Greenbelt

Results are now also posted on Attackpoint and on WinSplits, and RouteGadget is ready for you to enter your route. [Note: as stated on the RouteGadget page, due to Java security concerns this program is currently intentionally disabled.]

After the bitter cold of last year's Greenbelt meet, the weather this year provided a welcome respite. Over 200 sun-bathed participants were able to enjoy the warmest weather of the past two weeks. Hopefully, they avoided most of the greenbriar for which Greenbelt is (in)famous.

Course setter Russ Damtoft designed the usual array of seven courses. Four of the courses stayed on the north side of the park, while the three longest advanced courses required people to traverse the south side as well. The blue course in particular seemed to visit every acre of the park. Everyone seemed to come back happy from their time in the woods.

Special thanks to Amy Louden, Jon Torrance and Greg Lennon. Not only did they (Amy & Jon) fill in admirably in the absence of our usual e-punch experts, but they had to adjust their normal procedures to account for the fact that this meet was open only to people who preregistered. Preregistration, run by Greg, was required because the club is not permitted to collect money in this national park. Before the meet began, Amy and John had programmed e-punches for all preregistrants who do not own an e-punch, and the individualized e-punches were waiting for participants when they arrived. Preregistation facilitated the registration process at the event.

Of course, the meet also would not have proceeded smoothly without the many other volunteers. Kim Jepsen, Jeff Kronenwetter, Jody Landers, Mike Newman, Corinne Porter, Benjamin Roberts, and Iva Zicha helped with set-up, registration, beginner instruction, clean-up and the sundry other tasks during the event, while Alex Bishop, Richard Briggs, Don Fish, the Shelton family, Ryan Stasiowski and John Whitty picked up controls at the end of the meet. Ryan deserves special mention. He finished fifth on the blue course, ran the brown course in the third fastest time, and then picked up the southernmost controls. He is a young man in great running shape. Finally, Greg Lennon wound up printing out all the maps -- twice -- because of an initial snafu.