Urban Wild Weekend

S.F. Strays to Breakers: Sunday, September 5, 2010 Saturday! Sunday!

Ferry building! colorfulness! Buena Vista Park! portion, BAOC's Golden Gate Park map windmill!

return to terraloco home click any photo to see the event album! More perfect weather for a jaunt through San Francisco, I could not imagine. One of the important decisions of the day, especially for the 20 km course, was where to get off the N Judah streetcar - most seemed to around the Civic Center stop. Finishing back through Golden Gate Park, I don't know if you could have seen the sweet sights of the park in a better light. All participants got to wash the course down with some ocean water at the end - a few even managed to "keep the foam alive" in their plastic cups. Overall on the 20 km course, there was a fairly close battle between world-class orienteer Eric Bone and world-class adventure racer Rick Baraff for the top two spots, up to about checkpoint 11 in Golden Gate Park. We had three intrepid family teams of four - two parents, two children each - on the 10 km course. One visitor from Pittsburgh, and three others from Washington (in addition to Eric Bone.) The Pamakids entered a team of four, and Karen Andrews represented the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders. A good number came from BAOC, and we had a few more advenutre racers. A special congratulations to those that did two days of courses! Heidi and Bill Cusworth (all the way from Washington,) Jason Reed, Greg Favor, Steve Gregg, Jennifer Kerr, Nancy Lindeman, and Geoffrey Sears. A big thank you to the support crew: Judy Koehler, who manned the event from start to finish, providing registration support, setup help, and anything and everything she could think of doing; Jen Klafin, who took charge of the aid station; and George Minarik, who helped with photography and setup and the aid station. For the results, keep in mind that the S.F. course times involved a train ride of up to 40 minutes!! Two-day Overall Results!! 20 km each day 1. Team Reed: Jason Reed 399:40 (186:44 + 212:56) 2. Greg Favor 420:16 (191:26 + 228:50) 3. Whidbey Island Nerds: Bill & Heidi Cusworth 429:23 (182:45 + 246:38) 10 km each day 1. Jennifer Kerr 376:46 (166:01 + 210:45) 2. Nancy Lindeman 501:05 (267:55 + 233:10) Results - Overall 10 km 1. Team Buhr - Martin Buhr 116:49 2. Team Monkey! - Jason O'Connell, Ann Wang 133:00 3. Jansson - Mats, Teresa, Annika, Emma 155:10 4. Ducks in Distress - Terry Farrah 186:30 5. LMJS Rambling Rosies - Karen Andrews 194:50 6. Early Birds - Leslie Minarik, Jennifer Kerr 210:45 7. Sears - Geoffrey, Janice, Natalie, Lydia 219:14 8. Dragonflies Spring - Shura Krechetov 219:14 9. McGlynn - Pat, Jane, Conor, Liam 220:47 10. Adventure Turtle - Nancy Lindeman - 233:10 20 km 1. Street Scramble - Eric Bone 179:17 2. Number 4!! - Rick Baraff 184:27 3. A2J2 - Anna Kurtz, John Gieng, Andy Chan, Jeff Huizinga 204:43 4. Team Reed - Jason Reed 212:56 5. Deron Van Hoff - 214:51 6. Greg Favor - 228:50 7. Whidbey Island Nerds - Bill & Heidi Cusworth 246:38 8. Steve Gregg - 249:26 Somewhere between 10 km and 20 km Jessica Dowell JJ - Julia Gee & Jeff Ide Results - Categorized 10 km Family 1. Jansson - Mats, Teresa, Annika, Emma 155:10 2. Sears - Geoffrey, Janice, Natalie, Lydia 219:14 3. McGlynn - Pat, Jane, Conor, Liam 220:47 10 km Masters Women 1. Adventure Turtle - Nancy Lindeman - 233:10 10 km Open Women 1. Ducks in Distress - Terry Farrah 186:30 2. LMJS Rambling Rosies - Karen Andrews 194:50 3. Early Birds - Leslie Minarik, Jennifer Kerr 210:45 10 km Open Men 1. Team Buhr - Martin Buhr 116:49 10 km Open Mixed 1. Team Monkey! - Jason O'Connell, Ann Wang 133:00 2. Dragonflies Spring - Shura Krechetov 219:14 20 km Masters Men 1. Deron Van Hoff - 214:51 2. Greg Favor - 228:50 3. Steve Gregg - 249:26 20 km Open Men 1. Street Scramble - Eric Bone 179:17 2. Number 4!! - Rick Baraff 184:27 3. Team Reed - Jason Reed 212:56 20 km Open Mixed 1. A2J2 - Anna Kurtz, John Gieng, Andy Chan, Jeff Huizinga 204:43 2. Whidbey Island Nerds - Bill & Heidi Cusworth 246:38 Event Update - posted September 1 Helpful tips for participating in the event - remember to review all the original notes carefully as well. Course statistics should be slightly longer than the "crow flies" distance on the ground: 10 km course is 9.3 km "as the crow flies" for an optimal tour. 20 km course is 20 km "as the crow flies" for an optimal tour. The 10 km course has one big hill towards the beginning, and the 20 km course has several in the first two thirds of the course. 