Thomass Blithe Hill - Nov. 26

The winter orienteering season got off to a balmy start yesterday as 50 racers competed in the first Thomass event at Blithe Hill Nurseries north of Orangeville. This private land, with its varied terrain and beautiful views, was mapped for the 2006 Canadian Orienteering Champs and used as the model training area for that event.

Giles Malet and Andrea Chappell designed an interesting course that was longer than usual, including two Thomass Boxes with seven controls each. There was the potential to do a lot of hill climbing or log jumping, depending on route choice, which made for a physically challenging morning. This led to a winning time of 52:36 and a wide spread in the results, but the Gators made the wait worthwhile by providing a yummy post-race spread of chili and apple cider.

GHO had an awesome start to the 2006/07 Thomass season, sweeping all the categories:

1st Junior - Serghei Logvin, tied for 1st overall
1st Man - Andrei Logvin, tied for 1st overall
1st Woman - Barb Campbell, tied for 4th overall
2nd Woman - Trudy Deumer
1st Team - Silence Beckons - Trudy Deumer, Ian Sidders, Pierre Robitaille

Results, splits, photos and event feedback form can be found here.

GHO is putting on the next event - the Thomass Chase at Bronte Creek Park on Dec. 10. See you there!