Dimond Park
Date: Sunday, August 29, 2004
Location: Oakland, CA.
Event Director: 
- 510.531.6697
Course Setter: Steve Gregg
Type: C; Street-O
Many people expressed interest in this event, and so it will definitely be a go. Most notably, Finn Arildsen will be in the Bay Area for this event and is looking forward to some orienteering while he is here. So if Finn can come all the way from Europe to participate in this event, surely you South Bay folks can drive for an hour or so!
I have decided to offer three different course categories. There will be 24 controls on the map, and you can choose to find any 7, any 14, or any 21. Within each category there will be foot-O and mountain bike-O subcategories. Scott Aster says he is bringing his bike, will anyone else be challenging Scott?
Perhaps only Dennis Wildfogel would ask for distance and climb stats for a street-O course :-) Here they are, using reasonable although perhaps not optimal routes. As usual for a regular orienteering event in the woods, distance is measured along the straight line between the controls, which means that the distance you will actually be running will be considerably more than that (exactly how much more I don't know - maybe 20% or so???).
Long course (any 21): 10.5 km, 400 m climb, test run 78 minutes Medium course (any 14): 7.0 km, 300 m climb, test run 53 minutes Short course (any 7); 4.2 km, 150 m climb
There will be no water on the courses. Several drinking fountains are marked on the map (with blue Xs), but they will not necessarily be close to where you will be running. So carry water with you if you anticipate needing any.
Since you will be reading information off the green street signs when you get to the control locations, it will be very possible to "cheat" at this event, by using information on previous street signs to figure out what yours must be, before you actually get there to see it. That's a definite no-no! Go to all your controls! The orienteering gods frown on cheaters.
This will be a barebones event so don't come looking for the usual BAOC amenities. There will be no start and finish banners, nor will there be any direction signage to the park. It's also not clear to me how many helpers I'll be able to round up, so things may be a little disorganized compared to what you are used to. The park is heavily used by picnickers on summer weekends so I can't even say for sure which set of tables or benches we will be setting up at - just look around for other orienteers. Dimond Park does have restrooms and drinking fountains, though, and a Safeway is only a couple of blocks away.
Feel free to call me with any questions or offers to help. I'm looking forward to seeing you Sunday.
Driving Directions
From San Francisco and the North Bay, take the Fruitvale Avenue exit off the 580 freeway in Oakland. Turn left at the stoplight and continue north on Fruitvale under the freeway. Continue on Fruitvale past the stoplight at MacArthur Boulevard. Soon you will pass the Safeway on your right, and Dimond Park is about 200 meters past the Safeway on the left. The park has no parking lot so you will need to park wherever you can on the street. The Safeway parking lot should be fine too.
The directions are more confusing coming from the South Bay, as there is no freeway exit off of 580 that takes you directly to Fruitvale. You want to take the Coolidge Avenue/Fruitvale Avenue exit and at the stoplight, continue parallel to the freeway on Montana St. for 0.4 miles. You will go down a very steep hill and then go by a Longs Drug store on your right. The stoplight past the drug store is the intersection with Fruitvale. Turn right and follow the directions above to the park.
