Indian Valley College
Date: (Sun.) May. 11, 2025
Location: Novato, CA
Event Director: 
- 415.895.6039
Course Setter: Petra Sundstrom
Type: B; We return once again to the verdant hills around the Indian Valley College campus. There will be 6 standard courses (White through Red; no Blue), with free introductory instruction for beginners, who are very welcome, as are non-members.
Related Event Information
Course Setter's Notes
By Petra Sundstrom
Welcome to another year of exploring the hillsides surrounding the Collage of Marin campus at Indian Valley! But not only the hills — this year we are also going to spend some time on the actual campus with some short, Sprint courses to finish off with! The combination of the steep terrain that requires a lot of climbing, with the area where we are allowed to run being very small, made me think that we should make more use of the campus area! So this year the Brown, Green, and Red courses will be on the shorter side of what is normal, but they will all have a map flip with an added Sprint course around the campus area before finishing (see below for details). The Orange course will also have a Sprint-like finish, but no map flip.
There will be a lot of controls out there! This is true especially around the campus area, so make sure you have the right number when punching, and make sure that you are going to the controls in the correct order! (Also note that, as usual, it doesn’t matter if you accidentally punch a wrong control as long as you continue on to your correct one!)
The Map
The Indian Valley College campus is not mapped to ISSprOM 2019-2 (the current Sprint mapping standard¹), but it should be good enough for our fun event.
The map is mostly accurate, especially the contours. However, there a few things to note:
- There are a lot of animal trails that sometimes look like paths, but are not marked on the map.
- A few minor paths on the map are not very distinct in reality.
- There are lots of black ×’s in the campus area and on the map in general. They can be anything man made: a big structure, a bench, or just some wooden beams left behind. So keep that in mind!
- Boulders are generally very small. If you have a boulder as your control feature, you will most likely see your control marker first and then the boulder.
There are two specific items on the map that may affect participants on the Orange, Brown, Green, and Red courses:
- There is a path that is mapped as being straight, but in reality is very winding (due to MTB riders).
- There is one fence to the east side of the map that is mapped as standing, but is completely down on the ground, and can be hard to follow.
The map scale is 1:7500 for all the courses, with 1:4000 for the Sprint portion of the Brown, Green, and Red courses. (We'll see how well you can adapt to the change during the course!)
The Courses
The final course details are below. They are significantly different from the previous details.
Course Length Climb Controls Navigation
White 2.2 km 40 m 9 Beginner
Yellow 3.2 km 125 m 11
Orange 4.0 km 165 m 14 Intermediate
Brown 4.0 km 160 m 17 Advanced
Green 5.0 km 305 m 18
Red 6.3 km 405 m 23
- Beginners should be aware that the distances shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the "optimum route" (in the Course Setters' opinion), without regard for any descending. Because you won't travel in straight lines, and might not follow the optimum routes, your actual distance and climb will be somewhat more than what is shown above, and will depend on your route choices (and any errors you make).
The walk to the Start from the assembly area is an easy, slightly up-hill, 500 m walk. Plan on taking about 10 minutes for that walk. There is a short walk (about 150 m) from the Finish back to the assembly area.
All the courses except Green will cross the road going into the campus area, please be cautious when doing so! The Green runners will instead be crossing through, or very close by, the registration area and should be cautious when doing that.
Notes for the Brown, Green, and Red courses:
The Brown, Green, and Red courses have double-sided maps, with two courses. The first course is a standard orienteering course on a 1:7500-scale map. After completing that course, turn over your map for the second course, which is a Sprint-style course around the college campus on a 1:4000-scale map. Please be aware that both courses start with a control 1. The Start is not anywhere close to the campus, so there should not be any confusion about which side of the map to start on. Also, be aware that the last control on the first course is shown as the first control on the Sprint course. You do not need to punch that control twice (but you can if you want to).
There will be one water checkpoint on the Brown, Green, and Red courses.
The Terrain
The terrain is mostly runnable, and there wasn’t a lot of poison oak around when my family (mom, dad, and husband also roped in to help out!) and I were out checking the controls, and it should be easily avoidable, but long pants are still recommended for all the courses except White.
The steeper hillsides can be a bit slippery due to lots of dry leaves and loose dirt, so shoes with good grip are highly recommended for the Orange, Brown, Green, and Red courses.
Have Fun
Welcome to a fun day with challenging courses out in Indian Valley, where the hillsides are now beautifully green, sprinkled with wildflowers, and the occasional deer and turkey add to the scenery! The Green and Red runners might also have some great views along the course as well (we all know what that means… 😉)!
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¹ Information about mapping standards is here.