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BAOC COOL #7

Bedwell Bayfront Park

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 13, 2011
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Event Director: - 925.872.3935
Course Setter: Matej Sebo
Type: Junior; Meet #7 at Bayfront Park

Related Event Information

Last Year's Event Event Results

Please note that fees and time limits apply, unless otherwise mentioned below. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Schedule

9:00 AM – 12:00 noon: Registration
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM: All courses starts
2:00 PM: Courses close; you must be back even if you don't finish your course

Punching

As always, we will be using electronic punching at this meet, using SPORTident finger sticks. The following models are supported: SI-Card 5, SI-Card 6, SI-Card 8, and SI-Card 9. Finger sticks are available for rent at the meet. In addition, you can get a finger stick to keep all season with your season pass.

Registration

If you have a BAOC COOL season pass, your meet fee is covered. If you don't have a season pass, the regular fees apply: $3 per Junior, plus a $3 fee for finger-stick rental.

Competitive Categories

The following courses will be used for the BAOC COOL classes:

Elementary boys and girls – Course 1
Middle School boys and girls – Course 2
JV boys and girls – Course 3
Varsity girls – Course 4
Varsity boys – Course 5

The following courses will be used for the BAOC Winter Series classes:

Winter Series Women – Course 4
Winter Series Men – Course 5


Course Setter Notes

By Matej Sebo

Well, once again, it’s time for our annual COOL event at Bayfront Park. The grass is fresh and green, but not yet quite tall enough to make navigation difficult. This park is ideal for beginner’s courses, with an extensive trail network in a relatively small area, and some nice views of the marshes and the bay.

For intermediate and advanced runners this year, the main emphasis has been put on route choice. When there’s a hill between Point A and Point B, do you go straight up, left, or right? It might be interesting to compare the resulting route choices on RouteGadget and analyze which option turned out to be best.

The Map

Bedwell Bayfront Park is a small park, but there are still quite a few navigationally challenging areas. I have done my best to further improve the map, but you might still find some slight contour anomalies or unmapped manhole covers.

There are several varieties of knolls in the park. Knolls with manhole covers on top of them are especially prevalent, but there are a couple of "normal" knolls. Also, there are several "gravel knolls" from trail maintenance. On the new map, the "manhole knolls" are mapped with a brown triangle. The "gravel knolls" are mapped with a gray dot, while the "normal knolls" are mapped with a brown dot.

There are quite a few small gas outlets in the park, and these are mapped with a blue or black ×. Standing tree stumps, dead trees, and tree "sections" lying on the ground are mapped with a brown ×. Many of the indistinct paths on the map disappear and reappear throughout the year; the map has been updated to reflect these changes. Areas of bare earth are mapped as "open land", while the rest of the park is "rough open." Large gravel-covered areas are mapped as a gray field with black dots.

The Courses

Five courses will be offered, listed below in ascending order of difficulty. If you are a newcomer, or are unsure of which course to run, Course 1 is recommended. Course 2 is slightly more challenging than usual, and careful navigation is a must! Course 3 was set with Sprint runners in mind, and offers some interesting route-choice legs. It’s longer than the average Course 3, but the technical difficulty is comparable. Course 4 is a shortened version of Course 5, intended mainly for Varsity Girls. And finally, for the brave-at-heart, Course 5 combines technical and physical challenges into a 6.9-km Motala (see below). For Course 4 and Course 5, all trails will be removed from the map. The complete course statistics are as follows: 

   Course     Distance  Climb  Controls  Comments

   Course 1    1.9 km    37 m     14     "White", beginner's course
   Course 2    2.8 km    55 m     12     "Yellow", advanced beginners
   Course 3    4.7 km    91 m     18     "Sprint" or "Orange", intermediate to advanced
   Course 4*   4.8 km    85 m     16     "Brown", Varsity Girls, Winter Series Women, advanced (subset of Course 5)
   Course 5*   6.9 km   128 m     23     "Green", Varsity Boys, Winter Series Men, Motala, advanced

   * - No trails on the map!

There is no poison oak in Bedwell Bayfront Park. A few feral cats, several jackrabbits, and dozens of ground squirrels were seen during the setting of the courses. The grass is growing rapidly, obscuring many squirrel holes about a foot deep. Especially when running at full speed, these holes can be dangerous, so watch your step.

Motala Notes (Course 5 runners only)

A Motala is an orienteering course run on more than one map. After completing the first loop, you switch maps at the Finish and run the second loop. On this course, the first loop consists primarily of route-choice legs. The second has more controls and is more navigationally challenging. The first loop is 3.0 km long; the second is 3.6 km long. After finishing the first loop, do not punch the Finish control. Instead, punch control #100, located at the map exchange next to the Finish. After exchanging your map and completing the second loop, you should punch the Finish.

Driving Directions

From the Peninsula, North, and South, take Highway 101 to the Marsh Road East exit. Stay to the left so you can drive straight ahead into the park at the traffic signal where Marsh turns right into Bayfront Expressway.

From the East Bay, cross the Dumbarton Bridge. Go to the fifth traffic light after the bridge and turn right into the park.

There's a map here that shows the location of the event.