In spite of an end-of-week gasp of rain and an ugly next-week forecast, our Saturday local meet on MAY 13th at Saratoga turned out just fine. The overcast for sure, kept the crowd thin.

We offered five courses including RED, GREEN, ORANGE, YELLOW, and WHITE. With a total of only 15 finishing times, race administration wasn't so tough. Our largest contingent of runners was on the GREEN course (6), with no RED entries at all. Even though the higher-end courses were short and not so technical, we made up for it with an abundance of short legs in a crowded small area map. Feedback later said that the lower-end courses were relatively more difficult with respect to the level of ability typical for those events.

At 5.08 km, 24 controls, the RED required quite a bit of map reading and little endurance running. With the average leg being just over 200m this course was built for the short speed reader. As much as I enjoy long gaping terrain, sometimes it's nice to toss in brief technical intervals to keep me focused and anaerobic.

Since the GREEN and ORANGE courses were built directly into the RED, those runners had to crank it up a notch as well. After completing the 17 and 13 point respectively, courses (around 4k) these runners found themselves mentally and physically drained. Still early in the Spring, light foliage offered only little resistence to control sightings. The leaders completed the courses at rate of just over 12 min/km. Well Done!!

We do hope everyone had as much fun running as Kathy and I had hosting the event. Offers and helping hands from Phil Hawkes-Teeter and Gabor Bobok made the day a little easier at the end. Finally, thanks to my wife Kathy Staats for joining me in the sport and giving her time to make this event a success.

-- Grant Staats