Mason Neck

Course results can be seen below. Splits are available on Attackpoint or Winsplits.
To enter your routes and see how others went, head to RouteGadget.

What a gorgeous day it was for orienteering at Mason Neck on Sunday, March 21! We had over 270 people out on the courses (many of whom appreciated the relatively flat terrain after the McKeldin hills). The great weather and the large turnout were good news and bad news. The bad news was that parking is limited at Mason Neck, as many of you discovered. The park management came very close to closing the park just after noon because it was at capacity, but relented when our early arrivers started leaving. The other issue we had at Mason Neck this year was the additional restrictions that park management placed on the area in the park we could use. This led to some last minute course changes and advanced courses that were shorter than normal. We will have to address these issues in the future at Mason Neck.
QOC is an all-volunteer organization and I want to recognize all those who helped out with this meet. If I omit anyone, you can blame it on my senior memory – it will not be intentional. I need to lead off with my fellow Virginia Vice President, Charles Carrick, who did at least triple duty at the meet. He arrived at before 8 AM when the park opened, helped set the final controls, returned to help out around check-in, ran the Blue course, then went out and picked up all the streamers for control points we had to drop when the park added the additional restrictions. Kudos as well to course designers and setters Tavia Sullens and Mark Thomsen, who also had to do a lot of extra work due to the last minute course changes. Also, Peggy Dickison advised them on the course design. For check-in duties, Harry Jones, Heather Phelps, and Tom Legones handled first shift and Jana Seidlova, Petr Minar and Matyas and Daniel covered second shift. Control pickers were John Baker, Rick Oliver, Howie Weinstein, Lydia Andrews, and Matt Smith. Finally, and certain not least, Valerie Meyers printed and “sleeved” all the maps and handled the e-punch, timing, and results with assistance from Aaron and Laura Linville.
As we are now over a year into the “COVID Situation,” I am frankly amazed at how QOC has been able to continue to offer quality orienteering in a safe environment. I believe that we have the most active orienteering program in the country right now and we held the only NRE meet in the US during the past year. I have not heard any reports of COVID infection attributed to a QOC event. The superb efforts of our volunteers and the cooperation and patience of our members and guests has made this possible. We are looking forward to returning to opportunities to socialize more at the meets and other functions.
-Bill Wright