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Bon Tempe Reservoir

Greg Ehrensing Memorial Volunteer Event

Date: Dec. 4 - 5, 2021
Location: Fairfax, CA
Event Director: - 415.456.8118
Course Setter: Dennis Wildfogel
Type: C; Two days, with limited participation, as in the past; same three advanced-level courses both days; NO BEGINNER COURSE; PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Related Event Information

Event Results Course Setter’s Notes Attackpoint Event Page (http://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_52566) Last Year’s Event

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


Course Review Session

Please remember that BAOC will be hosting a course review Sunday night, December 5th, for the three Bon Tempe courses. It will be at 8:00 PM via video conference. If you have not done so already, please let me know if you plan on attending so I can send you the login info. [emailByName: unknown member name 'Marie-Josée Parayre'][emailByPosition: unknown position 'Marie-Josée Parayre']

December 3rd Update

By Dennis Wildfogel, Course Setter

It’s been really nice up there for a couple of weeks, but this morning was foggy and chilly. No fog predicted for tomorrow, but it’s expected to be chilly again, high only in the mid-50’s (and considerably cooler in the morning).
The ground is perfect for running. Metal-tip spikes if you have them, some sort of cleats if you don’t. No need for gaiters.
The ground has dried up quite a bit in the last two weeks. Very little standing water remains. There’s water, though, in the bottom of almost every gully and ditch. If it’s foggy, all the vegetation gets wet​—​thus, so will you.
A few things have been added to the Course Setter’s Notes this week, most particularly the following:
Early on your course, you will be at a control and there will be an out-of-bounds area directly between you and your next control. Make sure you don’t go through the out-of-bounds area.


The Bon Tempe event is definitely on! We finally got final confirmation (the two district people who issue permits have been out sick for the last two weeks).

The event will be our typical, free, Bon Tempe event, with three advanced-level courses (Brown, Green, and Red/Blue). Participants will be able to do a course on either Saturday or Sunday. The courses will be the same both days.

The event is normally restricted to club members who have volunteered in the calendar year, but since the last two years have been anything but normal, any paid up club member who either has already volunteered at an event this year, or plans to volunteer in 2022, can participate. We have a limit of 25 people each day.

Starts each day will be from 10:00 AM until 11:30. Start times will not be assigned, but do plan on starting your course no later than 11:30. We will cut off starts then, and if you are late, you may not be able to do a course!

If you wish to attend, please stating which day and course you wish to partake. You can change your course later, but this does give us an idea of how many maps to print.

The terrain is in beautiful shape right now, and the forecast is for dry weather, so come on out and have fun​—​at least until you find yourself on the Hillside of Death! 😉

Notes:

More details, including course statistics will be coming to the website shortly.

Thanks for your patience with our getting this event off the ground!

Hope to see you up at the lakes in a couple of weeks!


Event Director
415-456-8118

Note: We use this event to remember Greg Ehrensing, a dedicated BAOC member, who died in 2018. Greg particularly enjoyed this event “in his backyard”. He directed and course set this event several times, as well as always helping out at this event and many others with whatever was needed even when he wasn’t on the crew that day.


Covid-19 Considerations

We will be following the Marin County health ordinance guidelines during the event. That generally means that we can hold the event without social distancing and wearing masks. Nevertheless, we should all be cognizant of the ongoing risk of contracting COVID-19, even for those who have been fully vaccinated. Please stay home if you are feeling unwell in any way.

If you are not vaccinated, we ask that you wear a mask while you are in the assembly area, including at the Start and the Finish.

Also, no food will be provided at the assembly area, and water will not be available on the courses. Please bring what you will need.

After-Event Course Review

Thank you Scott and Dennis for all your work planning this event.

As we did last year, I would like to host a course review via teleconference on Sunday night at 8:00 PM. If you plan on attending the course review, please so I can share the login information.

Hope to see many of you next weekend.

–


Course Setter’s Preview: Route Choice!

Note: Be sure to read the complete Course Setter’s Notes.

