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Roberts Regional Recreation Area – Joaquin Miller Park

Sprint Elimination Tournament 20th Anniversary Event

Date: (Sat.) Nov. 17, 2012
Location: Oakland, CA
Event Directors: - 510.652.9631, - 510.407.1876
Course Setters: Joe Scarborough, Lisa Tracy, Vicki Woolworth
Type: C; White, Yellow, and Orange courses, and an advanced Sprint

Skip to the Notes for the White/Yellow/Orange courses


Course Setter’s Notes for Sprint

By

Welcome to the 20th anniversary revival of BAOC’s first Single-Elimination Tournament (SET) that was also here at Joaquin Miller Park in 1992. The Tournament was continued as a series from 1993 through 1996 at Morgan Territory with slight changes in format. This will be a demonstration event with an eye toward continuing the series next year using the much better map and terrain at Morgan Territory.

Format

The Sprints will be in BAOC’s original SET format (see summary below). Three micro courses comprise three rounds of head-to-head racing: preliminary, semi-final, and final. Runners will start simultaneously in pairs, the first round based on seeding. The winners advance to the semis, and non winners compete for the other placings. There will be an open division for the top eight seeds, and additional races based on OUSA age classes or other criteria depending on the entries. Non-tournament runners may form ad hoc pairs or fill (non-scoring) vacancies as they arise.

Scoring and Prizes

To complete the Tournament a runner must finish all three courses within one hour and by the closing time of the courses. Disqualification will result from the usual OVT, MSP, and DNF classifications. The top man and woman from each formal Tournament division will receive an o21e orienteering jersey from Scarborough Orienteering.

Disqualification

Controls must be taken in order. Miss-punches will result in elimination. People classified OVT, MSP, and DNF may form unofficial pairings for subsequent races, or fill in unofficially for a no-show. To place in the Tournament, a runner must complete all three courses within the time limits.

Schedule

There will be a pre-race briefing for any last-minute announcements at 10:30, with the first starts soon thereafter. It is important that the top seeds be available for the first starts for the Tournament to progress efficiently. A short minimum rest period between rounds will be established.

Courses

There are three courses of about 1–1.5 km each. Courses are numbered 1, 2, and 3, with variations A and B for each. Runners draw for the variation at the start line. The order of the courses may vary by division. While no two orienteering courses can be exactly equal, these are designed with technical and physical requirements to produce times as close as possible. Visual contact is possible through much of the course through shared and proximate forked controls. However both forking and route choice maintain the need for individual navigation. Some legs are slightly unequal, but if you find yourself behind after an unequal leg, you should have an equalizing advantage later in the course.

Important

Control proximity standards are out the window. There will be controls using identical features very close together. Part of the challenge is anticipating this and making the necessary distinction.

Terrain

The core area is the very familiar and runnable prime Redwood Grove area. Other areas mapped white can be considerably slower. Light green, and areas marked with the slow undergrowth vertical green symbol (usually blackberries), are usually OK, but medium green and the denser vertical green are usually best avoided. Except for a couple of short steep legs, there is very little climb on the courses. One course crosses Skyline twice. There is some poison oak.

Map

The map, BAOC’s first, dates back to 1978. It has grown like Topsy over the years with many contributors, but has never been brought up to standard. It is particularly inconsistent in showing runnability, however there has been considerable tweaking along routes and near controls in particular.

Many rootstocks, stumps, and lone trees are not shown. Benches and tables are shown with a special map symbol. Some mapped paths may be very faint, and some paths are not mapped. The map is printed at 1:4,000 (ISOM non-sprint) with 20-foot contours. There is no legend on the map.

Controls

In an effort to create new challenges, as with most sprints I set here, extensive use is made of artificial controls in the form of tripods. A sample will be at the start. A special tripod symbol is used in the descriptions and on the map.

Don’t be surprised to run into a 0.75 m “granite” boulder specially imported from the other side of the San Andreas for this event. Also, thickets, usually huckleberry, normally too small to map, will be used as control features. The green × symbol represents a pile of down branches.

SET Format Summary


Course Setters’ Notes for White/Yellow/Orange

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Welcome White-Yellow-Orange (WYO) runners, and an especially warm welcome if you are a total beginner at orienteering! You chose the right event to learn a little about the sport.

The courses we have for you are, simply, really great trail running (or hiking, should you prefer to walk). You can expect lots of Redwood groves, occasional glimpses of the Bay, soft forest duff and pine needles to walk on, and some neat human artifacts in surprising places.

The course-checker found each of the WYO courses a little more challenging than the norm, navigation-wise. If you are on the fence about which of the three to try, pick an easier one. If you are a rank beginner, definitely start with the White course. We should note that the courses are not any longer than usual; so they should be great if you are bringing your kids.

All three courses will, at times, require a strategic choice between two (or more) routes: You can follow an established paved trail or fire trail the longer way around, which takes more time but is easier to navigate. Or you can take a shortcut through the forest, either cross-country or by trying out an informal, unmarked trail. That can be faster, but only if you have good map-reading skills and you don’t get lost! We found that the Joaquin Miller Park side of our courses features lots of twisty-turny, very ill-defined trails that go in no particular direction. We did our best to update maps with these trails, but we have definitely missed some. And there may be trails indicated on the map that in reality have disappeared or have become overgrown. If you are unsure of your skills, consider the more conservative choice of taking the longer, but surer way to the next control via a major trail or road, rather than a perceived shortcut.

In some areas, the vegetation indicated on the map has changed, too. For instance, some runnable forest areas (white), or clearings (yellow), have since become overgrown in places.

We did see some poison oak, although this time of year it is not at the height of its bloom. The WYO courses are designed such that you can avoid poison oak entirely. If you see a control and are tempted to rush through the forest to get to it, pause to find a path that does not require touching any poison oak. We always found a non-poison-oak path. But wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirt is a good idea anyway.

Orange Course runners: There are three controls in particular that will really challenge your navigation skills. One of the controls you’ll encounter today will be set on an artificial tripod erected just for the orienteering course.

Here are some other reminders: