Presidio of San Francisco, Main Post
Date: (Sat.) Feb. 16, 2019
Location: San Francisco, CA
Event Director: - 415.566.7990
Course Setter: Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Type: C; Sprint event, and beginner’s course, at this popular park
Course Setter's Notes
By Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Three courses have been planned; the Prologue and the Chase are of the Sprint format, while the Beginners' course is a White. The Prologue, measured around impassable obstacles, is 3.4 km with 15 controls and 60 m climb. Don't let the extra length bother you—the newest IOF standard requires that the distance supplied be the shortest possible while going around the impassables. As the crow flies (if a crow flies into an impassable wall, what does the crow say?), the course is closer to the usual just-under-3-km. The Chase is similar—3.5 km (measured around impassable obstacles) with 17 controls and 45 m climb.
The map is a 2016 ISSOM product by Matej Å ebo. It's a fine map. I updated it just enough for the event to be fair. Most importantly:
- Know and study your ISSOM uncrossables. If I feel like it, I'll go out there and enforce. If I see you doing very ... bad ... things in the Prologue, you'll get a DNF and start the Chase at 13:30, with 30 minutes allowed for your course until closing time. If that happens in the Chase, well, you are just DNF.
- The mapper preferred the "fourth-green" symbol over the olive-green. It's still uncrossable. The darkest-color green is not allowed to be crossed. Physically, it sometimes is crossable; usually it is not. How can you tell the fourth-green from the third-green? Don't. Treat all dark green as no-go.
- Some of the gaps between uncrossables on this map seem just under the minimum regulation; it is also definitely true that some of the fourth-green fingers are narrower than the minimum that the standard requires. The olive-green is more compliant. If you see a thin green line, usually going along a path or another linear feature, assume it's not crossable. If you just couldn't see it on the map ... well ... we'll deal with it as we go.
- There is car traffic. Be safe; also, mind your direction as you weave among parked cars, and as you pick a good place to cross a street with traffic. Check your compass/location upon exit.
- Footwear/pantswear: Both the Prologue and the Chase are ... fifty-fifty. I personally have separate "Forest Sprint" and "Urban Sprint" shoes, and with this one, I am puzzled as to what to optimize for. There is no mud, the ground in the "woods" is solid; at the same time, there is plenty of grass in various degrees of wilderness. One thing for certain, you will want long pants and/or gaiters even if you never go through any green.
That's all for now!