Sunday, September 10 was a sunny, almost warm day, and Glen and Janet Tryson welcomed all who attended EMPO's National Orienteering Day event at Colonie Town Park. To offer something different to returning members, we held starts within the park rather than by the front gate. Novice through Intermediate courses were set following standard guidelines (though Intermediate/Orange seemed more challenging than usual to some, as several orienteers "had fun anyway" [HFA]). To our surprise, there were no competitors on the novice/White course. The advanced courses (Green and Red) gave more experienced orienteers something to think about, as all the trails had been removed from the map, forcing these orienteers to rely more heavily on reading contours in the wooded areas, a great training method that was appreciated by most who challenged the advanced courses. To offer a longer distance in this small park with its heavy trail network, the Red course consisted of two loops with a map exchange near the start/finish.

As part of the National Orienteering Day festivities, prizes donated by Brunton Co. and EMPO were raffled off after all competitors had started. The following lucky attendees won:

• Brunton "Get Out There" Caps - Larry Ducady, Frank Healy
• Brunton Compasses - Jordan Healy, Meredith Russell, Tyler Mead, Marcos Feller
• Brunton Window Sticker - Dmitri Soloviev, Kathy Fisher, Kelly Healy, Eric Hamilton
• EMPO Free Entry Coupon - Christian Canham, Sherry McCredie, Brad Dorr, Doug Swank

Our thanks to Instructors Reid Smalley, Eric Hamilton, and Phil Hawkes-Teeter, and to Sue Hawkes-Teeter and new member Dylan Thies for their help picking up control flags after the competition.

-- Glen and Janet Tryson

Reid provides instruction.