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Presidio of San Francisco, Main Post

Date: (Sun.) Nov. 18, 2018 CANCELED
Location: San Francisco, CA
Event Director: - 415.566.7990
Course Setter: Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Type: C; Sprint event, and beginner’s course, at this popular park


Course Setter's Notes

By Vladimir Gusiatnikov
(November 13, 2018)

Note: See the main event webpage for updates on the air quality. (Added Nov. 14th)

November 16th Update:

The map scale is 1:4000 and the contour interval is 2.5 m.
The map is very nice, but it does have a major issue with ISSOM-ness. Besides some gaps and some vegetation fingers being under 0.4 mm, the more material issue, now that I've printed some maps, is the nonstandard symbol proportions used for stairs. Both the width and the step size are well under the minimum​—​at about half of what's required. So, if on the print it looks like a mumbled jumble, it's probably a stairway. You can get through. Given our ages and lack of eyesight, slowing down to decipher the stairs may be required. There are so many stairs, all drawn consistently under-proportioned, that consistently revising them is out of the question.
Because I was trying to save my epithelial cells, I ended up a day short fixing the peripheral map issues. It should not affect the courses, but there are ample imperfections just off to the side, especially if you slow down to figure things out​—​or to breathe. On Monday, they were pouring a sidewalk on one of the legit route choices for the Prologue. That's perhaps the most glaring issue, but there are many others. Fairness will most likely not be affected by these imperfections, but enjoyment might.


Well, the air quality, they say, should gradually improve between now and Sunday, but it might not get all the way up to green. I personally don't find it particularly bad. Hope to keep you updated about the progress daily or so.

Three courses have been planned; the Prologue and the Chase are of the Sprint format, while the Beginners' course is a White. The Prologue, measured around impassable obstacles, is 3.39 km with 15 controls and 58 m climb. Let the extra length not bother you; the newest IOF standard requires that the distance supplied be the shortest possible one while still going around the impassables. As the crow flies (if a crow flies into an impassable wall, what does the crow say?), the course is closer to the usual just-under-3-km. The Chase is similar; I will finalize it shortly.

The map is a 2016 ISSOM product by Matej Å ebo. It's a fine map. I updated it just enough for the event to be fair. Most importantly:

  1. Know and study your ISSOM uncrossables. If I feel like it, I'll go out there and enforce. If I see you doing very ... bad ... things in the Prologue, you'll get a DNF and start the Chase at 13:30, with 30 minutes allowed for your course until closing time. If that happens in the Chase, well, you are just DNF.
  2. The mapper preferred the "fourth-green" symbol over the olive-green. It's still uncrossable. The darkest-color green is not allowed to be crossed. Physically, it sometimes is crossable; usually it is not. How can you tell the fourth-green from the third-green? Don't. Treat all dark green as no-go.
  3. Some of the gaps between uncrossables on this map seem just under the minimum regulation; it is also definitely true that some of the fourth-green fingers are narrower than the minimum that the standard requires. The olive-green is more compliant. If you see a thin green line, usually going along a path or another linear feature, assume it's not crossable. If you just couldn't see it on the map ... well ... we'll deal with it as we go.
  4. There is car traffic. Be safe; also, mind your direction as you weave among parked cars, and as you pick a good place to cross a street with traffic. Check your compass/location upon exit.
  5. Footwear/pantswear: Both the Prologue and the Chase are ... fifty-fifty. I personally have separate "Forest Sprint" and "Urban Sprint" shoes, and with this one, I am puzzled as to what to optimize for. There is no mud, the ground in the "woods" is solid; at the same time, there is plenty of grass in various degrees of wilderness. One thing for certain, you will want long pants and/or gaiters even if you never go through any green.

That's all for now!