As my wife Joan and I walk up the hill leading from the Vashon ferry terminal to the interior of Vashon Island we are looking for checkpoint #77, where we have to identify the color of the bugs on a mailbox. Consulting the race map, we find the street intersection for checkpoint #77 and the mailbox in question. The color of the bugs is red. We mark the correct answer on the clue sheet. We have just gained another 70 points. Now on to the next checkpoint. Our goal is to get as many points as possible and return to the start/finish in West Seattle before our 7-hour time limit is up.
Joan and I, under our banner of "Team Inspiration", are competing in the 2004 Seattle Night and Day Challenge. By the end of our 7-hour event (there is also a 3-hour race and a 16-hour race) we find a total of 19 checkpoints worth 820 points. The Challenge has a total of 61 checkpoints worth 3500 points. They can be found in any order, using any route (although in the foot division all travel must be on foot; there is also a bike division). No single foot team will find all the checkpoints.
We finish first in the foot division, mixed veteran group (age 50+), and 8th overall of the16 teams in the 7-hour race.
The Night and Day Challenge was held in West Seattle, over the weekend of July 17-18, and organized by race directors Eric Bone and Terry Farrah, Cascade Orienteering Club board members and co-owners of Meridian Geographics.
Checkpoints are spread throughout West Seattle; with additional checkpoints in other parts of Seattle and on Vashon Island. The goal is to get as many points as possible and return to the start/finish in the allotted time (7 hours for us). Different checkpoints are worth different amounts. At the race start we are given a map showing checkpoint locations and a clue sheet that we have to answer to prove that we had visited the correct locations. Speed is important and we run much of the route we have marked out on the race map. But even more important is knowing how to read a map and navigate to find the best route to each checkpoint.
Joan and I limit our travels to West Seattle and Vashon Island. Starting the race at 4 PM we visit the neighborhoods where I grew up and went to school in West Seattle, including a checkpoint at Chief Sealth High School, where I graduated in '68. By 6 PM we have found 8 checkpoints (worth 270 points) and arrive at the Fauntleroy ferry terminal where we walk onto the ferry to Vashon Island.
In the next two hours on Vashon Island we find 6 more checkpoints worth an additional 350 points. We then hop the ferry back to West Seattle and run along the Lincoln Park shoreline to arrive at Lowman Beach Park (checkpoint #71, worth another 70 points for finding the number "90" on the bulkhead) just at sunset. We pick up an additional checkpoint just before darkness falls. Then we stop for dinner at the Morgan Street Thriftway before heading out back into the night. On the route back to the start/finish at 12th and Holden we find a final three checkpoints, arriving at the finish at 10:34 PM.
We have a great time. I point out to Joan the woods where I went bear hunting in my youth and the downhill course where as a teenager I set the world skateboard speed record. Those memories alone are worth the entry fee.
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