Camping Weekend 2025 – President’s Remarks
Another memorable UNO Camping Weekend is in the books!
As with several Camping Weekends of days gone by, the weather was notable. Warm and a bit on the humid side, most of Saturday was absolutely delightful. The woods were dry, but runners came out of the woods dripping with sweat and a sense of deep satisfaction (well, most runners). The logged areas and the amount of deadfall underfoot were common discussion points, along with the normal tales of adventures up in the rock garden, aka the boulder field. Thanks to Ben Reynolds, our new resident Kiwi, for the challenging advanced courses. Kate Blume did the beginner courses, for her inaugural course setting challenge, with many satisfied youngsters and newbies. As always, J-J Cote kept things under control with results and being the friendly face confirming that what the results said was really correct for missed controls or wrong courses in the system. Lots of action out on the lake with the Canoe-O, thanks to the efforts of Lex and Kristine Bundschuh.
We tried a new event with help from our Navigation Games friends – Animal-O and Geometric-O in a corner of the camping field. Parents of the 10 and under set were thrilled with the amount of energy that was run off, with kids (and some older ones as well) running and toddling back and forth, racing themselves and each other as they darted from animal cone to animal cone. Expect to see this at future UNO local events and don’t be surprised if it appears at a school or community program near you. Let us know if you’re interested in introducing it to your school, and we’ll get you linked up to the right folks.
Then the skies began to darken and rumbles were heard in the distance. Many of us took shelter under the pavilion as the drought of the past weeks was broken by a 2 hour deluge. Ernst Linder and Nancy Duprey, out hanging controls for the Wicked Hard Night-O and Sunday courses, were caught in part of this, taking shelter when it got too dark to see their maps. Darrell and Michelle Scott and Bill and Charlotte Gray were able to begin dinner prep as the rain eased off a bit, and the whole assemblage ended up being properly fed.
Status of the Vampire-O was in doubt for a while, but Steve and Tracey Olafsen and crew got out a reduced number of controls and those festivities kicked off with just a short delay, once the puddles around the pavilion receded enough that aspiring vampires didn’t have to line up in 2” of water for the map handout. Count Steve “Dracula” Olafsen once again delivered a masterful comedic awarding of prizes.
Meanwhile, Jim Arsenault got the Long and Short versions of the Wicked Hard Night-O underway, reminding this group of serious competitors that it was a Night-O, so courses wouldn’t formally close until dawn, but earlier returns would be very much appreciated. Danny Riley blazed around the Long course in a very respectable time, with J-J Cote taking the honors on the Not-So-Wicked-Hard Short course. Last group was back shortly after 10:30 pm, and all seemed grateful for the chance to warm up and dry out a bit by the fireplace.
Sunday morning dawned with some ongoing rain, but it was tolerable. You could see the thought process in many competitor’s minds as they got ready under the pavilion – “It’s only rain, it’s not that cold, once I get going it will be another epic adventure. Really, it’s gonna be fun.” As is common on a day like that, there were some no-shows but those that dared venture out seemed proud that they did it and grateful for the more friendly forest of Big Island. Kate Blume handled the beginner courses again, and Bridget Hall did the design of the advanced courses remotely.
As always, it takes a village to pull off this weekend year over year, all under the watchful eye of Lex. In addition to those individuals noted above, many thanks to: Deb Humiston, Tori and Jon Campbell, the CRLS O Team, Dan Hopkins and crew, Ellen Morse for helping with things like control hanging, control pickup, manning registration, etc. It’s always heartening to see the many instances of others pitching in to lend a hand here and there, which adds to the overall wonderful atmosphere of this weekend.
As I heard one long-time orienteering regular say on Sunday “We’ve not been going to quite as many events in the past few years but always try to make it to this. Once again, I got re-energized this weekend, and reminded why I love this sport and the people that do it. Really looking forward getting out to more O events this coming year.”
Thanks for the energy and fun that all of you bring to this event – it makes it worthwhile for the organizers and it’s why we do it. While it’s fresh in your mind, if you are interested in helping out, in any capacity, for next year’s event – drop us a note now, or reach out to any UNO ‘regular’ and we’ll be in touch as planning begins for 2026.
Splits are posted to Attackpoint.
LiveLox for Orange through Blue is available for both days, along with the WHNO Long and Short versions. Note there is some distortion across the map, so everything is not perfectly aligned between the map and the control circles, but it’s close enough for getting a sense of where you and your competitors actually went and to do some head-to-head replays.
Jim Arsenault
Numero UNO / President, Up North Orienteers