By Manfred Kopisch
Orienteering on Valentine's Day?
Wouldn't that get you into trouble with your sweetie? No! Just bring your sweetie and participate in the Valentine-O at Bayfront Park in Menlo Park.
You don't know what a Valentine-O is? During a Valentine-O you follow the outline of a super huge heart that is drawn on your map and collect all the controls that are located exactly on this line. This special form of Line-O is sometimes also called Love-O. Handholding between sweeties along the route is highly encouraged.
Of course, you can also participate in any of the standard courses that are offered.
Course Length Climb Controls
White 1.6 km 20 m 14
Yellow 2.0 km 40 m 10
Orange/Sprint 3.9 km 90 m 13
Brown 4.0 km 95 m 10
Valentine 2.5 km 55 m ??
You might wonder why the number of controls for the Valentine-O is not given. The reason is that you have to find all the controls that are exactly on the heart-shaped line. Your map won't have control descriptions, and you won't know when to expect a control on the heart-shaped line that is shown on your map. You really need to follow the heart and be sure about it. Now you know why it is also called Love-O. There will be controls relatively close to the line that might be tempting, but every time you stray from the heart and punch a control that is not on it, three minutes will be added to your time. Should you stray from the heart outline, and by doing so miss a control, you will also have three minutes added to your time.
So come and join us for five courses at Bayfront Park. Walk the Valentine-O with your sweetie. Run the Sprint and prove that 3.9 km can be done under 18 minutes. Or run all five courses—there will be over 50 controls out there, with almost no shared controls between the courses.