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Table of contents

1 Schedule 2 Costs 3 Competition Format 4 Courses 5 Request for Volunteers 6 Embargo Notice 7 Event Location

St. Mary's College

Date: (Sun.) Mar. 22, 2020 CANCELED
Location: Moraga, CA
Event Director:
Course Setter: Matej Sebo
Type: A; National Ranking Event (NRE) consisting of qualification and final Sprints, and a course for beginners

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 courses”.) 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.)

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 (2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 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).

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.