Golden Goat & Golden Kid

26th Annual Golden Goat & Golden Kid

Pacheco State Park

Date: (Sun.) Nov. 2, 2025
Location: Hollister, CA
Event Directors: - 707.567.3496, - 650.248.0909
Course Setter: Carl Hoel
Type: C; Extra-long "Goat" course, and a long "Kid" course, with a shared mass start; and a regular beginner course with separated starts

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Event Write-Up

By , 2025 Golden Goat Event Director

Walk to the Start(Click for larger image)
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Walk to the Start
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Wow, what a fabulous 2025 BAOC Golden Goat/Golden Kid event!!! The weather and the location where perfectly in keeping with the event. Beautiful open golden hillsides, golden weather, and lots of climb! Carl Hoel set courses that truly fit the spirit of the competition.

Congratulations to all who took part. Special congratulations to François Léonard — our Golden Goat! And to Greg Khanlarov our Konquering Kid! Jeffrey Kabel and Mikkel Conradi were second and third on the Goat, with Emily Ellsworth our top female. Ronald Ward and Andrej Masalkov were second and third on the Kid, with Johanna Merriss and Steph Maclean neck and neck for top female.

Finishers' points will be assigned in the usual fashion, and the updated Golden Goat Lifetime Points table will be available later this week. Note that the BAOC 2026 Golden Goat is very likely to be at Las Trampas (San Ramon) on November 21, 2026 — but that is yet to be confirmed.

As ever, the event would not be possible without the contributions of dozens of volunteers. Chief amongst these was Carl-Johan Hoel who set the courses. This was Carl's first time setting for the club, and yet he captured the essence of the Goat/Kid perfectly. Note the diversity of skipped controls on the Kid. As some of you know, Carl could not be at Pacheo this weekend as he was attending to family affairs in Switzerland. Please pass on your thanks to him when you next see him.

Finisher Award(Click for larger image)
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Finisher Award
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Misha Kreslavsky was a huge figure in success of this event. His vetting and recommendations on the courses were meticulous. He also helped with setting controls, E-punch, organizing control pick-up, and many other tasks. He was truly essential for the success of the event in the place of Carl.

Derek Maclean also deserves a very special mention as assistant Event Director. Derek helped with equipment transfers, map printing, beginner clinics, control pick-up, and various other duties. A huge thanks to him for making things run much smoother than they might have otherwise!

Did all the finishers get one of the fabulously cute wooden goat awards? If you did, you can thank Steph Maclean. These helped make the Goat an exceptional and memorial event. Look for various photos on BAOC social media channels soon!

Phil Lacroute and John Blakkan staffed E-punch, with assistance from afar from Jeff Lanam. Thanks to John for the event photos on this page. Registration was handled by Chuck Spalding and Steve Haas, with Sarah Williams behind the scenes. Chuck also accommodated all the website updates. Tapio Karras is our long-serving RouteGadget chief. Jerry Skirvin staffed the Starts and assisted in various other roles, too.

Control pick-up was done by Tom De Vre, Greg Khanlarov, Vicki Woolworth, Derek Maclean, Lubomir Šebo, Misha Kreslavsky, with assistance from Natasha Bondarenko and Mikkel Conradi. Vicki and Greg also took all the equipment home at the end of the event. Gary Kraght handled expenses.

Walk to the Start(Click for larger image)
Enlarge
Walk to the Start
(Click for larger image)

A very big thanks to California State Ranger Nathan Aeschleman and his staff. They truly could not have been more helpful and accommodating. It will be a pleasure to work with them again when we next visit Pacheco. And they look forward to having us back.

Once more, a huge congratulations to all the competitors, and a huge thanks to all the volunteers!

Until next time!

Lost and Found

An iPhone in a red case was lost at Pacheco. I know this is very unlikely, but if you did find it, please let me know.




Results

Walk to the Start(Click for larger image)
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Walk to the Start
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2025 Golden Goat & Golden Kid

Pacheco State Park

Hollister, CA
Sunday, November 2, 2025

Course:  Golden Goat   Golden Kid   Advanced Beginner

Also see control-by-control timing in the WinSplits results (http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/show_event.asp?id=108999).

