21st Annual Golden Goat & Golden Kid
Sunol Regional Wilderness
Date: (Sun.) Dec. 18, 2016
Location: Sunol, CA
Event Director:
Course Setters: François Léonard, Nikolay Chukanov
Type: Extra-long courses with mass starts; No beginner or intermediate courses
Vetting/Testing/Training Opportunity
- Nikolay and I have streamered the control locations for the Golden Goat on December 18 at Sunol.
- If you cannot join us at the event for these epic courses, we can make the courses available to you for vetting/testing/training.
- Thanks,
- – [emailByName: unknown member name 'François Léonard'][emailByPosition: unknown position 'François Léonard']
Join BAOC for the 21st annual Golden Goat, a long-distance orienteering event with a mass start and a twist or two.
This year's goat will be held at Sunol Regional Wilderness on December 18, 2016.
Francois Leonard and Nikolay Chukanov are collaborating to put together a set of challenging courses in this beautiful park.
Schedule
- 9:00–9:45 AM: Registration
- 9:45 AM: Last-minute instructions
- 10:00 AM: Mass start
- 1:00 PM or sooner: Awards ceremony
- 2:00 PM: Courses close
Note: Everyone must return to the Finish by 2:00 PM. This event has a four-hour time limit.
Courses
There will be two courses, with the following statistics (without the skip):
Course Distance Climb Controls Golden Goat 12.5 km 1000 m 21 Kid Goat 8.3 km 600 m 16
The distance and climb will be somewhat less on both courses, because one control can be skipped.
Mass starts for both courses will be at 10:00 AM.
Please note that there will not be any beginner or intermediate courses at this event. We apologize to those who would have liked to try a beginner or intermediate course, and invite you to attend another BAOC event. The event schedule is here.
Registration will be in the area near the main parking lot and visitor center. There are picnic tables at the assembly area, so bring lunch for the after party. The club will supply light snacks.
Course Setters' Notes
Detailed Course Setters' Notes will be posted before the event.
Special Pricing
This event has special "Goat" pricing:
- Member entry fee, each person: Adult $20, Junior $10
- Non-member entry fee, each person: Adult $25, Junior $10
Note: Juniors are youth under age 21.
Other, optional fees:
- Compass Rental: $1, no security deposit required
- E-stick Rental: $5, no security deposit required ($30 liability for lost stick)
Notes: Each participant will need an E-stick.
Enter and pay at the event. There is no advance registration.
Rules
The rules are the same for the Golden Goat and the Kid Goat.
- One control can be skipped.
- Choose one side of the fork.
- Cannot skip the control that begins the fork, the control in the middle of the fork, or the control at the end of the fork.
Example of rules 2 and 3:
- At control 8 there are two lines that go to 9A and 9B.
- The lines from 9A and 9BÂ go to the same control 10.
- Competitors must visit control 8, control 9A or 9B, and control 10.
Safety
Sunol is very steep. The contour interval is 7.5 m. Be careful when evaluating the steepness of hills and your ability to cross them.
There are several out-of-bounds areas indicated on the map for safety reasons. Please stay away from these areas—they are dangerous.
Note that the main creek is out of bounds for this event.
Awards
Awards will be presented to the first three Goat and Kid finishers for each of several categories. The awards ceremony will take place soon after award-winning goats have finished. It is commonplace for most goats to eat their awards.
The top 15 finishers on the Golden Goat earn Golden Goat Lifetime Points. The current table of these points is available here (PDF/85KB).
Volunteers
Please consider volunteering for a task, especially control pickup. We could also use help with setup, registration, E-punch, take down, and snacks.
Please let know if you are available.
Driving Directions
Sunol Regional Wilderness is in the East Bay. Take highway I-680 to the Calaveras Road exit near Sunol. Go south on Calaveras Road about six miles to Geary Road. Turn left onto Geary and continue a couple of miles to the park entrance. Pay the entrance fee (see below), and follow the O' signs to the Registration area. (Park only in designated parking areas. The rangers do give tickets.)
Be prepared to pay a park-usage fee of $5 per car (and $2 per dog) [2015 rates, subject to change]. Most likely a ranger will be on duty at the entrance kiosk to accept your payment, but if not, you may have to use a ticket machine that takes only $1, $5, and $10 bills.
There's a map here that shows the location of the event. (Click on the "pins" in the East Bay until you find the one for this event, and then drag the map [not the pin] to center the pin, and zoom in to see more detail.)