Tilden Park — 2006 BAOC Club Championships
Date: (Sun.) Dec. 10, 2006
Location: Berkeley, CA
Event Directors: 
, - 510.409.9285
Course Setters: Evan Custer, Jay Hann
Type: B; 2006 BAOC Club Championships on a NEW MAP
Related Information
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Note: Even though this is the annual club championship event, beginners are still welcome.
Sunday Update
The event will take place today, rain or shine. The controls are all set, and we hope you come out today and try BAOC's newest map.
Friday Update
Don’t let the darkening skies deter you from coming to this year’s Club Champs on our new map of Tilden Park in Berkeley. It should be a great event, even if it is a little damp. Great fun sliding down those muddy hillsides!
We will have awards for the top 3 finishers in the junior age categories, and for the top finisher in the other course/age groups. See the below for the specific classes. Hopefully, the awards ceremony will begin around 1:30 or so, if not before, or at least as soon as all of the competitive runners have returned. Bruce and Tapio, please don’t start too late, since both of you will probably be among the tops in your classes. Kelly Wells is designing the awards, which will be medals with an event specific logo on them.
Good news. I just learned from Joe that James has relocated back in the Bay Area and will be competing this Sunday. He should give all of you blue runners a good run for your money.
Joe will be at the event with his O goodies for sale.
Since all of the courses are using EP, and since the finish will be close to the EP tent, the finish will be unmanned. Just punch the finish control and go directly to the blue EP tent to down load. Please do not forget to go to the EP tent BEFORE the event to get your name in the database, so we know who is still out on the courses near the end of the afternoon. It also speeds up the download process immensely.
I still really need a volunteer to run the starts from about 11:00 to 12:30. If you are willing to help out, please let me know.
Club Championships
The 2006 BAOC Club Championships will be held on a new map at Tilden Park in the Berkeley hills on Sunday, December 10. Having a new map is a big deal for an orienteering club, since that is where we spend most of our money. Usually we like to inaugurate a new map with an A meet. However, because some people feel that the terrain at Tilden is not up to A-meet quality, we are having the next best thing: the club championships. We hope to provide A-meet quality for this event at B-meet prices.
This event will culminate another successful year of orienteering for BAOC, including two A meets, a Golden Goat, several sprints, an active summer training series, four ski-O's, a rogaine, and about 15 other regular events.
Here's a link for more information about Tilden Park (http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.htm).
Map
The terrain was field checked and drawn last year by Russian mapper Vladimir Zherdev. He has done several other maps for us, and they have been of good quality, and this one is also excellent. The white and yellow courses will be printed at 1:5000 and the orange and advanced courses will be printed at 1:10000 scale. The contour elevation is 5 meters. Standard IOF orienteering symbols are used. Zherdev frequently uses the dotted-line distinct vegetation boundary symbol, which many other mappers, particularly in this country, do not use.
Terrain
Tilden Park is much like most of our Bay Area terrain: steep, lots of rough open with scattered areas of pine and eucalyptus forest, and a moderate amount of fight, which is mainly poison oak, brambles, blackberries, and dense coyote bush. At the time of this writing (mid November), the rain has softened up the ground considerably, the grasses are not as slippery, and even the thistles, stickers, and fox tails are becoming less obnoxious. Hopefully, with continued rain, the meadows will become quite pleasant to run in by the time the event takes place. The poison oak is mainly in the reentrants, but since the event will be in the winter, the plant is not quite as noxious as in the early spring; however, poison oak prevention techniques should still be utilized.
The contour detail is relatively bland. Most of the competition area will be on the side of a large hill, the park border being the ridge line. There is a relatively dense trail network. There are some rock features, many of which will be used as control points. The vegetation is quite well mapped, particularly since the map is new, and so some of the thickets will be used as control points. This is a practice I generally try to avoid since vegetation tends not to be well mapped, and it changes over the years relatively quickly.
Assembly Area
Tilden is a very central park and is convenient to most Bay Area residents. Its close-in location is one of the main reasons we decided to map Tilden. The assembly area will be at the Mineral Springs Group Picnic Area on Wildcat Canyon Road. There is probably room for 60 cars in the parking lot, so please carpool, and park close together. Late comers may have to park on the shoulder of the road or in several other relatively close parking lots.
Schedule
Starts will be available from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. All courses close at 2:00 pm. You must return to the EP tent by 2:00 pm and check in whether or not you finish your course. If you return after 2:00 pm, you may be disqualified even if you finish your course. If you are slow or a beginner, be sure to start early so you have plenty of time to finish your course.
Please be considerate and return on time. If you arrive late, the organizers will be concerned that you are injured or lost, and they will have to organize a search party for you. It becomes dark early (sunset is at 4:50 pm) so we do not have much leeway for organizing a search while it is still light.
Beginner's Clinics
Beginner's clinics will be offered between 9:30 and 10:30, depending on the demand.
