Orienteers Invade Piedmont, Residents Amused
That will be the headline on February 11, when BAOC presents its biennial
Dimond Park Street Orienteering event.
You will run, jog, walk or bicycle your way around the streets of Piedmont and the adjacent areas of the Oakland hills. You are free to choose any mode of transport from the above, and can change your choice during the event as you see fit. Note that in a previous event here, bicycling and running produced approximately similar results. In this event, participants must stay on the streets, sidewalks and marked shortcuts; cutting across private property is prohibited. Watch for cars, which can hurt you much more than you them! The event will be held rain or shine, of course.
The event is a Score-O, meaning that participants are free to choose which controls they visit, and in what order. All participants will start in the mass start at 10:30. 22 controls are available, with each having a point value from 2 to 6. The point value of any control is the first digit of its control number, as indicated on the map and answer sheet. For example, control 33 is worth 3 points and control 51 is worth 5 points. A total of 90 points can be earned through visiting controls. Ten additional points can be gained through correct answers to the geographically themed trivia questions that are on the answer sheet, for a grand total of 100 possible points.
There are two categories, one with a time limit of 60 minutes and the other with a time limit of 120 minutes. Any participant finishing in less than 75 minutes will be placed in the 60-minute category, while those finishing in more than 75 minutes will be placed in the 120-minute category. Participants will lose one point for each minute or fractional minute that their finishing times exceed the limit for their category. Therefore, a finish time of 71:30 will lead to a penalty of 12 points in the 60-minute category, while a time of 75:30 will lead to no penalty in the 120-minute category. Participants must sign in at the finish by 1:30 PM.
Each control sits at a street intersection. No orienteering control marker will be present. Participants will prove that they have visited the control by recording information from the standard city street sign that sits at that intersection. The answer sheet will contain a clue such as:
37: (NW) ________ Scenic Ave.This means that at control 37 (worth three points), one of the streets on the sign is Scenic Ave. To receive the three points, the participant copies down the address number for Scenic Ave. from the street sign. Remember that this is the address from the street sign, not from any specific house. Ignore the other streets that may be on the sign; only Scenic Ave. is relevant in this case. The NW indicates that the street sign is on the northwest corner of the intersection, though that information is rarely needed.
The map is black-and-white, and has a scale of approximately 1:14000. Shortcuts between streets are marked with a line of black dots. These are the same shortcuts that have appeared on the maps for previous events, but I have not verified their existence or correct placement. Of course, use only shortcuts that actually exist - a mismarked shortcut on our map is not an excuse to cross private property.
The top finishers in each category will be rewarded with prizes.
Participants will register, start and finish at Dimond Park in Oakland. To reach the park, take the Fruitvale exit from I-580 and proceed north on Fruitvale for 0.4 mile. The park will be on your left. Park on the adjacent streets.