College Park

Course results can be seen below as well as on Attackpoint and WinSplits. Don't forget to enter your course into RouteGadget as well.

Next event: Pohick Bay, MD, Sunday May 10. With a new registration area on a beautiful veranda overlooking the nearby Bay ...

With the sun shining brightly on College Park, QOC members came out to the University of Maryland at College Park to try their orienteering skills on “urban” terrain. The course director for the meet, Ken Walker, created two wonderful sprint courses that took runners throughout the campus. I’m happy to report that many decided to run both courses on a hot day!

As with all meets, the volunteers truly made a world of difference. For registration, I thank Anne and Kim Jepsen, Bob and Rebecca Rich, Chris Hemus, Pat McNeilly, and David Levine for not only keeping track of a more complicated than normal fee structure but also registering members and non-members alike and sending them on their way; Lydia Andrews and Peggy Dickison (who was feeling slightly under the weather but still came out to volunteer!) deserve my thanks for helping out the wonderful Amy and Mary on the computers; a big thank you also goes out Jody Landers, Heidi and David Onkst, Mihai G. Sirbu, and Francis Hogle for going out one last time and picking up the controls. Special thanks also goes out to all of the experienced members who volunteered to do either beginner instruction (Kim Jepsen, Pat McNeilly, David Levine, and David Onkst) or advanced instruction (Mihai G. Sirbu).

I also want to thank Heidi Onkst and Tom Nolan for assisting me with the entire meet director process; their advice and guidance certainly made my first experience as a meet director a lot less stressful!

Finally, I want to end by encouraging other members to volunteer in the future. Working as a meet director taught me firsthand about the time and effort required to host such events. A lot of hard work goes in to making each and every meet operate as smoothly as possible. More importantly, it taught me how vital volunteers are to the club—without volunteers, great QOC meets would simply not be possible. Thus, I want to encourage everyone who loves attending wonderful orienteering meets to consider volunteering in the near future. It’s never too late to start volunteering and there are many wonderful members who would gladly show you the ropes!
-Mihai Sirbu, Jr.