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Emerald Hills

Date: (Sat.) May. 10, 2014
Location: Redwood City, CA
Event Director: - 650.302.4835
Course Setter: Frank Markowitz
Type: C; Beginner point-to-point course and "Western Massachusetts Rules" Score-O course for beginners through advanced

Please note that fees and time limits apply. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Join us for a Street-O on a spring day in the hills above Redwood City. You'll enjoy the crooked streets and terrific views. This event is especially for those new to the sport of orienteering. This event is mostly in an urban area, with just a few controls in the wilderness areas. This will be lots of fun for the less-competive folks who will enjoy the views, the variety of houses from mansions to old cabins, interesting gardens, and of course the terrain in Edgewood Park. Edgewood Park photos and a plant/wildflower search are available here (http://www.friendsofedgewood.org).

We hope you will come join us for a fun outdoor adventure.

What is Orienteering

An adventure! Discover the outdoors and discover yourself! Teams of 1 to 5 find checkpoints in wilderness venues or urban areas using specially-produced maps.

Schedule

  9:00 AM – Registration opens
  9:30 AM – Beginner's instruction for scouts and youth groups (free)
  9:50 AM – Beginner's instruction for everyone (free)
10:00 AM – Starts open, you can start on courses anytime until 12:30
  2:00 PM – Courses close

Enjoy snacks and refreshments after you finish! Please check in at the Finish by 2:00 PM (even if you haven't completed your course), so we can have everyone accounted for. Thank you.

Costs

  $3 for juniors (age 8 through 20)
  $6 for beginner's (White) course
$10 member price for the Western Massachusetts Rules Score-O course
$15 non-member price for the Western Massachusetts Rules Score-O course
$15 for the lowest-cost individual year BAOC membership (optional)
  $1 for a compass rental (optional)

You won't need an electronic finger-stick rental for this event, since we are using paper scoring.

What to Bring

Comfortable outdoors attire and shoes are fine.

A compass is not necessary, but can be helpful. We have compasses available for a $1 rental fee.

Venue Facilities

This adventure will start at Roy Cloud Elementary School 3790 Red Oak Way, Redwood City (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Roy+Cloud+Elementary+School&hl=en&ll=37.459939,-122.256289&spn=0.054913,0.090466&sll=37.269174,-119.306607&sspn=14.079199,23.15918&t=m&z=14).

Picnic tables, piped water, and flush toilets are available.

There are two parking lots (one off Red Oak Way and one off Jefferson Ave), and the parking is free.

Courses

We will have two standard, easy beginner's (White) courses for families and beginners, and a more-advanced Score-O course.

The beginner's (White) courses will be standard point-to-point courses, 3.2 km (2.0 mi) and 3.9 km (2.4 mi) long (measured along the straight-line distances between controls). This will be a great warmup if you're trying orienteering for the first time. You get to see the map before the start and experience how everything works. The Western Massachusetts Rules Score-O course (see below) is also suitable for beginners, although its rules are a bit more complicated than those for the White courses.

The Score-O will use the "Western Massachusetts Rules"​—​there will be 27 60 controls in the Emerald Hills neighborhood, and you will need to visit a certain number of the controls in any combination. There are four length categories that determine how many controls you'll need to get:

Short – any 7 controls
Medium – any 15 controls
Long – any 25 controls
Longest – any 40 controls

You won't need to decide which category you are in until you finish. But note that there is no bonus for visiting more controls than you need (i.e., 9 controls puts you in the Short category with everyone who found only 7). The results for each category are based on time.

Bob Cooley and Frank have added some new areas to the map, but the area we are using adds only about 5% to the original map. The controls will be more dense in the four corners of the map.

There is no overtime penalty with the Western Massachusetts Rules.

See the Course Setter's Notes for more information about the courses.

Request for Help

As usual, we will need help at the event. Can you help with any of these positions?

9:30 – Beginner's instruction for scouts and youth groups
9:50 – Beginner's instruction for everyone
Registration
Help at the finish
Results

Thanks to all of you who volunteer in so many ways to help our club! I really do appreciate all that you do! – Nancy

Driving Directions

Roy Cloud Elementary School (3790 Red Oak Way, Redwood City) is located at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Emerald Hill Road. The entrance to the main parking lot is off Red Oak Way. There is also a parking lot off of Jefferson Ave, northeast of Emerald Hill Road.

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

From 280: Take the Farm Hill Boulevard exit, and go northeast (toward the bay). After one mile, turn left onto Emerald Hill Road. Drive 0.3 miles, and turn right onto Red Oak Way. The school is on your left.

From 101: Take the Woodside Road (84) exit, and drive southwest (away from the bay) on Woodside Road. Go about 1.3 miles. Follow signs to CA-82 (El Camino Real) and drive north on El Camino Real. After 0.5 miles, turn left onto Jefferson Avenue. Go 1.7 miles, then around a bend to the left, starting up a hill. At the next stop light, stay straight, which becomes Farm Hill Blvd. Continue on Farm Hill Blvd for one mile. Turn right on Emerald Hill Road. After 0.3 miles, turn right onto Red Oak Way—the school will be on your left.

Public Transit

SamTrans bus #274 runs hourly, leaving the Redwood City Caltrain station at 35 minutes past the hour, and arriving at Farm Hill Blvd. and Emerald Hill Rd. at 49 minutes past the hour.