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O in the Oaks 2015

Joseph D. Grant County Park

Date: Apr. 25 - 26, 2015
Location: San Jose, CA
Event Director: - 408.732.4818
Course Setters: Misha Kreslavsky, Tapio Karras, Matthias Kohler
Type: A; 2-day, combined-time OUSA A-meet with Classic courses

Joseph D. Grant County Park (http://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/JosephDGrant.aspx) will be the location of BAOC's spring A-meet, April 25–26. This park, of rolling oak chaparral, is about half way to the top of Mount Hamilton. Located about 30 minutes east of San Jose, it's easy to reach, and yet appears remarkably rural and remote. It's located on ranch land that was settled in the 1800's, and still shows remnants of the old structures and wooden fences of a large ranch. It was turned into a park/museum in the mid 1970's, so it is no longer active, save for some cattle grazing on tracts leased to neighboring ranchers.

BAOC has a long history in this park; the mixture of open and wooded terrain, and the mixture of steep and flat terrain, results in high variation within courses, rewarding orienteers that can dynamically adjust their navigation and running strategy during their courses. The courses will have interesting route choices​—​where thought may be critical for success, but too much thought will lose time on faster parts of the courses.

For this event we have very experienced course setters, Misha, Tapio, and Matthias, who will be setting two days of Classic orienteering. Due to Joe Grant's intermittently steep terrain, their designs are paying close attention to the beginner (White & Yellow), intermediate (Orange), Brown, and Green courses. While we are using OUSA course-length guidelines, you will see shorter lengths reflecting compensation for climb. For Brown and Green in particular, we are aiming at the short end of the OUSA expected winning time guidelines, erring on the short side to address the experience of all the orienteers on the courses, not just 100-point runners.

Day 1 will be on the steeper Joe Grant North map, but a shuttle ride to the Start will remove a couple of hundred meters of climb in the courses. Day 2 will be on the less-steep Joe Grant South map. The Red and Blue courses will include a spectator-friendly intermediate pass-through of the event registration/download/picnic area, which should add extra drama to the final day.

The course designs are excellent, with demanding route choice and navigation throughout. If for some reason you cannot attend the event, and would like to help with vetting, let know. We have the courses streamered and available for pre-running.

If you are a local recreational participant, please do not be discouraged by the national A-meet format. There will be recreational beginner (White), advanced beginner (Yellow), and intermediate (Orange) courses available both days. Moreover, an A-meet is not significantly more crowded than a local event, and you will enjoy meeting and watching the national competitors.

The course statistics are below. Some recent photos of the park can be seen here (http://greene.smugmug.com/Other-1/Joe-Grant-Preview-425-262015/47570882_TGQFrH). (If you are asked to enter a password, it is "guest" [without the quotes].)

Be sure to read the Event Director's Notes for more information.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome (before, during, and after the event). Please e-mail the .

Embargo Notice

Joseph Grant County Park is embargoed to orienteers who plan to compete in the O in the Oaks 2015 A-meet. Anyone who visits Joseph D. Grant County Park during the embargo dates (November 1, 2014 through April 24, 2015) will be allowed to enter and participate in the events at this meet, but they will be excluded from the official results, will not receive awards, and will not earn OUSA ranking credit.

(This notice does not apply to people who will participate on the recreational courses.)

Schedule and Logistics

The meet assembly area, registration, and E-punch download will be located at the Stockman's Group Area both days. The road from the park entrance kiosk will lead you directly to the event.

Day-1 Schedule, Saturday, April 25

The pre-assigned start times for A-meet participants are available here (https://www.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/reglist/home/joe-grant-april-2015).

Per OUSA rules, the time limit for the A-meet courses is 3 hours. Any time over that will be recorded as overtime (OVT).

Everyone must return to the Finish by the course-closing time, and then report to the E-punch download tent (i.e., even if they have not completed their course). We want to know that everyone has returned safely from the courses. Otherwise we will have to initiate a search-and-rescue operation.

