OREAD -- September 1999

The OREAD is the unofficial e-mail newsletter of Orienteer Kansas. There is also an OREAD home page at www.geocities.com/colosseum/field/7306. Both the home page and the e-mail newsletter are edited by Michael Eglinski (meglin@juno.com).

COMING EVENTS

Tuesday evenings a group of OK and Possum Trot members has been meeting at Shawnee Mission Park for trail jogs. If you're interested, e-mail me for info (the meeting time and place change) at meglin@juno.com (or if it is a last minute request try me at work mike_eglinski@kcmo.org).

October 9 -- Johnson County Parks and Rec is sponsoring a map and compass clinic/ beginner class. Possum Trot Orienteering Club will do the teaching. The class is on the Ernie Miller Park map. Pre-registration is required through JCPR at 913-831-3355.

October 10 -- Possum Trot is hosting an event at Shawnee Mission Park. Registration begins at noon.

October 23 -- Burr Oak Woods is sponsoring a map and compass clinic/beginner class at Burr Oak Woods. Again PTOC is teaching. Call 816-228-3766 for registration and info.

October 24 -- PTOC is hosting an event at Fleming Park. Registration begins at 10 a.m.

December 4-5 -- PTOC and OK are hosting a weekend of orienteering. Saturday will be a short event near Lawrence and Sunday will be the third Possum Trot (a long event). This will be a big weekend of orienteering -- mark your calendars today !!

NEW ORIENTEER KANSAS DISCUSSION/QUESTION FORUM

The OREAD web page now has a q-and-a/discussion forum. To get to the forum, go to www.geocities.com/colosseum/field/7306.

The forum is a place for us to ask questions, answer questions, and discuss orienteering and OK. If you have never orienteered and are wondering what sort of shoes to wear -- the forum is a great place to ask that question. If you just got back from an orienteering event -- the forum is a place to write a short summary of the event.

The best thing about the Orienteer Kansas forum is that it gives OKers an easy way to keep in touch with each other. The more people who use the forum the better it will be.

The software that supports the forum is very nice. The forum has no graphics (so it loads quickly). You can follow it on the web or by e-mail. You can have get an e-mail anytime a new message is posted or on a regular schedule (e.g. a digest of all messages once a week). If you don't have web access but want to post a question or sign-up to follow the forum by e-mail, send me a message at meglin@juno.com.

WORLD CHAMPS REPORT

The World Champs were held in Scotland in the beginning of August. Two OKers -- Peggy Dickison and "Mook" Everett -- were on the US Team. I followed the WOC on the internet with mixed results. The official page was terrible -- slow to load and not updated quickly. The N3sport (www.n3sport.com) was much better. The best site I found was the New Zealand team page (www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Campground/3853). The NZ page includes lots of photos, event reports, and maps. Even if you don't follow the NZ team, it is a very good site -- lots of info and it gives you a real feel for the event.

Mook posted some of his thoughts on the OK forum. An excerpt from his message follows:

I enjoyed Scotland and I hope Peggy did too. There was a lot of waiting around, some inconveniences, and we were not always comfortable, but that's not a complaint. I expected that. All of the supporters of the US team should be thanked for all of their help. It was only possible with their efforts. I don't think that one should look at the performance of the US team in this WOC and conclude that we are doing something terribly wrong. We were up against tough terrain and in a difficult position to prepare for that. I know that I spent time preparing, but didn't necessarily know what to prepare for. I think that we'll build on this experience. There are a lot of countries that are building strong teams that weren't that spectacular 10 years ago (e.g., New Zealand, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland) and other countries that have atleast one or a few good runners. Some of these countries are in disadvantageous positions as well.

-- Michael Eglinski (meglin@juno.com), September 05, 1999