1. Directions to the registration / finish area have been slightly updated. Coming by car or otherwise, enter the park from 45th Ave. and Lincoln to get to the 45th Ave. Playground. 2. Traffic is a significant hazard on the non-Golden Gate Park part of the course; there are busy major streets to cross. Be very vigilant and careful, and try to avoid routes that would cross major thoroughfares, or adopt the strategy of running along them until you hit a red light and it's safe to cross. 3. Using the street map east of Golden Gate Park: the contour lines will be helpful in planning your route choices - close together contour lines meen steepness, and hilltops are the innermost circles. Map scale is 1:15000, so 1 cm on the map is 150 meters. 4. Using the BAOC "orienteering map" of Golden Gate Park: it has a high amount of detail, but you don't need to use it all, so don't be overwhelmed. Brown contours will be helpful in determining ups and downs and steepness - a depression, or bottom, or "down" will have little brown tag lines attached to the brown contour lines. The map is generally accurate, but has some areas that are changed. I've designed the course to avoid those areas, but if you stray into one of those areas, vegetation can look different than mapped, and sometimes trails too. Roads, of course, are pretty accurate. Think big, think major, keep your route plans simple, you should be okay. I designed this to test basic skills and route planning, not stressing the interpretation of fine details. Vegetation coloring can be helpful in determining how you can run off the trail - orange is generally an open, grassy area with easy running, and yellow can be like that too; beige is pavement. White means forest you can run through, usually. Light green is a little rougher, and so is white with green slash marks. Dark green is best avoided, but sometimes you can get lucky and find an unmapped path through it, although the course is designed so you shouldn't get advantages from such exploitations. Map scale is 1:7500, so 1 cm on the map is 75 meters. 5. Special features of Golden Gate Park: Unless you get creative, you'll avoid poison oak and homeless encampments by sticking to sensible routes. Although the course has been designed and tested to have any poison oak exposure, it behooves you to know what it looks like! Appropriate treatment for exposure is dishwashing soap or "Tecnu" applied with lukewarm or cool water, and wash them clothes. Original Announcement It's the finale of the Urban Wild Weekend! We'll gather at the far west end of Golden Gate Park. Then, we'll be whisked away eastward on the N-Judah Muni train. Maps will be distributed on the train - you'll get a 1:15000 map of San Francisco streets on one side, and BAOC's map of Golden Gate Park atop the S.F. streets on the other. You decide where to get off the train - the Muni stops will be marked on the map. Which stop will work best for you? That depends on what you think is the optimal tour to get all the checkpoints. After you've returned through Golden Gate Park, the last checkpoint will be on the beach... and then you will finish back at the picnic site. There will be two courses: a more direct course of about 10 km and a more meandering course of about 20 km that takes in more spectacles. Both courses are packed with adventure! Despite the Urban WIld Roundup logo having a bike, these courses are trek only. Stay tuned for an event update with more information about the courses... Event Schedule: 9:00 Registration open, picnic site, 45th Ave. playground (near Lincoln Ave.,) west end of Golden Gate Park 9:30 Walk to 46th Ave. & Judah. We wait for the N-Judah train, then all aboard the train! You decide when you get off the train! So how does this work? Please be registered by 9:25 so we can depart on time. You can leave non-valuable items at the registration / finish area, which will be monitored