Sunday, March 15th, there was a Backwoods Orienteering Klub meet at Schenck Forrest.  Schenck is a little too small for anything above a brown level course, so normally BOK tries to do something more interesting.  This time, they had a snooker-o.

Normally orienteering courses are run in a given order of controls for each given course.  Then there are score-o’s in which you choose the order, and each control is worth a different number of points.  So you create a strategy to get the most number of points in the given time.  (Rogaines are just long score-o’s — as much as 24 hours, of which I’ve done one.)

A snooker-o was a new concept, which is similar to a score-0, but with the added caveats that:

1. you must start with a control worth 1
2. you must finish with a control worth 1
3. whenever you get control worth more than 1, you must follow with a control worth 1

To expand on 3, you are allowed to get as many controls worth 1 in a row as you want.  But you have to be careful to not use up all the 1 pointers!

It was really an interesting concept, and made for a fun event.  Below is the map, with my scribbled strategy on the side of which order I was going to go in:

I wanted to save 46 as a safety, since it was so near the start and finish.  And most of the multi-point controls were towards the west, with several across the stream.  Since it had been raining for a couple days and was still raining, the creek was a little crazy, and several people opted not to cross it at all.  I got control 68.  The stream crossing on the way out was not too bad.  The water was high and moving fast, but I judged it well and came out on a nice beach/shore right were I wanted to.  But returning was a little scary.  The rush water pushed me a lot further than expected, and all of a sudden I was in chest deep water being pushed into a 5 foot high bank.  I did a strong scissor kick and grabbed a tree, and pulled myself out.  Did I mention the water was VERY cold?  But a couple minutes later after running, I didn’t feel it at all.

I thought I did better than the results show.  I had trouble with 51 but abandoned it quickly so I don’t think that affected me much.  And I ran almost the full hour I was out.  Oh well, it was fun, and each time out, I am getting closer to my old form!

Riley drew a picture of me orienteering out in the rain, that I had to include here!