Little Bennett

Get fit, get outside, and have a blast running around the woods at night with a flashlight strapped to your head! It’s “Night-O,” the ultimate wilderness challenge!

QOC ran its annual Night-O in Little Bennett Regional Park on a brisk and clear March night this Saturday. We had 59 starts (individuals or groups) on 4 different courses of varying difficulty and length. For the next few hours they tested their map and compass skills, stamina, and maybe their fear of the dark, by racing around to find the controls our course-setter hid throughout the park – on wooded hilltops, rocky cliffs, stream intersections, odd-looking trees, and sometimes the occasional abandoned piece of vintage farm equipment. It all looks different at night!

The experts made it look easy by logging fast times around 1 hour, while others returned via the proverbial “scenic route.” Either way, all 59 made it back to the finish area later (we’ve never lost anyone yet) telling stories of a great experience.

Thanks to all the club members who volunteered to help run this successful event: Sam, Erica, Richard, Nadim, Mike, John L, John W, Pat, Dan, Mihai, and Valerie.

RouteGadget and WinSplits are now online for this event. Note: There are two RouteGadget entries for this meet, due to the map differences between the first 3 courses (Beginner, Intermediate, and Short Advanced) and the last (Long Advanced).

Beginner

Course Length: 2 km

Course Climb: 20 m

Number of Controls: 11

Place	Name	Club	Time
1	Addie Nolan	QOC	22:25
2	Max Ahmed & Peggy Dickison	OK	24:49
3	Max Lennon	QOC	25:17
4	Alexis Merka & Dasa	QOC	25:51
5	Joey Angeles & Jonah Angeles	QOC	32:35
6	Amy Louden	QOC	42:41
7	Nicole Lennon	QOC	MP (26:46)

Intermediate

Course Length: 3.9 km

Course Climb: 100 m

Number of Controls: 13

Place	Name	Club	Time
1	Mihai Sirbu	QOC	45:50
2	Pat McNeilly	QOC	57:25
3	Edward Rangel		59:00
4	Tom O'Donnell		59:29
4	Dylan O'Donnell	QOC	59:29
5	Julie Keim	SVO	62:27
6	Guthrie Quill & Zack Warfield	QOC	67:05
7	Antonio Arancibia	QOC	68:48
8	Michael Pastore		69:08
9	Michael Lieder	QOC	69:09
10	John Whitty	QOC	69:20
11	Josh Jacobs		69:36
12	David Connolly		76:10
13	Andrea Ballou	QOC	80:07
14	Michelle Svoboda	QOC	83:17
15	Laudeir Gomes	QOC	89:21
16	Jack/Christiana Logansmith	QOC	92:14
17	Andrew Gilliespie & Jeremy	Loudoun County HS	102:15
18	David Alexander	QOC	131:12
19	Harry Oakes & Jessica Oakes		136:00
20	Ellen Kurland & P. Walker + 1	QOC	138:09
21	Richard Briggs	QOC	145:59
22	Michael Haskell & Jeff Haskell + 6	QOC	153:01
23	Lisa Beck	QOC	DNF
23	Mike Newman	QOC	DNF (118:46)

Short Advanced

Course Length: 4.5 km

Course Climb: 130 m

Number of Controls: 16

Place	Name	Club	Time
1	Dave Hauver	QOC	48:40
2	Dagmar Merkova	QOC	65:17
3	Jody Landers	QOC	67:07
4	Greg Lennon	QOC	68:05
5	Valerie Meyer	QOC	73:07
6	Tom Wells	QOC	82:22
7	John Landers	QOC	85:57
8	Adam Issenberg		92:26
9	Gary Smith	QOC	95:43
10	Mark Chisamore & Jose Parra		95:58
11	Eric & Jacob Mayl	QOC	110:21
12	Robert Buraczynski	CNYO	122:30
13	Tom Nolan	QOC	DNF
13	Alec Thurman		DNF
13	Bill Carruth & Dave Heinrichs	QOC	DNF
13	Kevin Leary		DNF (101:02)
13	David Weigert	QOC	DNF (112:21)

Long Advanced

Course Length: 6.8 km

Course Climb: 230 m

Number of Controls: 21

Place	Name	Club	Time
1	Ken Walker Jr	CSU	52:21
2	Jon Torrance	QOC	60:33
3	Victor Lin	QOC	70:13
4	Brian Mayer	QOC	71:43
5	Ted Good	QOC	72:00
6	Jan Merka	QOC	82:36
7	Nadim Ahmed	QOC	89:17
8	Michael Stasiowski		113:34

Abbreviations: DNF = did not finish, MP = mispunch, NC = non-competitive (usually 2nd course or course setter/vetter), OT = overtime (more than 3 hours or returned after course closing time).