Trahern finds way in competition

The team of Eugene Trahern of Sisters and Mark Hartinger of Shoreline, Washington, competed in a six-hour orienteering meet held southeast of Bend on Saturday, May 26. The team placed third overall and took top honors in the veterans division (age 35-60).

There are two types of orienteering competitions. The standard competition consists of individuals finding checkpoints, called controls, in a specific order, with the fastest time being the winner. This style of competition, called ROGAINE, consists of teams of two to five finding as many controls as possible in a given time period. ROGAINE is an acronym going back over 100 years and stands for Rugged Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance. In either format, only compasses are allowed. GPS devices, altimeters, cell phones and higher technology devices are not permitted.

Team "Lost Dogs," made up of Trahern and Hartinger, have been competing for over 15 years together in 24-hour events, including two World Championships and five US/North American Championships. 

"We both have been out of running shape for a couple of years, so it was great to see how we could hold up during an event. The six-hour format was perfect for us, as we were able to run for most of the meet," Trahern said. 

He also indicated that his orienteering skills have improved over the past two years, as Scoutmaster of Troop 139. 

"Our troop periodically holds mini orienteering meets, as well as performing a lot of map and compass work in the wilderness," he said.

There were 26 total controls spread over a 30-square-

mile area, with 1,250 total points available. We nabbed 19 of the controls for 990 points. The overall winners finished with 24 controls for 1,150 points.