2016 Golden Goat & Golden Kid

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

Related Event Information

Last Year's Event Event Results

Please note that fees and time limits apply. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


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,
Р[emailByName: unknown member name 'Fran̤ois L̩onard'][emailByPosition: unknown position 'Fran̤ois L̩onard']


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

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.

Photo gallery image (click to enlarge)

Special Pricing

This event has special "Goat" pricing:

Note: Juniors are youth under age 21.

Other, optional fees:

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.

  1. One control can be skipped.
  2. Choose one side of the fork.
  3. 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 9B 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.)