Day-1 Logistics

The Day-1 courses are on the Joseph Grant North map, some distance northeast of the Stockman's Group Area.

Start for White and Yellow courses

The White and Yellow participants have a 800-meter walk to their Start. The route will be marked with signs and streamers, and there will be maps available at registration showing the route. Proceed northeast from the assembly area until you reach the Hotel Trail. Turn left and then immediately right on the Loop Trail. When the Loop Trail reaches Mt. Hamilton Rd, carefully cross the road and you will see the Start and Finish for your courses. Allow 30 minutes to reach your Start. Since the Finish is close to the Start, there will not be a clothing return from the White and Yellow Start.

Start for Orange through Blue courses

All the other participants (Orange, Brown, Green, Red, Blue) will use a shuttle bus to reach their Start. The buses will run on roughly a 20-minute interval, and it will take approximately 20 minutes to reach the Start. The bus will deliver you very close to your Start. There is plenty of capacity in the buses, and there is extra flexibility in the start list, so please do not feel you need to arrive at the Start long before your start time. Clothing left at the Start will be returned to the assembly area.

Important note: You cannot wear metal-studded shoes on the buses. If you use such shoes, please remove them while you are on the bus, or wear ordinary shoes and place them in the clothing return at the Start.

Finish for all courses

All the courses share the same Finish. After you finish, to return to the assembly area you will walk the reverse of the route described above for getting from the assembly area to the White and Yellow Start. Please remember to download when you return to the assembly area.

Day-2 Schedule, Sunday, April 26

The schedule is similar to Day 1, except roughly 30 minutes earlier:

As for Saturday, the start times for A-meet participants are pre-assigned (https://www.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/reglist/home/joe-grant-april-2015), and the time limit for the A-meet courses is 3 hours.

Everyone must return to the Finish by the course-closing time, and then report to the E-punch download tent (i.e., even if they have not completed their course). We want to know that everyone has returned safely from the courses. Otherwise we will have to initiate a search-and-rescue operation.

Day-2 Logistics

Everything is within a few hundred meters of the assembly area. The Start for the White and Yellow courses is roughly 400 meters from the assembly area, and the Start for the Orange, Brown, Green, Red, and Blue courses is 500 meters from the assembly area. The routes to these Starts will be streamered, and maps will be posted. The Finish is right next to the assembly area. There will be no clothing return on Day 2, since the weather is predicted to be clear and mild.

The Red and Blue courses have a spectator control that is approximately two-thirds of the way through the courses. If you are a top-3 finisher in either M–21+ or F–21+ on Day 1, then for Day 2 you will have a special starting position at the end of the starts for your group. Before the event you will be assigned a start time for Day 2, but if you have a top-3 finish on Day 1, you must move to one of the special slots for Day 2. (This will mean a slightly later start, but not substantially different from your scheduled start.) These "Top Orienteers" will start shortly after 11 AM, and will be visiting the spectator control shortly after noon. For those of you interested in following the action, Dennis Wildfogel will be providing analysis and commentary at the southeast side of the assembly area. At the appropriate time, maps of the Red and Blue courses will be available to spectators.

Awards, based on combined two-day results, will be presented when the results can be determined. We expect that to be around 2:00 PM.

Courses

The details of the courses are below.

Recreational participants should be aware that the course lengths shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. Your actual distance will be somewhat longer. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the "optimum route" (in the Course Setters' opinion), without regard for any descending.

Day 2 includes some wonderfully runnable terrain, and has some great course designs, but because of the higher climb numbers, we are experimenting with a new BAOC club guideline for splitting the Brown course on Day 2. The Sunday Brown classes will be split as follows:

Brown-X: M65+, M70+, M75+, F55+, F60+, F65+, F–18

Brown-Y: M80+, M85+, M90+, F70+, F75+, F80+, F85+, F90+, M-Brown, F-Brown

We expect that most participants will appreciate the split. The courses are not being split because of the number of participants​—​there will still be a lot in common between the two Brown courses. Nevertheless, if you want to run the longer Brown, you will have the opportunity to change your Sunday course (and class) at the event.

