IclandCT

It was quite warm and humid but still a beautiful day to be out in the woods. We had a single 80 m classic course. A nice mix of people came out to try ARDF: two experienced families, two new families, and a teacher and a media specialist.

If you find a mistake or need some information changed, please let me know [ patrick (dot) r (dot) sears [at] gmail (dot) com ].

The course.

As usual we had five course levels using a predetermined set of the five foxes. But for this first event of the season, we didn't emphasize courses and most participants just went out to try to get as many as they could find. The straight line distance through the 5-fox course was 3.7 km. The longest distance across the course area was 1.7 km. Radial exclusions zones for foxes, the start, and the homing beacon were all 300 m.

Participant Activities

Toby and his father Jason went out first. As they often do, they each did their own courses. Unfortunately they had a previous engagement and only had a short time available to run the course. Still though, they had super runs. For these guys, it's all about speed!

Ben and his father David arrived next. They have a careful methodical approach to running the course and were the only ones find all five foxes. Fantastic!

Emmett and his father James arrived next. This was their first time trying ARDF and we started talking about how to run the course soon after they had their equipment. They were used to topographic maps and so concentrated on the fox transmission cycle and how to work the equipment. Our talk turned into the class as more participants arrived. Feeling confident, they decided to go out on their own before the class was over. First time out and they still found four of the foxes. Excellent!

Oliver, Perry, and their mother Phoebe arrived and joined the class. We talked about how to read an orienteering map, how to use the receivers to get transmitter directions, and how the foxes cycle. We then headed out on the course to find two of the foxes.

Lillian and April from Chapel Hill High School came to support our event and try ARDF for the first time. Thank you so much guys! After getting their equipment, they got a bit of help from Kelly before catching the tail end of the class. Even with minimal instruction, Lillian and April were super good sports, really understanding, and headed out on the course to search for foxes. After coming back, we looked at the master map together and found that they had passed right by four of the five foxes. So close!!! You guys were really good sports. Hope to see you again!

Results

We decided to change the results categories a bit. Individual students first, then groups (which mostly include students, family members, and sometimes teachers/staff), and finally individual adults (family members and teachers/staff). Also, for this first event, we didn't emphasize particular courses. Most participants decided to go out and find as many foxes as they could; which is very cool ☺. So no course levels are listed this time.

#	participants (school, grade)	finds	time
Individual students
1	Toby (SMS-8)	1 2 3 H	50'
Groups
1	Ben (SMS-8), David (f)	1 2 3 4 5 H	108'
2	Emmett (SMS-6), James (f)	1 3 4 5 H	93'
3	Oliver (SMS-6), Perry (f), Phoebe (f)	1 2 5 H	50'
4	April (CHCCS-t) and Lillian (CHHS-t)	-	123'
Individual adults
1	Jason (f)	1 2 3 4 H	38'

Within each group, entries are listed by the number of foxes found and then by time on course. The # column gives the results placement for that course. The finds column notes the controls found: foxes 1 through 5 and H for the homing beacon. Foxes numbers in parentheses were not on the chosen course. The time column is the time on course. Students are listed with their school and grade. We use the following schools abbreviations: PMS Phillips MS, SMS Smith MS, McDMS McDougle MS, CMS Culbreth MS, CHHS Chapel Hill HS, ECHHS East Chapel Hill HS, CaHS Carrboro HS, f family or guest friend, es elementary school, s chccs student (no school info). t teachers and staff members.

Thank you to all our helpers.

Thanks to April Koch and Lillian Rodermond (both from Chapel Hill High School) who came to support the event. Thanks to Charles and Nadia Scharlau who helped with control pickup. Pick up went so quickly with your help! Thanks to all the middle school and high school teachers and staff who helped get the word out to the students: Rachel Hopler (Science Teacher, Culbreth Middle School), Christine Lippy (Science Teacher, McDougle Middle School), Al McArthur (Technology Facilitator, Phillips Middle School), Haley Wamble (Science Teacher, East Chapel Hill High School), SaCola Lehr (Media Specialist, Chapel Hill High School), Libby Diesel (Library Assistant, Chapel Hill High School), Margaret Devetski (Librarian Assistant, Carrboro High School). Thanks to Greg Kopsch (Park Manager at Carolina North Forest) for the use of CNF.

Pictures

Clicking pictures will bring up original full-sized versions. All participants are listed as seen in the picture from left to right. Pictures are generally listed in chronological order trying to keep groups together. If you took any pictures during the event, we would love to post them. If you would like that, email us your pictures.

Picture credits for those we didn't take: [1] Jason Reed.