U.C. Berkeley Sprint
Date: (Sun.) Jan. 21, 2007
Location: Berkeley, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Rex Winterbottom
Type: C; Campus O -- White, Yellow, and Sprint (part of the 2007 BAOC Sprint Series)
Enjoy scenic, detailed campus terrain and high-concentration orienteering in the busy environment of the U.C. Berkeley campus. The map is excellent. The Sprint course will earn points for both Peter Gagarin's U.S. Sprint Series (http://petergagarin.org) and the inaugural BAOC Sprint Series. This event kicks off the BAOC series.
Registration is at the fountain in Sproul Plaza, and the Start and Finish are nearby. If there is rain, walk down the steps from the Sproul Plaza fountain and turn right into the sheltered area...
To get to the fountain in Sproul Plaza, walk into campus from the intersection of Telegraph Ave. and Bancroft Ave. Before you pass Sather Gate, you will be walking through Sproul Plaza, and you should see a fountain.
The normal event schedule will be followed:
- Registration — 9:30 A.M. to noon.
- Starts — 10:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.
- Courses close — 2:00 P.M. (everyone must finish by then)
The courses offered are White, Yellow, and Sprint. The Sprint course will use E-punch. The White and Yellow courses will use question-and-answer format — kind of like a history tour.
There are restrooms in a number of campus buildings. All buildings might or might not be open on the Sunday of the event. We will inform the registration crew of the status of nearby buildings and their restroom availability at the time of the event.
Course Information
Each course presents a unique slice of this historic, beautiful campus. So, if you have the energy, help yourself to all 3 courses for the added fun and training benefit.
Course # Controls Length Climb Comment
White 11 1.6 km 30 m Stays on pavement Yellow 13 2.9 km 60 m Lots of off-roading Sprint 17 3.0 km 60 m Concentrate on the map
Beware of traps on the Sprint. Read those maps carefully. The Yellow course goes just as off-road as the Sprint, in some respects more, but it has no "traps."
White Course: This course will stay on the main roads and paths of the campus. Although the course is pretty easy, careful map reading will still be essential to complete the course. There is one main route choice for each control. Each control point on the map will be an object such as a statue, bridge, or bench.
Yellow Course: Yellow is longer and more technical than the White course. Most legs have route choices. Some of the legs will be of intermediate (Orange) difficulty and require precise map reading. The Yellow course ventures into more complex areas of the campus. The control points are campus objects that tend to be smaller than those on the White course. This is a fun course that takes you into many interesting areas.
Sprint Course: Your high-speed decision making and precise map reading are put to the test in these sprint courses, as seconds matter. There will be a non-standard use of the control description symbol for a light pole (i.e., a light pole will use the symbol of a power pylon).
Map and Terrain Notes
Hearst Ave runs along the north side of the campus and is out of bounds because of construction and lack of sidewalks. This out-of-bounds area is marked on the map with purple hatches. Anyone running along Hearst Ave will be disqualified.
Avoid the many construction areas on the campus. Most of these are depicted on the map with black vertical lines, although they may not all be mapped accurately because they are changing every day.
The map depicts some small bridges across the creeks, some of these are just pipes and are dangerous to cross. Alternative bridges are always nearby. The campus creeks still have a bit of water in them. In many areas the banks of these creeks can be steeper and more overgrown than mapped.
Please yield to pedestrians, bicycles, and motor vehicles. Running through hedges and garden areas will not only bring you bad karma, but also disqualification. It is always only seconds to go around them.
The small map scale of 1:5000 (or less) is used so it is easier to identify small objects on the map. There are a number of non-standard symbols on the map. Large Buildings are depicted as dark gray. Passable covered areas are marked as light gray (that's important!). Light poles are small black dots. Fire Alarm boxes are small brown dots. A small portal dam on a creek is represented by a rhombus.
Driving Directions
The simple route to the campus is to take the University Ave exit off of I-80. Proceed east on University until you run into the campus.
Park anywhere on the perimeter roads of the campus. The middle of the south side of campus is nearest the event registration (corner of Bancroft and Telegraph Avenues). On-street metered parking is free on Sundays. You can park on any side of campus in any direction and walk. Close to campus there are a few garages and parking lots on Bancroft and Durant.
Most of the on-campus parking is reserved, and could get you ticketed.
Public Transit:
From the Downtown Berkeley BART station, walk south on Shattuck Ave to Bancroft, then east up Bancroft to Telegraph Ave, then head into the campus.
The AC Transit F bus coming from San Francisco and local AC Transit lines 40, 51, 52 and others all have stops within a block of Telegraph and Bancroft Ave.