Urban-O 2005
Urban-O, July 23, 2005 The 2005 Urban-O is now in the history books. Thanks to extensive coverage of this event in the Louisville Courier-Journal, as well as sunny weather, a record number of orienteers (75 to be exact) participated in this event. The Urban-O course consisted of 30 controls worth 660 points spread throughout downtown Louisville. Participants had three hours to find as many of the controls as possible. To get credit for finding a control site, they had to answer a trivia question that could only be answered by visiting that site. Most of the participants started at 9 AM, although a second mass start 24 minutes later was necessary after printing a second set of maps and clue sheets. Twenty-three orienteers found all 30 controls within the three hour time limit. Their names and finishing times in chronological order are as follows: Shawn Smith and Mike Robinson (1:21:10), Chris Gerstle (1:41:50), Dan Mattingly (1:43:30), Michael Bowen (1:43:45), Mike Moser (1:55:16), Jim Carter and Louis Smith (1:56:09), Paul Vice (2:15:21), Lloyd Vest (2:31:17), Matt, Melissa, and Levi Groenwald, and Esther Skaggs (2:33:41), Bill and Sally Landes (2:40:21), Blaise Path (2:48:09), Mike Munson (2:50:00), Sandra Whelan, Cindy Cowley, and Holly Scott (2:52:18), and Mike Tompkins and Jeana Tussoy (2:56:35). Three other participants, Lynn Farrell (3:05:00) and Janet and Theresa Ford (4:08:15), also found all 30 controls, but lost points after finishing beyond the three-hour time limit. Several orienteers successfully answered 29 of the 30 trivia questions. The one question that was responsible for most of the errors pertained to a statue located adjacent to the library building. The correct answer was Abraham Lincoln. Some mistakenly confused this statue with a nearby statue of George Prentice. Because many participants asked to keep their maps and clue sheets to finish the course later, I did not keep scoring records of other participants. The following is a list of participants in alphabetical order who found some, but not all, of the controls: Gordon and Diane Biery, Kyle Blair, Dan and Karen Blum, Jeffrey Bryant, Nicole Candler, Jacob Copler, Martha Dolan, Gina Eberenz, Robert and Elisa Evans, Alison Ewart, Jeff and Mary Hamilton, Debbie, Emily and Amy Heuser, Donna Hoagland, Lisa Horavitz and two children (names unknown), Hunter Family (John, Brenda, Michelle, Jesse, and Jocelyn), Doug Keefe, Jody, Billy, and Sam Kramer, Helen Mullin, Michael Mullin, Jim and Shellie Nitsche, Charles Parks, Paul Phillips, Laura Reed, Erich Reis, Mary Rogue, Tony, Hannah, and Eli Smithson, Steve and Suzy Socha, Richard Venhoff, Craig and Karen Vilitz, and Jessica Walker. I am indebted to a number of people for making this event a success. A special thanks goes out to all who braved warm temperatures to participate in this event. John Mann deserves my appreciation for his assistance with publicity. Dan Mattingly helped designed and improve the map used for this event. Thanks to Rick Mazzoli for his donation of water, and to Paul Vice for making copies of the map after the initial printing fell short of our needs. This event is a labor of love for me. It is my hope that it will further your appreciation of the history and beauty found in downtown Louisville. I look forward to doing it again in July 2006. E-mail me at dmolnar@excite.com with any comments or suggestions. Respectfully Submitted, Dan Molnar Meet Director