Here are the course statistics for the two days.

Day 1, Saturday

Be sure to read the Day-1 Course Setter's Notes for more information.

     Course     Length       Climb     Controls  Water Stops
     White      1.6 km     20 m  1.3%      7          1  
     Yellow     2.3 km     90 m  3.9%      9          1
     Orange     4.4 km    150 m  3.4%     10          1
     Brown      3.4 km    120 m  3.5%      8          1
     Green      4.3 km    200 m  4.7%     12          2
     Red        5.7 km    300 m  5.3%     13          3
     Blue       8.2 km    390 m  4.8%     18          3

Day 2, Sunday

Be sure to read the Day-2 Course Setter's Notes for more information.

     Course     Length       Climb     Controls  Water Stops
     White      2.5 km     75 m  3.0%     15          1  
     Yellow     3.0 km    130 m  4.3%     15          1
     Orange     4.7 km    255 m  5.4%     15          2
     Brown-Y    3.1 km    150 m  4.8%     11          2
     Brown-X    3.6 km    175 m  4.9%     12          2
     Green      4.6 km    250 m  5.4%     15          2
     Red        6.3 km    295 m  4.7%     19          3
     Blue       8.4 km    415 m  4.9%     23          3

Awards

Awards for this two-day Classic A-meet competition will be determined by the combined times for the two days, and will be presented in all the OUSA competition classes.

Electronic Punching

The SPORTident E-Punch system will be used for both A-Meet and recreational courses. E-Punch sticks can be rented at the event.

An explanation of E-Punch is available here. More information about the use of E-Punch is available in our User's Guide to Electronic Punching.

General A-Meet FAQ

In addition to the following frequently asked questions, also see the general FAQ section of this website.

• What are Classic courses?
• What is an A-meet?
• What are standard (Point-to-Point) courses?
• What different courses are offered?

As usual for A-meets, preregistration will be available with discounted fees, as described above.

Banquet

We have planned a Saturday dinner at 6:30 PM at the Sonoma Chicken Coop in San Jose (5925 Almaden Expy, 408-997-1272)​—​the same place as for the Calero A-meet last September (see the map below).

We will have a buffet with these choices:

Rôtisserie Chicken (with choice of 3 sauces)

Grilled Salmon

Mashed Potatoes

Grilled Vegetables

Penne Portobello

Green Veggies Risotto

Citrus Grove Salad

Garden Salad

Price: $22 per adult, $11 per child 15 and under, drinks/taxes all included

If you have signed up for the A-meet already, but not for the dinner yet, it isn’t too late! To add the banquet, you should be able to register again (https://www.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/register/start/joe-grant-april-2015), but put "Not Competing" for the courses and complete your payment. If you decide to come to the dinner after registration has closed, please contact by Wednesday, April 22^nd, latest with the number of people, and if you are vegetarian or not. (If you haven't made a reservation before the Saturday event, ask about available spaces at the event registration table Saturday morning.)

We hope to see you all at the dinner, and don’t forget to bring your map! You might want to talk about excellent route choices with the people sitting next to you!

Registration

Online registration for this event has closed. However, you can still register at the event. In case you need to contact the , here is the address:

Trinka Gillis

830 Sevely Dr

Mountain View, CA 94041

Standard event fees will apply to Recreational White, Yellow, and Orange courses. However, there will be an additional +$6/Adult and +$4/Junior fee for the Saturday Orange course because of the shuttle that day.

Fees for the two-day Classic A-meet are given in the table below. For members of OUSA/IOF, a discount ($4 Adult / $2 Junior) will be applied to each A-meet event entered. (The Saturday fees are higher than the Sunday fees to cover additional operational expenses that day.)

The up-to-date list of people who have registered is available here (https://www.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/reglist/home/joe-grant-april-2015).

Event T-shirt

An event "technical" T-shirt will be available for $20 per shirt in these sizes:

• Youth: Large
• Women: Small, Medium, Large
• Men: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large

The men's shirt is shown at the right. The women's shirt is a slimmer fit.

