Dimond Park
Date: (Sun.) Jul. 31, 2005
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Director: - 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Rex Winterbottom
Type: Short and Long courses, and "Urban Goat" combination
Related Information
Course Setter's Notes Last Year's Event (http://www.baoc.org/results/r04/r040829.php)
Experience a delightful mix of runnable streets, secret pathways and staircases, and small parks you never new existed in Piedmont and the Oakland Hills.
Be it fog or sunshine come out and enjoy a rollercoaster of orienteering fun Sunday, July 31 through the undulating hills of Oakland (Glenview, Crocker Highlands neighborhoods represent!) and Piedmont. Gardens, quaint houses, parks, monuments, and secret staircases are sure to delight you on your journey.
There are 3 courses using street signs as control markers.
- The Short course will be about 4.8 km in length with a common first control, then 9 controls among which you can skip 1, and a common last control (i.e., you punch 10 of the 11 controls).
- The Long course will be about 7.3 km in length, and takes you deep into Piedmont — 8 controls, 9 long legs, with mucho route choice. They take you by almost every fountain on the map. The inspiration from this course comes from one of my fav running routes, which cuts across the hills to and fro visiting all the little parks.
- And then there's the Urban Goat! Sorry, we're not starting in Joaquin Miller this time — hopefully that fantasy will come true in the future. This Urban Goat = the Short course + the Long course, using the same rules for the Short portion as for the Short course (i.e., you punch 18 of the 19 total controls). Total length will be about 12 km. There will be a mass start and standard "goat" rules apply — following is okay. The last control on the Short course will have a manned water stop.
See the Course Setter's Notes for more information about the courses.
The Start, Finish, and Registration will be near the entrance to the park at the end of Wellington Street (intersection with Cañon Avenue.)
Schedule -- Registation: 9 AM to noon Starts: 10 AM to 12:30 Mass Start: 10 AM Courses close: 2 PM
Anyone on any course can join the mass start. All the maps will have all the courses on them, labeled appropriately so you can do any course you want.
You can even bail on the Urban Goat and do the Short course. If you're planning on doing the Short course, the mass start could be exciting for you, because there will be lots of action in the small area with the 8-control Score-O.
The map is in good shape. I scoped out the areas around the courses, added 1 footpath/staircase, and there are about 4 footpaths/staircases that will be reclassified as indistinct. Some are fenced at either end. (So how much does Steve Gregg owe me, then?)
Helpers needed! Please contact me (see above) if you can help out some time between 9:00 and 2:00 with Starts, Finishes, Registration, Results.
Regards, Rex
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.