing.
SleepMonsters
