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St Mary's College

Event #2 of 7 in the BAOC 2025 Summer Series

Date: (Sun.) Jun. 22, 2025
Location: Moraga, CA
Event Director: - 925.516.7622
Course Setter: François Léonard
Type: C; This is the second event of the 2025 Summer Series. Everyone is welcome, including beginners and non-members, with free beginner instruction to explain orienteering. Participation in other Summer Series events is not required.

Course Setter's Notes

By François Léonard

Saint Mary's College is a small campus with many different dense features that make it an excellent Sprint venue. As such, the courses and the map will follow Sprint rules as described further below. The climb is minimal and consists of stairs and small inclines.

We will be using a different assembly area this year (De La Salle Quad) which is at G-11 (or red number 12) on this map (410KB PDF). Parking will be in the lot at I-7 (across from the purple 47). Remember to pay for parking (50 cents/hour), which you can do by following the texting information on the panels in the parking lot (it takes a few minutes to set it up). There is also a more traditional pay station at the corner of the parking lot, which we did not test. The pay station accepts only credit/debit cards.

Registration, E-punch, Start, and Finish are all at De La Salle Quad. Restrooms will be available close to the assembly area. The assembly area is 300 m from the parking lot.

Safety Note: When driving into or out of the campus, please drive slowly and be aware that runners might be crossing your path. Runners should pay attention to vehicular traffic everywhere on the campus.

The Map

BAOC member Matej Å ebo created a nice, expanded version of the map for the National Ranking Event (NRE) in 2021. Matej and I updated the map to the new Sprint standards for this event, including the latest IOF guidance (see the new document "Best Practice for Sprint Mapping" here [6.2MB PDF]).

The mapping of the campus takes full advantage of the new Sprint mapping standards, in particular for multilevel structures. Please read Matej's excellent description of the new standard with examples for a previous Berkeley event. Here are more-specific details for this event:

• Anything marked olive-green is out of bounds and must not be run through.
• Linear dark-green features are hedges and must not be crossed.
• Thick black lines denote impassable walls. Even if you think you can pass the wall it is not permitted.
• Thick black lines with double ticks are impassable fences. Don't try to climb, open, or put your arms through such fences. Even if there is an opening in the fence, or an open or passable gate, you may not pass through because it is marked as impassable on the map. More on this below.
• Further details on Sprint orienteering standards can be found in this document (8MB PDF).
• There are sections of the map with multi-level buildings; the new mapping standard allows us to capture this complexity more clearly. In addition to the links above, it is recommended that you review and understand this chart:

The middle column indicates how an upper level (i.e., that you can go under) is represented on the map: diagonal lines with the color indicating the characteristic of that level. For example, if the second level is itself covered, you would see an area mapped with the middle column of 522. If the second level is paved and open to the sky, it would be 501. If the second level is out of bounds, it would be 709. Here's an example (not from the St. Mary's map) showing several of these in action:

There is a tunnel that starts at the two black triangles on the left and goes to the two black triangles on the right. The tunnel also has a branch going south after the building with an exit at the two black triangles at the bottom. The diagonal lines indicate where you can physically be on top of the tunnel. Where the diagonal lines are beige you would be standing on pavement; where they are light green you would be in light green vegetation. Note the area with diagonal olive-green lines—this is out of bounds on top, and while you could physically stand there, it is not allowed. On the north side of the map you will notice purple diagonal lines—this also means that the area is out of bounds on top. Finally, there are dotted lines through the building, indicating that the tunnel goes under the building (but since you cannot be in a building, that area has no diagonal lines.)

In the control description, the "lower" or "upper" symbol is used to indicate if the control is on the upper or lower level:

Also, keep in mind that you might encounter doors and gates throughout the course. Don't try to open the doors or gates: this is not allowed and will not help you even if you succeed. If you come to an open door/gate and are tempted to go through, read the map very carefully to make sure that it is permitted, i.e., remember that you cannot go through a building unless a passage is indicated on the map, or through a gate if it is indicated as impassable on the map.

