Berkeley Street-O
Date: (Sun.) Mar. 22, 2009
Location: Berkeley, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setter: Rex Winterbottom
Type: C; FREE Street-O on a new map by Rex, in conjunction with the Fleet Feet store in Berkeley.
Course Setter's Notes
By
Terrain
Suburban neighborhoods and streets, with some urban parks and trails. Many staircases and paths between streets. A few busy streets. Lovely gardens. An interesting array of homes. Hills go from soft to steep. Big bay views.
Map
We'll be using a new map created by Rex. The scale is 1:10000, with 20-ft contours. For this event, the map will cover one 8.5" x 11" page (it will be expanded in the future). Pathways and staircases between streets are denoted with the footpath symbol, which looks like a trail symbol. Note the large areas of light green on the map—they indicate residential properties—do not go on private property; I don't believe it would ever be to your advantage on this course anyway.
Hazards
Traffic. The old adage "look both ways before crossing the street" applies here! I would like to add "don't read your map while crossing the street." Use all your senses. Safety first. Busy streets include Solano Ave, The Alameda (a.k.a. Martin Luther King Jr. Way), Marin Ave, Spruce Ave, Euclid Ave, Henry St/Shattuck Ave, and Grizzly Peak Blvd if you take a high route choice. And I've seen cars whiz down the smaller streets as well.
Some of the parks have some rocky areas and people visitors—be nice to yourself and the others as you pass through.
Gear
Running shoes and running clothes recommended—heavy gear is not necessary. But check the weather forecast—there's a chance of rain, and you might need some running gear for the rain.
Course
It's really just one Score-O course. Ten controls will be put out all over the map. Get as many as you want, and we'll make some ad hoc categories based on "number found." If you want to get them all, I figured a route that's 7.5 km as the crow flies, and 300 m of climb. Perhaps you can find a more efficient tour. I'm thinking the fastest times will be under an hour, maybe 50 minutes. I'm going to try it with bags and pin punches; you'll use punch cards.