You can see the event map with the actual routes traveled by participants, and draw your own route for comparison, in RouteGadget for this event (http://baoc.org/gadget/cgi/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=568). (Use of RouteGadget is explained here.)

In RouteGadget, you can enter your route manually or upload a GPS recording and adjust to fit our map. The following tips apply to the GPS method.
RouteGadget Tip #1: After selecting your GPX file, make sure to adjust the time offset between starting your watch at the Start line and leaving the Start Triangle. The offset can have a significant impact on your route accuracy. For most local events, you should set the offset to 0 as we start from the triangle (assuming you started your watch exactly when you started).
RouteGadget Tip #2: After uploading your GPS track to RouteGadget, you can create additional blue adjustment points by right-clicking your track. You can use these points to better align your route with the map, for example, along trails. You can delete extra adjustment points by right-clicking them.

Please tell Misha Kreslavsky () and the webmasters () if anything needs to be changed.

The updated Golden Goat Lifetime Points table is here (25KB PDF). (Please tell the webmasters [] if there is an error.)

The following people earned their first Golden Goat points this year:

          Pl  Name             Points
           6  Emily Ellsworth    10  
           7  Greg Callas         9
           9  James Arthurton     7
          11  Weichun Fong        5
          13  Ian Smith           3
          15  Henrike Siemen      1

The following people moved up in the Lifetime Points table this year (2024 Table (25KB PDF)):

                               2025     2024    Table
                               Table    Table   Place 
          Name                 Place    Place   Change
          François Léonard       2        4       -2  
          Andrew Peterson       20       27       -7
          Wayne Staats          25       30       -5
          Lubomir Šebo          26       29       -3
          Graham Brew           32       36       -4
          Jeffrey Kabel         38       91      -53 !!
          Taylor Pospisil       44       67      -23 !
          John Richardson      109      114       -5


Preliminary Results

Golden Goat Top 3
Golden Goat 3rd, 1st, 2nd
(click on image to enlarge)

Golden Goat Course       (10.4 km, 800 m climb [7.7%], 16 controls)  
                                                   Time       Time  
   Pl  Name                   Club       Time     Behind      Lost
    1  François Léonard       BAOC     2:10:34                1:26  
    2  Jeffrey Kabel          BAOC     2:11:47      1:13      9:38
    3  Mikkel Conradi         BAOC     2:13:47      3:13      1:32
    4  Taylor Pospisil        BAOC     2:37:49     27:15      8:56
    5  Andrew Peterson        NAVX     2:40:15     29:41      9:54
    6  Emily Ellsworth        BAOC     2:41:16     30:42     15:01
    7  Greg Callas            NAVX     2:42:32     31:58     14:37
    8  Wayne Staats           BAOC     2:44:16     33:42     24:21
    9  James Arthurton        BAOC     2:48:54     38:20     20:35
   10  Lubomir Šebo           BAOC     2:54:15     43:41     24:23
   11  Weichun Fong           BAOC     2:54:21     43:47     17:39
   12  Tapio Karras           BAOC     2:55:47     45:13     11:04
   13  Ian Smith              BAOC     3:12:48   1:02:14     19:32
   14  John Richardson        BAOC     3:14:42   1:04:08     28:22
   15  Henrike Siemen         NAVX     3:15:51   1:05:17     22:53
   16  Brian Ritchken         BAOC     3:16:50   1:06:16     42:37
   17  Nikolay Chukanov       BAOC     3:19:30   1:08:56     16:18
   18  Marie-Josée Parayre    BAOC     3:26:43   1:16:09     17:02
   19  Tom De Vre             BAOC     3:32:40   1:22:06     43:20
   20  Ambrose Liu            BAOC     3:37:02   1:26:28     25:55
   21  Deron van Hoff         BAOC     3:40:33   1:29:59     30:54
   22  Eric Rosenzweig        BAOC     3:46:25   1:35:51     26:07
   23  Steve Gregg            BAOC     3:56:04   1:45:30     32:12
       Felix Silver         OK Linna     MSP                        
       Jinwen Xu              BAOC       MSP
       Scott Sampson          BAOC       MSP
       Theo Verhoeven         BAOC       MSP
       Van Boughner           BAOC       MSP
       Kevin Henry            BAOC       DNF                         
       Recinda Sherman        BAOC       DNF
       Johan Grobler          NAVX       OVT                         
       Kristin Bremm          NAVX       OVT
       Wyatt Riley            DVOA       DNS                         

