Bedwell Bayfront Park
Event #6 of 6 in the BAOC 2023 Summer Series
Date: (Sun.) Aug. 27, 2023
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Event Director: 
- 650.281.5280
Course Setter: Matthias Kohler
Type: C; This is the final event of the 2023 Summer Series. Beginners are welcome!
Related Event Information
Event Anouncement 2023 Summer Series Attackpoint Event Page (http://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_56090)
Course Setter’s Notes
By Matthias Kohler
Course Statistics
Course Length Climb Controls
Beginners 2.2 km 50 m 16
Short 3.1 km 75 m 16
Long 4.9 km 100 m 23
- Beginners should be aware that the lengths shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. Your actual distance will be somewhat longer. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the “optimum route†(i.e., in the Course Setter’s opinion), without regard for any descending.
All Courses
- The Start and Finish are the same for all the courses. From the assembly area to the Start, and from the Finish back to the assembly is about 250 m.
- Warm up on the W side of the trail to the Start (i.e., towards the marsh), the area NW of the assembly area.
- There are many controls out there, and some are close together. Be sure to check the ID number to make sure it is “your†control.
- It is okay to cross fences within the park (they are wooden).
- There is one fenced-in, out-of-bounds area within the park, used for construction equipment. It is marked with the purple cross-hatched lines on the map.
- There are flocks of Canada geese out there. (They are not shown on the map. 😉)
- There are public drinking fountains near the assembly area, and some bottled water at the assembly area, but no water on the courses.
Short and Long Advanced Courses
- Keep in mind that you can earn Summer Series points from the first course you run at the event, but only if it’s one of the ranking courses.
- All the trails and roads have been removed from the Short and Long course maps.
- The Short and Long courses have some controls in common, but the approaches are mostly different.
- Most of the grass is mowed, but the mowed grass left on the ground is very slippery. Expect tall grass in areas with trees where the mower could not get into.
- Shoes with good traction are strongly recommended for the Short and Long courses.
- Visibility is great, and the run-ability is unlimited, but watch out for ground-squirrel holes (i.e., trip hazards) hidden under the grass.
- The Long course has a Butterfly loop, which is explained below.
- A Butterfly consists of two loops, A and B, that are attached to one another at one control, say number 15. The runner comes into the Butterfly at #15, goes through loop A (several controls), comes back to #15, goes through loop B (several controls), comes back to #15, and then leaves the Butterfly.
- Another runner does loop B first followed by loop A (i.e., this runner’s map is different).
- So the runners have a different sequence of controls in the Butterfly, but will eventually run the same course. Important: Each runner will punch #15 three times (in this scenario).
- For a detailed description of Butterfly loops in Orienteering, and their purpose, is here. At this event, we don’t expect “trains†of runners will form to bring out the true benefits of the Butterfly, but we would like to spice up the event for the Long runners just a little.
Map Notes
Sprint rules will not apply at this event.
The map is not in compliance with Sprint-O standards—it is not a Sprint-O map. Also, the map has some symbols that are not in compliance with the International Specification for Orienteering Maps (ISOM 2017-2 [1MB PDF]).
The map scale for all the courses is 1:5000, with a (LiDAR-based) 2-meter contour interval. Blue magnetic-north lines are parallel to the map’s long edge.
There has been construction going on since last spring. As a result many of those small water or gas features that are mapped as brown triangles (“knoll with coverâ€) were rebuilt and are now man-made objects (close to or at the same location), which are wider in diameter and sometimes higher than the original knolls. The map is not updated with respect to these features. The courses will not use any of these objects as control locations, and it is best not to use these objects for navigation.
The map is still good with respect to vegetation. Some thickets are less dense than in previous years, and may be brown, not green as the map suggests. Generally, thickets are mapped accurately. Two levels of green are used: dark green usually represents thick bushes of various sizes (from as small as about 2 m to several tens of meters in diameter), while light green is very often a dense group of short pines. “White forest†often consists of a group of Eucalyptus trees.
The tall-vegetation map markings (green parallel lines, ISOM 409) are minimal, and represent current conditions in the park. However, where present, running will be very slow or impossible.
Boulders and boulder clusters are generally smaller than what would normally be mapped, and what we usually encounter at other BAOC events. Most “boulders†on the map are rocks of about 0.5 m in size; some boulders and clusters are not easily visible because of overgrown vegetation. The “cairn†symbol (ISOM 526) is used to denote the park’s sequences of rock sculptures. These are not used as control features.
There are a few wooden fences along some of the bigger trails and roads in the park. Competitors are allowed to cross those fences (i.e., they are mapped as crossable).
The map uses a dark-yellow, non-ISOM symbol for “bare earth/sandy area†that may help with navigation.