Table of contents |
St. Mary's College
Date: (Sun.) Mar. 22, 2020 CANCELED
Location: Moraga, CA
Event Director:
Course Setter: Matej Šebo
Type: A; National Ranking Event (NRE) consisting of qualification and final Sprints, and a course for beginners
Related Event Information
Course Setter's Notes Previous Event at St. Mary's Attackpoint Event Page (https://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_48921)
This event has been canceled
- We have been informed that the college cannot let us proceed with the event due to a directive from Contra Costa County.
- We will try to reschedule the event at a later date, which is yet to be determined.
- – Mikkel Conradi, Event Director (March 12, 2020)
This event will be our free-of-sanctioning-fees National Ranking Event (NRE) for 2020. (Each U.S. club is permitted to put on one such event each year.)
Note: Special hours and prices will apply! See below for details.
There will be two Sprints: a morning Qualifier Sprint, and later, a Final Sprint. The top finishers in the Qualifier run in an A-Final, everyone else runs in a B-Final. Each round counts separately for OUSA rankings.
Start times will be pre-assigned for the Sprints. Online preregistration is strongly encouraged (and cheaper).
There will be two courses for each round: an “Elite†course for the classes assigned to Red and Blue courses, and a (single) shorter “Expert†course for all the remaining classes (i.e., those normally assigned to White through Green courses). (See the comments below about these “virtual coursesâ€.) All the OUSA classes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRfWHloBa6ozrkQ9ve6a2-oLvPynoXGvrtl5LlTuYWjV0m_ShIZdLHOW3Ass4iISYGR1iETrz1bb_7b/pub?embedded=true#h.3rdcrjn) will be available. (If that link is broken, go to the main rules page (https://orienteeringusa.org/about/rules/) and click on "Classes" in the Table of Contents.)
There will be a single, beginner-level, recreational course.
We've used this map only once before (for one of the Sprint San Francisco events in 2018), and Matej, the course setter, is expanding it a bit, so this is a pretty fresh venue. And it's in a gorgeous setting, surrounded by very green hills this time of year.
Note to Beginners:
- Normally, BAOC events include beginners (White and Yellow) courses, an intermediate (Orange) course, and four advanced courses. However, because of the special nature of this event, we're planning to offer only one beginners course in addition to the two, two-part, Sprint courses. That beginners course will not earn OUSA ranking points, but it should be a fun course for beginners. (See below for more comments on the courses.)
- We apologize to all who would have liked to do a "traditional" course. If the course offering at this event does not suit your needs, please look at the Schedule for another event to attend (on that page, select "BAOC" in place of "All Clubs" and click on the Reload button).
Schedule
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: | Registration open for Sprints | |
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: | Registration open for beginner’s course | |
9:30 AM: | Starts begin for Sprints Qualifier round | |
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: | Beginners’ clinic instruction (free) | |
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM: | Starts are open for beginner’s course | |
Noon: | Starts begin for Sprints final round (first A-finals and then B-finals) | |
1:30 PM: | Sprints awards ceremony | |
1:30 PM: | Courses close, checkpoint control pick-up begins |
At registration, all juniors must be accompanied by parents or legal guardians, or bring with them a waiver signed by their parent or legal guardian (the registration form is available here (PDF/90KB)).
Note that you can register and start on the beginner’s course anytime during the open times above. Thus, for example, you do not need to be “punctual†at 9:00 (but you can if you want, but please don’t show up earlier and expect to be served).
Beginners’ clinics are 15–20 minute, repeating sessions that introduce the sport of orienteering, and provide enough instruction to be able to complete the beginner (White) course.
Note that you must return to the Finish by 1:30 PM, and then go to the download tent, even if you have not finished your course. Please do not leave without checking in! If there are unaccounted people after 1:30, we must initiate a search for them.
Also note that each of the NRE courses has a 1-hour time limit (i.e., per OUSA rules). Anyone exceeding that limit will be classified as overtime (OVT).
After you finish, enjoy free snacks and refreshments, stick around and socialize with other participants!
Costs
Since this is an NRE event, special fees will apply to the Sprint courses, with lower fees for registering in advance online. And, before you ask, a one-Sprint discounted price is not available.
Online registration closes on Wednesday, March 18 at 11:59 pm. The following fees apply to advance, online registration:
- $3 for each junior on the beginner’s course
- $8 for each adult on the beginner’s course
- $12 for each junior on both Sprints
- $30 for each member on both Sprints
- $35 for each non-member on both Sprints
- $1 for a compass rental (optional)
- $5 for an E-punch fingerstick rental (if you don’t own one; each group will need one to complete their course[s])
The following fees apply at the event:
- $3 for each junior on the beginner’s course
- $8 for each adult on the beginner’s course
- $15 for each junior on both Sprints
- $40 for each member on both Sprints
- $45 for each non-member on both Sprints
- $1 for a compass rental (optional)
- $5 for an E-punch fingerstick rental (if you don’t own one; each group will need one to complete their course[s])
- $15 (and up) for one-year BAOC membership (optional)
The standard entry form is available online (PDF/90KB) if you want to print it and fill it out in advance to save some time when registering at the event. Note, however, that you will need to “adapt†the form to the fees above. (You will need one entry form for each group of people going on a course together.)
Notes:
- Online registration is open here (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/register/start/stmarys2020). It is not required—you can register at the event, but with higher fess for the Sprints. Credit cards are accepted for online registration.
