Saturday:
Earlier races today meant an earlier wake up for most. Those of us that were running the World Ranking Event (WRE) were confined to a parking lot and field before the race.
The start line was uphill, which was foreboding for rest of the race. What made up for all the climb, however, was the beautiful, open forest. Also the lovely downhill finish chute was quite great.
People certainly had differing experiences with their races today – some were happy, many were frustrated. Think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed it though (at least parts of it).
Prompt: “If today’s race (the middle) was a song, what song would it be?”
Peter: The Rock rap
Oriana: “Where do I go” by Lizzy McAlpine
Keegan: “Everything is Awesome”
Alex: “I Want Out” by Helloween
Jessica: “Delicate” by Taylor Swift because it was repetitive and also felt like chasing my crush to the point where I almost had it in the bag, but not yet.
Kirsten: “Replica” by The xx
Ethan: Ring around the Rosey
Danny: “Up Down” by T-Pain
Bridget: “Don’t You Give Up” by Dansu – me to my brain after a two minute mistake on control two
Elsa: “Control” by Zoe Wees
Grace: “Nice Guys Finish Last” by Green Day
Ava: “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie
Paige: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
Jack: “Rocketman” by Elton John
The afternoon and evening were spent relaxing and recovering for the long tomorrow. We played more hearts, ate all the food, and then the Patriot’s game made it onto the T.V. – Keegan refused to miss it.
Sunday:
A storm hit in the evening on Saturday and by the morning the winds were heavy enough to warrant a high winds advisory. That, plus the cold temps and lots of rain led the event directors to postpone the race by two hours. For some, this meant that racing was impossible because there were flights to catch. Others were luckier with flights later in the evening, or even the next day.
For those of us that got to race, there were some discussions of whether a drop down to shorter courses would be a good idea. Some did because they knew that they wouldn’t enjoy the long world ranking courses in the cold, wet weather, but some decided they would tough it out. In the end I think everyone was happy with the choice they made.
And with that, everyone will be making their way back home, our weekend holiday together over.
Everyone’s favorite parts of the weekend:
AJ: Rice Pudding (for reference, we had a lot of leftover rice from the burritos for dinner, which people – mainly Ethan – decided to make into rice pudding. It worked pretty well surprisingly)
Keegan: Snow
Kirsten: Seeing people, as generic as that sounds (also – *jokingly* the Patriots Game!!)
Alex: Racing and seeing the team again
Greg: Surviving the night
Elsa: Learning to play hearts! (note – if you are gonna stay in a junior house, you gotta know how to play hearts…)
Danny: Seeing my West Point friends once more
Peter: Seeing all my friends 🙂
Bridget: Of course seeing everyone again but also having the chance to properly compete against others and be pushed to do well
Results for the weekend: http://www.gaorienteering.org/live/
RouteGadgets: http://www.gaorienteering.org/Local_Events/gadget/rg2/
Stay tuned for some team announcements and updates!
USA Junior Orienteering 