Golden Gate Park
Date: (Sat.) Apr. 7, 2007
Location: San Francisco, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Type: C; White, Yellow, Orange, Long Orange, and USOF Sprint courses
Course Setter's Notes
By Vladimir Gusiatnikov
As most everyone who has run in Golden Gate Park knows, "DEATH MONSTERS AHEAD". Please don't get killed. The busiest roadway you will face is Chain of Lakes Drive. The Sprint and Long Orange courses cross it twice (other courses don't). Both times the legs run nearly parallel to the road, giving you ample time to spot the cars and negotiate with them. There is a four-way stop at the intersection with JFK Drive, where cars on both roads usually slow down, and sometimes stop. It is the best place to cross on both of these legs, and its location is obvious on the map.
Course parameters:
Course Length Controls Climb
White 1.7 km 8 15 m Yellow 1.8 9 35 Orange 3.7 9 65 Long Orange 5.0 12 85
Sprint 2.6 14 45
There is a remote Start by the off-leash dog area (the area is out of bounds). To get there, head west on JFK (the major roadway by the assembly area). After 800 meters, there will be a large lake on your right. Continue around the lake, north on 36th Avenue for 100 meters, and watch for a left turn (to go west). Take that road for another 300 meters, and listen for the dogs. This walk to the Start adds up to 1.20 km and it should take you about 15 minutes. If you are lost, look for the buffalo; the Start is on the north side of the buffalo. All courses use this remote Start.
The Finish is at Marx Meadow, which is the assembly area.
The map scale for all courses is 1:5000; contours are 3 meters. This map is not surveyed on the level expected of a true Sprint map. I added some ISSOM stuff on this pass. Gray is used to indicate multilevel crossings. Contours are surprisingly weak on this part of the map. Vegetation is alright, but approximate. Usually, if the map says you can't go, you indeed can't. There are passages through the bushes that I did not have the time to map, but using them should not lead to an advantage of more than 7 seconds on a given Sprint leg.
All objects shown as uncrossable or out of bounds remain such. In particular, it is not allowed to cross high fences, high walls, lakes and ponds, and anything hatched with purple.
The "special objects"—black ×'s—in the control descriptions, and most of the black ×'s on the map, are park benches. There are no control descriptions on the map for White, Yellow, or either Orange course; no controls for these courses are near other controls.
Control equipment for the Sprint is regular orange-and-white flags with e-punches; the other courses use some of these controls, and pie plates. On White, Yellow, and both Orange courses, write down the letters or numbers on the pie plates, or, if your control is one of the Sprint controls, write down the control code... and, just maybe, the letters and numbers will add up to something smart. The hobo factor is low. They don't seem to like the western, foggier part of the park. The E-punch units are secured with cables.