by event staff. You're also allowed to leave stuff like car keys if they're put in a sealed "lunch bag" type thing clearly labeled with your full name. Just before leaving there will be a course briefing with information that will be helpful to you in completing the course. You'll receive an event "passport" for marking checkpoints. Then maps will be handed out. For the first section of both courses, you can get the checkpoints in any order, then you must go to the aid station at the edge of Golden Gate Park to get your next maps. Then you can continue to get the next set of checkpoints in any order as you work your way to the finish. At checkpoints, you will answer a multiple choice question about a recognizable map feature, or you will find an orange and white marker and use its dangling puncher to mark a punch pattern on your event passport. To place in the event, you need to correctly mark all checkpoints on your passport.  What will I need? Comfortable clothes for moving around, possibly layers if it's a foggy day. Comfortable shoes good on trails and pavement. Head cover, and apply sunscreen to exposed skin. A pen or pencil (or two) to mark the answers on your Q & A sheet. There will be water and snacks available at the start and finish and at an aid station about halfway through the course. If this might not be enough for you, consider bringing your own water and energy snacks to carry with you. Optional gear: Compass: it's not necessary, but could help you reorient your map if you're disoriented. GPS logger: it might be fun to record your route, but don't use it to aid your navigation. That's why you have a map! Hazards Traffic: many major roads will be crossed. Please observe the rules of pedestrian safety, and don't read the map while crossing roads. Poison oak exists in Golden Gate Park. The course checkpoints are mostly near trails and away from the thick undergrowth that contains poison oak. But know what it looks like in case you encounter it; then, it's recommended you backtrack and try an alternate route, because if you find poison oak, you're not navigating very well. The course avoids it. What happens when we're done? There's always lots to talk about and people to visit! Hang around and enjoy complimentary refreshments and snacks. We'll tabulate and post results as soon as we can process them. There will be award certificates for the top three teams / individuals in "open" and "masters" (average age over 40) categories. Cost and Registration: signup online by September 1 signup online by September 3 event day signup Adults, per person $25* $35 $40 Students and juniors, per person $12* $35 $40 * if you sign up for both the weekend events at the same time, the cost is $40 for adults or $20 for students and juniors, altogether. When you signup online, you are not committing to show up or pay. Online signups help us prepare for the event. We'd rather be overprepared, and we encourage you to sign up ahead of time if you have any interest in attending. Directions: We'll meet at the 45th Ave. Playground. From Northbound Highway 101: Take the 101 North/Golden Gate Bridge exit in San Francisco, which becomes Octavia St at Market St. Stay on Octavia for a few blocks, and turn left onto Fell St. Follow Fell St west for 1.5 miles into Golden Gate Park. After it enters the park, the road will curve left, then curve right, and then you'll be on Lincoln Ave., which follows the southern edge of the park west to the ocean. Go almost all the way to the ocean, making a left turn at 45th Ave., and find parking close by. Walk from 45th Ave. across Lincoln into Golden Gate Park and you'll find the playground. Public Transit: 8:00, 8:08, 8:17, and 8:27 are the times the N-Judah train leaves Embarcadero Station and heads west towards the ocean. According to the schedule, they arrive at 8:36, 8:44, 8:53, and 9:03, respectively. It's about a 5 minute walk from the 43rd Ave. Stop, if you miss this, get off at 46th Ave. Walk to 45th Ave., and then head north towards the park. Careful crossing the busy Lincoln Ave.! There's a path going into the playground from that intersection. bart.gov, get SF Muni info at 511.org Event Contact: Rex, 5 1 0 - 6 8 1 - 6 1 8 1, rex@terraloco.com