August 24, 2024

It may not feel like autumn quite yet, but the local orienteering scene is coming back to life, so that must mean cooler temperatures are on the way. A total of 45 orienteers and three dogs came out for an early morning in the neighborhood surrounding Linden Park, in midtown Tucson. This was a typical street-o, with questions to answer at each control instead of something to punch. In order to make things a little more interesting and to provide actual legs, the course was structured in pairs called "dogbones"--so called because a line with a circle on each end vaguely resembles a dogbone, if you squint hard enough. 

Each pair of controls could be visited in either order, and the pairs could be visited in any sequence, but you had to visit both members of a pair before going on to another pair. Most participants seemed to have humored the course setter by actually following the rules, despite there being no way for her to know had they not done so.

Two orienteers managed to visit all 9 pairs within the 60 minute time limit, with Jeff Coker eking out the win against Isaac Pimienta, perhaps proving that experience is worth something in this sport. Anna Campbell, running with her dad Jon, had the best result of the women, with 12 total controls, though it should be noted that the Campbells stopped to help someone look for their escaped pet desert tortoise (a task Anna is particularly well-suited for), and should probably be rewarded with extra points wherever orienteering is a sport in which one could just assign points willy-nilly. 

Thanks to everyone who came out: old-timers, newcomers, families, and of course JROTC and Boy Scout groups. Also thanks to Lukas for setting up his lemonade stand and offering cookies and lemonade for sale to hungry finishers.

Melissa Trout & Cristina Luis