Courses
Eight courses will be offered: White, Yellow, Orange, Long Orange (adventure racer training course), Brown, Green, Red, and Blue. In an attempt to have the winning times in the desirable range, the courses may be a little shorter distance-wise than normal because of the relatively large amount of climb. I have tried to design some interesting and challenging courses, including a variety of legs on the advanced courses, from some longer legs to some shorter, more technical legs.
See the Course Setter's Notes for more information about the courses.
Course Statistics
Here are the final course statistics:
Course Length Climb Controls
White 1.1 km 60 m 9 Yellow 1.8 km 75 m 6 Orange 2.2 km 150 m 10 Long Orange 4.2 km 280 m 17 Brown 2.7 km 175 m 10 Green 3.9 km 285 m 13 Red 5.3 km 475 m 19 Blue 6.9 km 540 m 24
Awards
Since this event is the club championships, there will be awards for the top male and female member finishers in each of the age-group classes. In addition, there will be awards for the second-place and third-place finishers in the junior categories (M-20 and younger) as an incentive for the younger members to participate. (Age is determined by subtracting birth year from 2006. A minus sign indicates the class includes the stated age and younger. A plus sign indicates the class includes the stated age and older.)
Class Course Class Course
M-10 White F-10 White
M-12 White F-12 White
M-14 Yellow F-14 Yellow
M-16 Orange F-16 Orange
M-20 Red F-20 Brown
M-21+ Blue F-21+ Red
M35+ Red F-21+ Blue ("Amazon" class)
M50+ Green F35+ Green
M65+ Brown F55+ Brown
You must be a member of BAOC to be eligible for awards. An up-to-date membership roster will be checked prior to the award ceremony. You can pay your dues the morning of the event, but you must do so before you run.
Start and Finish Areas
There will be a remote start that is 175 m from the assembly area. It is an easy walk along the Wildcat Canyon Road from the assembly area. We will use the traditional BAOC start procedure. The Start line will be about 35 meters from the remote start triangle. When told to start, punch the "Start" unit with your finger stick, go to the remote start triangle, pick up the appropriate map from the map bins, and begin navigating to the first control.
The Finish area will be right at the assembly area. After punching the "Finish" unit with your finger stick, go immediately to the E-Punch tent and download your results.
Electronic Punching
Electronic punching (EP) will be used on all courses. If you do not own your own EP card (finger stick), you may rent one at the event.
After you register and pay your fee at registration, you must proceed to the blue EP tent and enter your name and EP card number in the computer database before you go to the Start area. This is important because it gives us a record of who is out on a course. Place your finger stick in the red master unit marked "Before" and tell the EP volunteer what course you are running. If your card and name are not in the database (e.g., you have a rental finger stick), please have the course card that you were given at registration filled in legibly so your name can be entered into the database.
Before starting your run, "Clear" and "Check" your finger stick with the respective units at the Start area. When told to start, insert your finger stick into the "Start" unit, proceed to the remote start triangle, get your map, and navigate to the first control. Punch each control unit with your finger stick. Make sure the unit flashes and beeps to indicate that the unit wrote the data to your card. If a unit malfunctions, punch your map with the manual punch to prove you were at the control. After punching all of the control units on your course, punch the "Finish" unit at the Finish line, and proceed immediately to the EP tent to download your data and receive your split printout.
You must report to the EP tent before leaving the event, whether or not you finish your course. Otherwise we will not know that you have returned, and we will have to organize a search party for you.
Request for Volunteers
I will need volunteers to staff the usual jobs: starts, finish, beginner's clinic, control pickup, etc. Please contact me if you are willing to do any of these tasks.
Officials
Evan Custer, Event Director and Course Setter
Michael Behrens, Assistant Event Director
Jay Hann, Assistant Course Setter
George Minarik, Vetter and Course Consultant
Kelly Wells, Control Pickup and Awards
Scott Aster, Beginner's Clinics
Driving Directions
There are many ways to reach Mineral Springs in Tilden, depending on what direction you are coming. Since you are an orienteer, you may want to check a map. Here are a few possibilities:
From the east, take the Orinda exit from Rte. 24, and head north towards Orinda Village and Richmond on Camino Pablo. Go about 3 miles, and turn left at the signal onto Wildcat Canyon Road (Bear Creek Rd. goes off to the right towards Briones), and wind your way up Wildcat for 3.1 miles. Mineral Springs will be on your right, past Inspiration Point, but before you get to the Botanic Garden.
If you are coming from the north or from Berkeley, it probably will be easier to go up to Grizzly Peak Rd., east on Shasta, and right on Wildcat Canyon Road past the Botanic Garden, and turn left into Mineral Springs.
If the lot is full, and it probably will be if it is a nice day, you may park on the shoulder of the road if the vehicle is completely off the road and is not in a "No Parking Zone".