On a day of spectacular sunshine in the Bitterroot Valley, nearly 80 people came out to GrizO's event at Soft Rock Recreation Area, including many first-timers and families with kids. 

 

A whole 37 people completed the Beginner course, with Ayu Tanaka finishing in the fastest time, just seconds ahead of Jennifer and Laurel Degroot. The Hunkapiller Family came third. 

 

On the Advanced Beginner course, Missoula Youth Orienteering Program (MYOP) participants Beata, Lauris, and Branden showed that training helps, and won the course handily ahead of Beata and Lauris' parents Alison and Brandon and Fred Rezvani.

 

On Intermediate, expert ski orienteer Hannah Specht took the win, and Nick Pence finished second, after first taking four children around the Beginner course! Kat Franchino finished a strong third.

 

The Advanced course was won by MYOP coach Calvin Olson, who finished ahead of visiting expert orienteers Karen Martino from the Kootenay Orienteering Club and Joseph Burkhead from the Southern Michigan Orienteering Club. 

 

This time we also offered a "Choose Your Own Adventure" course, where competitors were given a map of all 31 controls, and could collect as many of them as they could in any order in 90 minutes or less. Chris Caldwell was the only one to collect all 31 controls, doing so with a minute to spare after needing to go out and grab one last control, having missed it the first time around. Loy Koch got 27 controls for second place, and the young team of Isaac Jones and Elijah Pettigrew came third, with 26 controls. 

 

Thanks to our event director extraordinaire Emily Johnson for keeping everything running smoothly. Boris Granovskiy designed and set the courses. Jeff Johnson, Svea Johnson, and Allison Brown helped with setup. Boris, Allison, and Emily did beginner instruction. Mox Anderson, Calvin Olson, Karen Martino, and Joseph Burkhead picked up controls. Thanks to all the volunteers! 

 

Full results are below. 

Splits are at https://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_55975.

Course replays with participant routes are available at https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/GrizO-Soft-Rock-04-15-2023/Advanced?classId=583244&tab=player. Add your own routes if you have them! 

Some photos from the event by Boris Granovskiy are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/gc5JuRr7c8PNPdcA6. Feel free to share and add your own!

 

Our next event is at Lone Pine State Park on April 29. We hope to see you then!