August 11, 2007

By Bob Thobaben [thobaben@erinet.com]

937-382-4739 (H)

The 15^th Commando Orienteering Meet was held at Thobaben’s Farm near Wilmington, Ohio. The weather was great with temperatures only in the low to mid 80’s and a 10 to 12 mph breeze. The deer flies forgot to show up and it has been so dry that mosquitoes were almost non-existent. There were three courses that participants could try with the White Course (1.6 km), Orange Course (4.2 km) and the infamous Commando with five events to complete (Orange Course, climb two deer stands, dive 13 feet to get "gold coins", paintball with five shots and finally a 21.5 km bike event). If a participant could dive to 13 feet in our pond you could get 20 minutes off your time (optional event) and hit the paintball target and get 3 minutes off your time. The paintball target was 50 feet away against a fence. The results are as follows below;

1^st - Ben and Sharon Bond – 36:09

2^nd – Amy Furderer – 38:06

1^st – Gary Dunham – 1:19:23 (Gary tried to complete the Commando,

but lacked the time to bike. He did the deer stands, retrieved a

"gold coin" for -20 minutes, and had 9 minutes off from

paintball)

2nd – Bryan Waid / Mike Alton – 2:27:35

Terri Thobaben – DNF (6 of 12 controls)

Commando Course – (Orange course, 2 deer stands, paintball - 5 shots, bike 21.5 km,

diving for the "gold coins" was optional)

1^st – Matt Bond – 1:58:15 (Matt had 12 minutes off from paintball)

2^nd – Jason Schaefer – 2:08:38 (Jason had 9 minutes off from

Paintball)

We may move the Commando to the 3^rd weekend in August, since we have had better turnout during that weekend. Hope to see you next year.

Eco-Bob