Golden Kid Top 3
Golden Kid 2nd, 1st, 3rd
(click on image to enlarge)

Golden Kid Course        (5.6 km, 420 m climb [7.5%], 11 controls)  
                                                   Time       Time  
   Pl  Name                   Club       Time     Behind      Lost  Skip
    1  Greg Khanlarov         BAOC     1:16:06                3:38    9  
    2  Ronald Ward            CHSOC    1:24:18      8:12      6:07    9
    3  Andrej Masalkov        BAOC     1:26:19     10:13      1:42    9
    4  Werner Haag            BAOC     1:38:26     22:20      4:16    5
    5  Logan Sternberg     Truckee OC  1:40:11     24:05      5:49   10
    6  Johanna Merriss        BAOC     1:48:54     32:48     13:21   10
    7  Stephanie Maclean      BAOC     1:49:50     33:44      9:09   10
    8  Enxun Wei              BAOC     1:53:14     37:08     11:30    5
    9  Virginia Wailes        BAOC     2:12:29     56:23     23:20    9
   10  Olga Boiarynova        BAOC     2:12:47     56:41     10:27    9
   11  Steve Haas             BAOC     2:14:54     58:48     27:18    8
   12  Evan Benshoof          CHSOC    2:27:06   1:11:00     34:12    4
   13  Lliam Reeder           CHSOC    2:27:11   1:11:05     33:10    4
   14  Aliyah Heyder          CHSOC    2:47:58   1:31:52   1:07:16   10
   15  Sydney Heyder      OK Hammaren  2:48:06   1:32:00     36:34    4
   16  Raena Ailes                     2:49:02   1:32:56   1:05:14    9
   17  Jasmine Slater         CHSOC    2:56:30   1:40:24     35:04    5
   18  Peter Woodbury         CHSOC    3:17:30   2:01:24     52:50    5
   19  Luyuan Lin             BAOC     3:26:54   2:10:48     55:53    9
   20  Harrisha Ampo                   3:41:09   2:25:03   1:08:35   11
   21  Dominic Farr           CHSOC    3:41:45   2:25:39     43:52    1
   22  Piper Jensick          CHSOC    3:53:04   2:36:58   1:02:17    9
   23  Chloe Suitt-Payne      CHSOC    3:53:25   2:37:19   1:03:03    9
       Kayden Anderson        CHSOC      MSP                         
       London Baker           CHSOC      MSP
       Rhonda Stieber         BAOC       MSP
       Wayne Cottrell         LAOC       MSP  (2nd course)
       Jerry Skirvin          BAOC       DNS                         

Advanced Beginner Course (2.7 km, 190 m climb [7.0%], 7 controls)  
                                                   Time       Time  
   Pl  Name(s)                Club       Time     Behind      Lost
    1  Chuck Spalding         BAOC       43:39                0:57  
    2  Wayne Cottrell         LAOC       50:24      6:45      8:26
    3  Pistashios                      1:05:35     21:56      4:31
    4  Neville Fernandes,
         Rucha Bedarkar       BAOC     1:07:27     23:48      3:34
    5  Oliver Conradi         BAOC     1:09:38     25:59      1:13
    6  Allan Kabel                     1:29:22     45:43     20:29
    7  Eshaan Chandra                  1:48:25   1:04:46     20:30
    8  Ke Jing                         2:02:41   1:19:02   1:00:32
       James Kim                         MSP                        

_______________

DNF = Did not finish (one or more controls missed)
DNS = Did not start
MSP = Mispunched (one or more incorrect controls)
OVT = Overtime (took more than the announced maximum time)