I just saw my blast of spam from
Active.com where they summarize the upcoming events in the area. I don't know if they target the events included in the the email based on my past registration history, but 40% of the events (4 out of 10 events -- even I can do that math!) were adventure racing/orienteering related . . . how cool is that?! Like Mao said:
a single spark can start a praerie fire!
Speaking of sparks . . .
Coming soon to
Pocahontas State Park (aka The Pokie) on Richmond's South end:
a fixed orienteering course. Thanks to some hard work by Eric Cone (
RichmondASR), Tim Gilbert and the
Quantico Orienteering Club, the Friends of Pocahontas State Park, and a modest cash infusion from
HRAdventure and the
Untamed Virginia AR, there will be a series of control locations sprinkled around The Pokie. At each location, there will be a post like the following:
UTM coordinates and a topo map will be provided for each control location; you can pick up the materials at the ranger station for a small fee. Even those
geo-cachers can get in on the fun, since they'll also provide Lat/Long coordinates for the controls.
Ready for some even better news?
Each winter, they will be changing the control locations and revising the map; this makes for a much more useful training tool for those who visit the park regularly. Newport News park, on the other hand, has had the same o-course out there for several years now . . .
It's great news for orienteering and Richmond. A fixed o-course can help introduce orienteering to schools, families, and anybody looking for some compass work in the woods
without the pressure of a timed event. It sounds like the Pocahontas o-course will be ready for business within the next month or so, just in time for training for the
Tidewater Traverse or the
30-hour Adventure Race in June!
Stay tuned for some exciting news about a fixed o-course in Virginia Beach thanks to the o-nuts at
Encompass . . .