Online registration will close on Wednesday, March 18th, at 11:59 PM (i.e., not the day before the event as usual).
You can see who is registered here (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/reglist/home/stmarys2020) (but keep in mind that others will register at the event).
- Note: There are two known issues with the online registration that we may not be able to fix before you sign up:
- The website will allow you to sign up for both the Sprints and the beginner course—make sure you don't do that by accident.
- If you sign up for just the beginner course, please do not select that you qualify for the club member discount. That discount is offered only for the Sprints.
- Note: There are two known issues with the online registration that we may not be able to fix before you sign up:
- At the event, we can accept payment by cash, check, or credit/debit card (but no electronic payments). (Accepting credit/debit cards at events is a new capability that was successfully tested at the Morgan Territory event.)
- Juniors are age 8 through 20 (under age 8 is free).
- Members of other orienteering clubs can pay the “member†fee. (We hope your club would do the same for our members. 🙂)
Comments on “fee-free†NRE events:
- For each of our first three fee-free NRE’s (2017 Sunol, 2018 Calero, and 2019 Joe Grant), we simply took an existing, high-quality B-meet and superimposed on it the age/gender categories needed for rankings.
- This year is different because the St. Mary’s event was created specifically as an NRE, and everyone recruited for the event staff knew that this was going to be an NRE.
- The St. Mary’s venue is very expensive, and since people are getting two ranking races out of the event, it seems reasonable to charge double the normal local-event fees (which is still less than any day of Cal-O-Fest (http://cal-o-fest.com)).
- – Dennis Wildfogel, BAOC National Events Coordinator
Competition Format
This year, there will be two sets of Qualifier plus Final courses: one set for the Red and Blue age categories (Elite), and one set for the White, Yellow, Orange, Brown, and Green age categories (Expert).
The Qualifier courses and the Final courses will all be interval-started. The Qualifier courses will use a 1-minute start interval with assigned start times (don’t be late for your start!). The Final courses will also use a 1-minute start interval, with the order as described next.
Several of the top men and top women finishers in the Qualifier round will be placed in the A-Final for their course (exact numbers to be determined after the number of registrants is known). Everyone else will run in the B-Final for their course. The A-Final runners will start first, with the B-Final starting immediately afterwards. The start order for each Final will be determined by the results of the Qualifiers. The fastest A-Final qualifier will start first, and the rest of the A-Final competitors will start behind them in descending order of Qualifier placement (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.). Similarly, the fastest B-Final qualifier will start first, and the rest of the B-Final competitors will start behind them in descending order of Qualifier placement.
Courses
These five courses will be available:
- White/Yellow recreational/beginner
- White–Green Qualifier
- Red/Blue Qualifier
- White–Green Final
- Red/Blue Final
Everyone in the NRE will be competing on one of the two Qualifier courses, and then one of the two Final courses. Both Qualifier courses and both Final courses are National Ranking Events, and thus each Sprint course has a 1-hour time limit (i.e., per OUSA rules).
The details of the courses, and additional, important information is provided in the Course Setter's Notes. Be sure to read them.
As indicated above, there will be a "beginner" (White/Yellow) course, but not an "intermediate" (Orange) course. However, given the nature of the venues and the courses, some people without a lot of orienteering experience may wish to try the Sprint courses. That was the case at previous events like this one, and those who did go out seemed to enjoy themselves.
For each of the four National Ranking races (i.e., two Qualifier races and two Final races), the results will be grouped into the usual OUSA age/gender classes (even though multiple classes will be running the same course).
Comments about ranking courses:
- Except for Red and Blue, the traditional "color" courses will be "virtual" at this event. That is, everyone whose "official course" is White through Green will actually run the same (physical) course. A participant's "virtual course" will be determined by the class they register for—that is, their "virtual course" will be the (color) course that is assigned to that class. And their ranking points will be determined from the results of all the people who have that (color) course assigned to their classes.
- Now, if that isn't confusing enough, there is another consideration at this event. In order to earn OUSA ranking points at any event, there must be at least five people running your (virtual) course. For example, a person entered as F–10 would be running the (virtual) White course. However, it's unlikely that there will be five people signed up for White-course classes at this event, so an entry in F–10 would most likely not earn ranking points at this event. However, that person could sign up for the F–18 class, and run the (virtual) Brown course (which is the same physical course). There will almost certainly be enough people on the (virtual) Brown course for those people to earn ranking points.
Request for Volunteers
I hope you are planning to join us for this very exciting double Sprint event! Matej is working on some fun courses and the map will be slightly expanded to a new part of the campus.
The following positions are still open:
- Start and Finishes – have 3, need 3 more.
- Control Pick-up – have 1, more will help.
Since this is an NRE event, I am hoping to have two volunteers at any given moment for starts, and one for finishes. If we get a total of six volunteers for starts and finishes, I think it should be possible for competitors to do a shift. If we are short of that target, starts will have priority.
Please reply to directly if you would like to help out.
Thanks!
– Mikkel Conradi, Event Director
Embargo Notice
Since the event is a National Ranking Event (NRE), everyone who wants to earn ranking points at the event must not visit the St. Mary's College campus, or the surrounding countryside, before the completion of the event (except while running their courses, of course). (Current students of the college are exempted.)
The embargo area is shown in the image below. You can click on the image to see a larger version.
Event Location
St Mary's College is located at 1928 St Marys Rd, Moraga, CA 94575. The coordinates of the parking lot are 37.842910,-122.110404.
There's a map here that shows the location of the event.