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Bedwell Bayfront Park

Date: (Sun.) Jul. 12, 2015
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Event Director: - 408.313.3753
Course Setter: Ann Marie Cody
Type: C; White, Yellow, and Orange and Advanced Motalas

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


Bedwell Bayfront Park started out as a landfill, but today it is so much more! Clusters of trees and shrubs, carefully placed boulders, and a maze of trails cover it now. The Bay breezes keep this place cool when the summer heat scorches the hills. Come join us in exploring it!

Ann Marie Cody has planned White and Yellow courses for beginners, and Motala courses for intermediate (Orange) and advanced runners. What's a Motala? It's a course consisting of multiple loops with a different map for each one. It's named after a small city in Sweden.

Venue Facilities

There is no park entrance fee. Registration will be located in a new place at the north end of the first paved parking lot, behind the restrooms. Park here, in the lot to the north, or alongside the access road, well off the pavement. Try to use the unpaved areas efficiently; don't use more space than necessary.

Please keep in mind that we are sharing the park with the general public.

There are decent restrooms, outdoor sinks, and one drinking fountain.

Schedule

  9:00 AM – Registration opens, you can register anytime until noon
  9:30 AM – Beginner's clinic instruction (free)
10:00 AM – Starts open, you can start on courses anytime until 12:30
  2:00 PM – Courses close, checkpoint pick-up begins

Beginner's clinics are short, repeating sessions that provide an introduction to orienteering and enough instruction to be able to complete the Beginner (White) course. The sessions will begin at 9:30 continue until about 10:30 (depending on demand).

Please note that everyone must return to the Finish by 2:00 PM, and check in at E-punch, even if you don't complete your course, so we can have everyone accounted for and start checkpoint pick-up on time so those volunteers can get home.

Costs

  $3 for juniors on beginner's (White) and advanced beginner's (Yellow) courses
  $8 for adults on beginner's and advanced beginner's courses
  $5 for juniors on intermediate (Orange) courses  
$12 adult member price for intermediate courses
$18 adult non-member price for intermediate courses
  $1 for a compass rental (optional)  
  $5 for an electronic fingerstick rental (if you don't own one, you'll need one to complete the course)
$15 for the lowest-cost individual one-year BAOC membership (optional)  

For extra people on a team, add $7 per adult for intermediate courses or $5 per adult on beginners' courses (with lower prices for juniors).

More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ.

Course Setter's Notes

The White course is perfect for first-timers and families with small children. It is a beginning-level orienteering course that is completely on trails and paths.

The Yellow course is advanced-beginner level, mostly along trails, but with easy cross-country opportunities available. If you wish, you can do both courses at this event, as there will be only one overlapping control.

Bayfront Park is fairly small in land area, high in visibility, and has many trails. Therefore we will offer "intermediate" and "advanced" courses with a few twists: there will be three loops available to run in Motala format. On intermediate (Orange) courses, runners may choose between one loop ("Orange-1"), two loops ("Orange-12"), or three loops ("Orange-123"), with a map exchange after each loop. Advanced runners have the same choices, but all of the trails will be removed from the maps. This provides a total distance of between 3.4 and 9.6 km.

    Course           Length    Climb
    White            1.6 km     30 m  
    Yellow           2.8 km     68 m
    Orange-1         3.4 km     80 m
    Orange-12        6.6 km    160 m
    Orange-123       9.6 km    225 m
    Advanced-1       3.4 km     80 m
    Advanced-12      6.6 km    160 m
    Advanced-123     9.6 km    225 m

Beginners should be aware that the course lengths above represent the cumulative straight-line distances between the controls. The actual distance you will travel will depend on your route choices (and any errors you might make), and will certainly be somewhat longer. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascent one would experience on the "optimum route", without regard for any decent along the course.

There is not much shade in the park, so plan ahead with hats and sunblock.

While most of Bayfront is mapped as rough open land, recent mowing has made some areas much more runnable than others. These will be very obvious. Although it may appear to be flat ground, be aware of the many holes hidden under the grass!! Ankle twisting is a real possibility.

For the rest of the park, expect tall (2–3 ft) grass and weeds with decreased runnability. Gaiters and long pants are recommended for the Orange and Advanced courses, though there will generally be trail options to get around the worst of the grass. There may be a fence crossing or two on the Orange/Advanced courses, and most people should be able to squeeze between the wooden beams.

Some of the mapped features are a bit non-standard. Brown triangles are listed in the map legend as covered knolls, but many are not high enough to be true knolls. What these features have in common is that they are vegetated bumps with rectangular lids on top. Many also have a post with caution tape. They are marked as man-made features (not knolls) on the clue sheets.

Brown ×'s, which traditionally represent rootstocks, may also be dead and/or fallen trees and branches. These are all denoted with the rootstock symbol on the clue sheet.

Objects marked with the cairn symbol are also not true cairns, but rather interpretive artwork involving arrangements of small boulders. Some are stacked; others are not.

For more information, examine the map legend.

Request for Volunteers

As usual, we need some help for this event. Start, Finish, control pickup, beginner clinics​—​all will be needed. We expect a fair number of first-timers. Bayfront is easy, no long walk to the Start or from parking. We could use more hands at Epunch and maybe at registration as well. Also, it always helps to have a few people show up early to help set up or stay till the end to help tear down.

All the tasks are easy. Helping with set up or tear down, at the Start or Finish, or with control pickup, is particularly suitable for somebody with no previous experience.

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.