Here they are, the results from the 1998 Billygoat. The official "Billygoat Meet Director's Guide" says the results write-up is supposed to be "clever and humorous." It also says the write-up is supposed to go out on Monday. These two requirements seem to me to be mutually exclusive, particularly in my current state of exhaustion. Yes, I know I didn't actually have to run the course; but I find my recuperative powers are better from physically exhausting efforts than they are from spiritually exhausting ones.

That's not to say the experience wasn't terrifically satisfying. It is rather like when you complete a Billygoat: it hurts a lot, but you get out of it what you put into it, and eventually you feel very good about what you accomplished. And not unlike a lot people's Billygoat experiences, I did a lot of "following." First I had Bill Jameson, who set the courses. Then I had JJ and Jon who encouraged me and gave me a lot of pointers, while the Trysons (registration), Jensons (site planning), and Dentinos (food & shirts) covered major aspects of preparing for the event. And then I had Peter Gagarin and Pat Dunlavey who pulled me through the finish and results. Along the way there were many others who helped, and without whose help the event would have crashed down around all of us.

But it didn't! And everyone was great, and understanding, and appreciative. Thanks to you all.

Now, a "Tail of the Goat":

At about 10:15 Sunday morning, John Beatty and I helped load up the Murray's VW van with the food & drink for Aid Station 1 (Control 6). We all drove down in the van to unload & set up the Station (and hang the actual flag), and then Valerie was to stay while Cameron drove John & I back so he could pick up a final start list & get synched to the Start time when I exclaimed "GO." At 10:35 we were back in the van and set to return. And it wouldn't start. I'm sure it was really only a minute or maybe even less, but it seemed like eons while the starter made grinding noises and Cameron said "It does this sometimes, but usually not for this long." There was enough time for crystal clear visions of attempting to flag a car, to run all the way back up the hill, to simply die in the back of the van, all to pass through my mind, before the engine finally sputtered to life. I swallowed my heart, we lurched out into Bachelor Street, and the 139 maps did not remain forever hidden under a pile of stuff in the back of my car, unused.

Do you have a "Tail of the Goat"? Send it to me. E-mail is nice, but I can handle actual handwriting and the US Postal Service. If I get a few I'll post them on the web site, put them in our EMPO newsletter, and maybe even share them with ONA. Along those lines, Clinton Morse is again going to collect splits and "Goat Leg" descriptions at his Web site. ( I was asked to announce this at the Briefing, and forgot. Sorry.) While you already have your copy, EMPO plans to add the course map to our Web site, as a possible discussion aid for those unfortunates who didn't participate in the race. That will be announced on the O-Net also.

And finally, a few final notes. I'll leave it up to others to decide what to say about the job Peter Goodwin did as Peter-in-charge-of-the-weather. Depending somewhat on how long you took, the weather for the race itself was great, if not beautiful: cloudy, cool, and breezy. The occasional light sprinkle may have even felt refreshing, and wasn't enough to make wearing glasses a big problem. Later, however, it got progressively worse. Perhaps it was because Peter Gagarin felt his name's job was not being properly upheld that he so purposefully pushed us though the awards. Or maybe he was just cold, like everyone else.

The Club Award is, according to the "Billygoat Meet Director's Guide", awarded solely at the discretion of the Meet Director. I actually did find a moment or two to think about this, and my thoughts have varied somewhat, but by now I am resolved. Bribery counts for a lot, and I certainly don't want to say or do anything to keep future Directors from getting their fair share of bribes. And in particular, the GHO (a/k/a HKF) bribe will forever hold a place of honor on my dresser. But the Canadians won too much anyway (1st Male, 1st Female), so they are out. The Divinely Appointed Billygoat Steering Committee helped me out a lot, which is certainly the kind of bribery I really needed. But as Divine Appointees, what more recognition can they desire (or deserve)? I came close to awarding it to NEOC. From Liz Kotowski on through many members, some of whom I've mentioned, they gave me a lot of help and encouragement. But they've won this award a zillion times, so why give it to them again? So in the end I'm awarding it to EMPO, my own club. There aren't many of us, but of those who have ever previously attended more than a local meet, we had better than 80% working or running at the Goat. And more importantly, we never win anything, even when we win (like when we won at the 1996 US Ski-O Champs, except they were supposed to have been in '95, they weren't held in the US, and they never awarded the trophy). So, the 1998 20th Annual Billygoat Club Award goes to Empire Orienteering Club. Maybe we should get the Compass Needle to make special patches for our new O-Suits.

• 125 Starters
• 109 Official Finishers (87.2%)
• 11 Additional Finishers
• 5 DNF's

-Phil Hawkes-Teeter

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last updated: --Tue Feb 13 22:46:38 EST 2001--