Sunol Regional Wilderness
Date: (Sun.) Apr. 22, 2007
Location: Sunol, CA
Event Director: 
- 408.262.3457
Course Setter: Gary Carpenter
Type: B; All seven courses--White through Blue--plus Long Orange
Preliminary Event Director's Notes
By Kelly Wells
As of this writing [on April 19 (Ed.)], there is a slight chance of rain on Sunday morning. I encourage you to come out to Sunol anyway, as we found the park to be quite pleasant both in the rain and in the sun. We do expect the sun to be out in the afternoon for the club's annual meeting.
Sunol is a popular park and this Sunday is Earth Day. I recommend you come a little earlier to avoid bottlenecks at the entry kiosk. I also recommend you have exact change ($5) to speed up the process of getting into the park. Last year some competitors waited up to 30 minutes to get into the park. I also recommend carpooling if possible.
The drinking fountain near registration is not working—we will supply water in this area. You may want to bring some extra fluids in your vehicle, though.
Gary Carpenter has set some great courses with route choice, forking, newly remapped areas, and maybe a control or two on an adjacent course, just visible enough to pique your interest. Be sure to check those control codes (heh heh).
We are pleased to feature an Adventure Race Orange course. This will be twice as physical as the regular Orange course, and with the combined views, I am hoping it gets high votes on the "course of the year" survey to be conducted later this year.
Please "shoe up" properly for the intermediate and advanced courses. There will be steep descents, and cleats are strongly encouraged. Cleats will most certainly be necessary if there is much rain on Saturday before the event. If it is muddy, even the White and Yellow courses can be slippery on some sections of the trails.
A Few Tips For Newcomers to Sunol ...
... and reminders for the rest of you:
The contours are 7.5 meters! You will not believe it until you get out there. In some cases, the reentrants resemble cliffs. A thick brown line in the bottom of a reentrant on your map represents two or more contours, and will most likely be impassable.
Read the Course Setter's Notes for warnings about the following: Poison Oak, Cows, Ticks, Rattlesnakes, and Barbwire. Respect for Equestrians will go a long way toward our being able to use this park in the future.
Many of you will not encounter the hazards above. However, seasonal caterpillars are falling off the oak trees. You may want to wear a hat or scarf if you think this is icky.
Please close all gates behind you.
Everyone must carry a whistle, and if you get hurt or stuck, blow 3 short blasts every minute or two until you hear someone coming to help. Do not play with the whistle, or blow it in a non-emergency.
There are 3 epunch units at the "GO" control before the Finish. You need to punch only one of them before running to and punching one of the 3 epunch units at the Finish. All the courses will converge on the "GO" control from different directions, and using 3 units should help avoid congestion.
After punching at the Finish, go to the Download Tent and download your epunch finger stick. If you do not complete your course for some reason, please proceed back to the Download Tent and check in, so we know you are back.
The course closes at 2:00 P.M. for all competitors (except volunteers). You need to factor in a 20- to 30-minute uphill hike to the Long Orange and advanced Start, and complete your course before 2:00 P.M. The club's annual meeting will start as close as possible to 1:30, and will be near registration.
If you are a volunteer, the last five controls on each course will not be picked up until you return. I don't want any of our volunteers to feel rushed on the course, or DNF because they worked right up to, or past, the 12:30 start deadline.
I could still use some volunteers, especially for beginner clinics and starts. If you think you may want to help with control pickup, please remember to put a backpack in your vehicle. If I don't get enough volunteers, the place will be a madhouse and the Event Quality director will ding me.
Hope to see you all out there.
Kelly Wells
Sunol 2007 Event Director
P.S. The evil BAOC Membership Czar [i.e., Kelly himself (Ed.)] told me that he is planning to drop about 35 memberships that have expired. You can still renew your membership at Sunol, but you may not make it into the next membership report since the publishing deadline is tomorrow, April 20th. However, you can still maintain uninterrupted delivery of your Bulletin if you renew before the mailing-label deadline.