Courses

Three courses are being offered: a Beginner course, a Short and a Long course. The Short and Long courses count for the Summer Series. The course statistics are as follows:

    Course      Length    Climb  Controls
    Beginner    2.0 km   minimal    13  
    Short       3.4 km     10 m     16  
    Long        5.3 km     35 m     25

Road-running shoes are best since most of the running is on pavement or hard surfaces. Shoes with metal studs are not allowed.

The map will be printed at 1:4000 with a 2.5 m contour interval.

There will not be water placed on the courses, so if you think you will need it, please carry it with you. There are water fountains on the campus, but they are not indicated on the map.

There will be a mandatory flagged route from the Start Line to the Start Triangle. At the Start Line you will clear and check your E-stick, and pick up the loose clue sheet for your course, which will list all the controls on your course. At your assigned start time, you will pick up your map, punch the Start unit, and then follow the flagged route to the Start Triangle. There will be an orienteering white/orange bag at the Start Triangle but no E-punch (i.e., you do not punch at the Start Triangle bag).

The Short and Long courses will encounter a fence that is pretty run down. At least for some of its length it seems to have only the vertical posts remaining. I can't vouch that this is true for the whole length, so for safety reasons I left it mapped as a "crossable fence" so it is clearly visible on the map, but you should not have to jump over or crawl under it.

Map Exchanges and Artificial Barriers for Short and Long Courses

Because you have gotten so good at Sprint orienteering (even with my mischievous control placements), I've decided to up the challenge in two ways: map exchanges and artificial barriers. The reason for map exchanges is to prevent you from planning your route choice in advance. The artificial barriers add another level of complexity to route choices.

Map Exchanges

There will be several map exchanges on both the Short and Long courses. The map you will pick up at the Start will show the course from the Start to control X. When you get to control X, you will punch that control and pick up a second map, which will show only the second part of the course. The course on that new map will start with this symbol:

Next to this symbol will be the number X, and your next control will be X+1. (For example, the first map might show from the Start to control 5. The second map would show the circle/triangle symbol with a 5 next to it, and the next control would be 6. Control 5 needs to be punched only once—but don't forget to punch it!)

Note that the Short and Long courses might get to a control where only one, or both, courses have a map exchange. Pay attention to your map, because if you switch maps when you're not supposed to you will end up on the wrong course.

We will have map cases at the Start, but consider bringing your own to save the environment. Maps will be printed on 8.5x11 paper. Because of the number of maps that need to be printed, we will be using standard printer paper (i.e., lower quality than we usually use) to save on cost. That paper is not waterproof and is more easily tearable. We did some tests with it on a dry warm day, and it was fine with and without a map case.

When you get to a map-exchange point you have several options. You can drop your map there and pick up the next one. If you're using a map case, you can put the new map on top of the other one in the map case. Note that the maps for the next section will not be in map cases.

As mentioned above, the loose clue sheet available at the Start will have all the controls for your course on it, so there will not be new loose clue sheets at the map exchanges.

Artificial Barriers

There will be two kinds of artificial barriers: short linear ones that will be marked on the map and in the field, and larger areas marked as out-of-bounds on the map but not in the field.

Short artificial barriers will be indicated on the map with this symbol:

In the field there will be some kind of tape or cones, or something else to indicate that you cannot pass. Note that we cannot completely block passages because other people will be on the campus, so do not go around the tape/cones even if it is physically possible. It is your responsibility to see on the map where the artificial barrier is located, where it starts and ends, and see the markings in the field. The artificial barriers will be monitored.

Artificial out-of-bounds areas will be indicated on the map with this symbol:

However, we will not be taping the boundary of artificial out-of-bounds areas because it would be too disruptive to the campus. Therefore the cross-hatched pattern on the map will not have a solid or dashed line around it (see the third bullet above: "no line indicates no marking in the terrain"). It is your responsibility to read from the map where the boundaries are, and to avoid crossing them. The out-of-bounds areas will be monitored.

Clue Sheets

Here are the sizes of the loose control descriptions (aka clue sheets):

    Course     Dimensions         Boxes
    Beginner   5.5 cm x 12.5 cm   7 mm  
    Short      5.5 cm x 15 cm     7 mm  
    Long       5   cm x 18 cm     6 mm