It’s amazing how much a park can change in a year: last year (my first living in Marin, and my first time course setting at Bon Tempe), it hadn’t rained prior to the event and everything was dry, and the lake level was so low we extended the map out 20 m into the dry lake shore. This year, there has been lots of wet weather, and it is gorgeous up there​—​green hills, soft but firm running surfaces, no thorns or stickers, marshes (I’ve put several on the map)​—​just lovely! Furthermore, this past spring and summer, crews removed huge swatches of undergrowth (to reduce fire danger, of course), and several areas that had been mapped as light, medium, and even dark green are now runnable forest!

Today I ran the first ten controls of the Red course at competition speed​—​it was awesome. 😊 Can’t think of any other park in the Bay Area where there is this combination of fast running, and yet the need for detailed map reading.

Bon Tempe has its physical parts, too. Each of this year’s courses ventures out into more physical terrain than they did last year. Green and Red plunge into the dark heart of the Hillside of Death​—​make sure your affairs are in order before setting out on either of those two courses. 😉

Ah, and the subject line: route choice. Last year the courses consisted of a myriad of short, fast legs, requiring you to pay close attention to the dozens of new features I was able to add to the map (the courses ran mostly through a part of the park that hadn’t been field checked before, because it was off limits at the time that the last map was made). There is certainly a good deal of that this year, too, but from the outset I had in mind to design courses that had some challenging route-choice legs​—​not just ones where there are two distinct, but pretty equal choices, but ones where the first route that catches your eye is not necessarily the one that’s best. Cast a broad net, and see if you can take advantage of all that the map tells you.

I have again had the opportunity to add dozens of previously unmapped features, and the great majority of controls will be at features that weren’t on the map a year ago. That, and the different character of the courses, will (hopefully) make the terrain feel fresh. Should be fun and a worthy challenge.

Here are the preliminary course stats: 

    Course    Length    Climb   Controls
    Brown     3.3 km     90 m      14  
    Green     4.8 km    240 m      18
    Red       6.5 km    320 m      25

Hope to see you out there! If you can’t make it out there December 4th or 5th, let me know if you want to run a course beforehand. All the controls are flagged, and the maps should be ready before this Friday.

– Dennis Wildfogel, Course Setter


Driving Directions

Due to MMWD rules, no BAOC directional signs will be posted. There are several ways to get to Bon Tempe from Highway 101 in Marin.

The approximate coordinates for the event are 37.9497,-122.5974. Use those coordinates, use Google Maps to get directions to "Lake Lagunitas Parking Lot", or take the route described below.

There are several ways to get to Fairfax from Highway 101 in Marin County. The quickest route is to take the Central San Rafael exit (#452, just north of I-580) and turn west at Third street (a left at the second light if you're coming from the south, a right at the fourth light if you're coming from the north). Follow this road for about 3 miles (it changes name three times on the way, eventually becoming Red Hill Ave) until it intersects with Sir Francis Drake Blvd in San Anselmo. Bear right onto Sir Francis Drake Blvd and stay on it until you reach downtown Fairfax.

Turn left at Claus Dr (Rino gas station on the right), and then immediately take another left onto Broadway. Turn right at the next corner (coffee shop on the corner) onto Bolinas Rd.

Stay on Bolinas Rd for 1.5 miles. Turn left onto Sky Oaks Rd​—​that junction is marked by a large, brown, wooden sign on your left with white lettering that says “Lake Lagunitas”, “Alpine Lake”, and “Bon Tempe Lake”. There is also a “Sky Oaks Rd” street sign on the post for the STOP sign for the approaching traffic, but that sign is much harder to see than the large sign mentioning the lakes.

Stay on this road until you reach the ranger kiosk. If the kiosk is not staffed, pay the $8 entrance fee at the pay-and-display machine 150 m further on the right. The automated pay station accepts debit and credit cards and $1, $5, and $10 bills, but it does not make change.

Proceed on the paved road to the parking lot at the very end, following any signs to Lake Lagunitas. (Note: Do not turn right onto the gravel road to Bon Tempe Dam.) The assembly area is adjacent to the first parking lot you come to in the complex of small parking lots at the end of the road.