Joaquin Miller Sprints, Oakland, Thursday 11/12/2009

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Original Announcement:

Enjoy a bit of BAOC club history in perhaps its nicest patch of terrain at the top of a redwood forest in the Oakland Hills. Befuddling navigators since 1978. Sprint courses will be set. Will you finish them before dark? The running is amazingly free and easy - minimal slash, a few patches of vegetation here and there. But it can be pretty confusing finding your way!

Jonas Kjall is setting the courses.

Details:

Starts available 3:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. (possibly later)

Cost $5, or included if you're registered for the whole week.

Social afterwards at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland - meet at 6:00 to go find a dinner spot, then some will return later for a movie. 2012?

Jonas Kjall's Course Setter's Notes

This training will be held in some of the finest mapped redwood forest in the bay area. The terrain is better suited for a middle distance than a sprint course. However I have tried to make the course as sprint like as possible, keeping the best orienteering challanges this map has to offer. I think the course will feel more like a sprint course to a M/F -21+ runner and more like a middle distance course to other runners.

One advanced orienteering course is offered.

2.8km, 75 m climb, 14 controls.

The training will be held just off from Skyline blvd (1/4 mile east of the entrance to Sequoia arena), orienteering bags will mark the location. Some parking is available just off the road at the training. There is no parking or entrance fee for Joaquin Miller park. Additional parking is avaliable further away along the road and there is also a big parking lot 150 m SE on skyline and then 150 m E in on a side road.

Sport-ident will be used, bring your own SI-card (a very limited amount of cards will be available for rental.) Distance to start 200m (see map at finish, no streamers.) Finish is at the parking. Almost everything on the SW side of the road is "competition area." For warm-up, use the other side NE of the road (Redwood regional park, great for trail running if someone wants more training, I might be able to give you an orienteering map of it if you ask me well before the event.)

First start is at 3.30pm. I had hoped people should be able to do this traning after work. However, now when we are back on "normal time" it gets dark early and the park closes at sunset. Especially in a dense redwood forest it gets hard to read a map early, so course closure will be around 5.00pm and last start around 4.30pm. If you have the possibility I would recommend you to have an early start time. However, I still hope people who are working can get off a bit early and be able to do this "great" course before it gets dark.

The map is 1:5000, not made after the sprint norm, but after the regular norm. It is an old map, made 1991 and partly updated 2003(?). I have made some map corrections that I think are the most important to keep the race fair. However, some imagination about how terrain changes with time can be useful. Special objects are a black cross and a black "bench." They mean misc. (man-made) object(s) and bench(s)/table groups(s).

This is a park just in the outskirts of Oakland so there can be a fair amount of other people, please be considerate. The course will pass by "Sequoia Arena," a horse facility. You will most likely not see any horses, but if you do, give them "right of way." You are not allowed to pass inside the fenced part. It will be marked as "out of bounds" on the map. Please respect this and don't climb the fence even if there are no horses inside.

Bring you own water and food. Nothing will be provided. There are water fountains in the park, but none at the finish area.

Directions:

From CA Highway 13 exit at Joaquin Miller Road and head east up the hill. Turn left at the light at Skyline Blvd. after about a mile. Then after another mile you will see the parking entrance to Roberts Recreation Area on your right. Pass this and keep driving on Skyline until you see some dirt parking along the side of the road on your left. Park there, you will see a control bag. If you've reached the entrance to Chabot Space and Science Center you've driven too far, turn around.

Public Transit:

Access is not easy. From the AC Transit 18 bus, you can get off near the top of Park Blvd where it crosses CA Highway 13 and meets Mountain Blvd. Then you'd have a bit of hiking or biking to do.

Event Contact: Rex, 5 1 0 - 6 8 1 - 6 1 8 1, rex@terraloco.com

Map:

Scale 1:5000, 20 ft. contours.

See the map on BAOC's Routegadget page.

Joaquin Miller Park, City of Oakland