Camping

There is nice camping in the park, very close to the event registration area, that we recommend for the A-meet. The closest campground, Halls Valley, recently had a water line break and is temporarily closed. This won't affect the main orienteering event, but it may have affected some campers that made early reservations. The nearby Snell Campground (sites 23-40) is open and still shows availability. (This area is almost contiguous with Halls Valley, and is only a few hundred meters further down the ridge.) We understand that campers who had reserved in Halls Valley Campground will have been contacted and moved to Snell Campground, but let us know if you have had any difficulties arranging camping.

Please note: If you are registered for the A-meet on either the competitive White or Yellow course and you are camping at Joseph Grant Park, please contact the . If we have such campers, we will do some last-minute control placements on Sunday, and we will ask you to report to registration at 9:00 AM and remain there until your start shortly after 9:30 AM.

You can reserve a campsite at this website (https://gooutsideandplay.org). Click on the "Camping/RV/Yurts" tab, and enter the information for your stay at Joseph Grant Park. Alternatively, you can make a reservation by phone at (408) 355-2201, Monday through Friday, 8:30–noon and 1:00–4:00.

Volunteers

We are approaching this A-meet in Joseph Grant park, and as usual, an A-meet requires a lot of volunteer help. Fortunately, most of these tasks are enjoyable and/or rewarding, so please use this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zW7znbHZp4SSyhfflDuol4psdXDPQYhcTVuY0gKPHeE/edit#gid=0) to find a job that suits you, and add your name to the spreadsheet.

If you have trouble using the spreadsheet, please let know, and he can add your name for you.

The list of key personnel is as follows:

Meet Director:

Course Setters: Misha Kreslavsky, Tapio Karras, Matthias Kohler

Course Consultant: Don Davis

Registrar:

E-Punch: Rosemary Johnson

Safety: Scott Aster, Kelly Wells

Beginners Clinics: Vicki Woolworth, Werner Haag

Starts: Damian Swift

Finishes: Steve Haas

Control Pickup: Steve Harrison

Dinner: Cornelia Coolen

T-shirts: Stephanie Maclean

Driving Directions

To reach the park, take I-680 to the Alum Rock Avenue exit in San Jose. (From southbound 101, it's easiest to go past Alum Rock Ave, exit onto I-680, and then exit to Alum Rock Ave.) Head east on Alum Rock to Mt. Hamilton Road. Take a right onto Mt. Hamilton Rd and proceed about 7.5 miles to the park entrance to your right. After paying the $6 park entry fee, go about 0.6 miles to the parking area designated by the O' signs.

Here's an alternative route choice (after all, orienteering is all about route choice): Quimby Road is believed to be much faster, with a shorter (but steeper) windy road, than Mt. Hamilton Rd from Alum Rock. Some people recommend this route even for those coming from the north on 280 or 101. In that case, exit 101 south at Tully Rd, and head east (toward the hills). Turn right onto Quimby Rd (just before East Ridge Shopping Center); take this up and over the hill until it meets Mt Hamilton Road. Turn right and go a few hundred yards to the park entrance.

From the south, coming up 101, take the Capitol Expy exit and head east (toward the hills). Go about 1.5 miles, turn right onto Quimby Road, and follow the directions just above.

See the Google map below.

Carpool Sites

People sometimes meet at the junction of Alum Rock Ave and Mt. Hamilton Rd, where there is plenty of parking. That might seem so near the park as to not be helpful, but it does save the twisty drive up Mt. Hamilton Rd, and the park entrance fee for the cars that are left below.

Similarly, people taking the Quimby Rd route could meet at East Ridge Shopping Center (at Tully and Quimby).

Google Map

Map Legend

    Joseph D. Grant County Park
    San Jose Airport (SJC)
    San Francisco Airport (SFO)
    Oakland Airport (OAK)
    Saturday Dinner

_______________

^* The registration deadlines are at 11:59 PM PDT on the indicated dates.