Mike Poulsen and David Irving named US Trail-O Champs

Open Gold - Mike Poulsen; Open Bronze - Gavin Wyatt-Mair; Para Gold - David Irving

Mike Poulsen took the Gold Medal in the Open Class and David Irving in the Paralympic Class at the US Trail Orienteering Championships held Saturday, August 9 in Colorado. Mike was the only competitor with a perfect score of 14 controls. Sharon Crawford set 16 controls, two of which were voided by the Jury after a flurry of protests. For the first time, the US rule imposing a 1/2 point penalty on competitors who file a losing protest was applied. Five controls were protested, two of these were voided, two were deemed reasonable protests and the penalty was waived. Only those who protested number 10 were penalized.

Full results

USA Trail-O Champs Preview

The 2014 Championships are a few hours away. The course set by Sharon Crawford with Peter Goodwin as vetter promises to be challenging. Seven US team members will be competing along with other highly ranked Champs eligible competitors. TempO World Champ Martin Jullum is also registered, which will certainly elevate the competitive level. Watch for Team members on the course wearing their spiffy new uniforms.

The event asked for a waiver from the official OUSA rules to operate under current IOF rules. The timed controls will be one station with three problems and will count only for time and not for points.  Speed will be of the essence as only 30 seconds per problem will be allotted with a 60 second penalty for incorrect answers.

About 25 people brushed up their skills at the convention today. I led a workshop that included a presentation on various trail-O solution techniques. Workshop attendees also had an opportunity to try a demo TempO station and a few other field exercises. Anticipation is high for tomorrow's competition.