By George Minarik
Sprint Orienteering Course Philosophy
How fast can you think on the run (or walk)? Sprint Orienteering tests the ability to read a detailed map at a quickened pace. The course designer can take advantage of the campus intricacies to keep an orienteer's mind occupied at all times. If you don't think ahead, you may be making a poor route choice. Or worse, you could end up in a trap. The experience can be intensive, maybe frustrating, but always exhilarating. There are two courses offered today, Sprint and Middle. Both have the technical quality of a sprint course. The difference is in their lengths.
Course Statistics
Course Name: Sprint Middle
Number of Controls: 15 27
Straight-Line Distance: 1.6 km 3.8 km
GPS Track Distance: 3.1 km 5.0 km
GPS Climb: 70 m 120 m
Fast Walk Time: 25 min 55 min
Predicted Winning Time: 14 min 32 min
The Map
The Cal Berkeley map depicts dozens of buildings, walkways, trees, fields, walls, fences, and statues. Through the campus wind two creek beds that junction in a forested area. The numerous covered walkways and passages make for interesting route choices. And the multi-storied public areas can play with your mind. All of this has been superbly mapped in 2012 by our club member and U.C. PhD student, Ben Legg. The map is of ISSOM standard (International Sprint Standards).
The map scale is 1:3750. The contour interval is 2.5 m.
You can get a feeling for the map and the courses by looking at this Model Map and Course (PDF/210KB).
There are some important map symbols that are unique for Sprint courses:
- Impassable and passable walls
- Passable covered areas of buildings
- Building pass-throughs
- Staircases
- Out-of-bounds areas
Notes:
On some stairways you may notice short brown lines. These are segments of contour lines.
Walls and fences that are indicated on the map as impassable must not be crossed, even if you think it's possible to cross them.
Event Procedures
Pretty standard stuff:
- Start and Finish near Registration.
- Bathrooms and water fountain inside Barrows Hall.
- After registering, check-in your E-stick at the E-punch table.
- Clear & Check your E-stick before each start.
- Remember to download at the e-punch table after each course.
Restrictions and Cautions
We are guests on this beautiful campus. Please tread lightly and act with the utmost courtesy and respect.
- Stay out of construction areas. I think I mapped all of these, but new ones can pop up at anytime.
- Stay out of the areas mapped as out of bounds or dark green.
- Stay out of any gardens or areas that seem to have sensitive vegetation.
- Climbing on or over "uncrossable" walls, fences, and buildings is prohibited.
- Entering buildings is prohibited. It is OK to go under buildings with mapped covered pass-throughs. It is OK to go around buildings under covered walkways.
- Do not enter an area of any organized activities taking place on campus. These can include weddings, parties, concerts, sporting events, lecture tours, etc.
- Crossing creeks is OK, but be beware some of the banks are very steep or contain concrete barriers. If the map shows dark green surrounding a creek, it probably is impassable — find another way around.
- Be courteous and slow down as you approach people. Pedestrians have the right of way.
- Watch out for the small amount of auto and bicycle traffic on campus.
There are no water stations on the course, although you might encounter some of the several unmapped drinking fountains along your routes. There is a drinking fountain inside Barrows Hall, near Registration, with a special faucet for filling water bottles.
Running shoes and attire are recommended. Metal spikes or metal dobbs are prohibited.
Thanks To ...
- Event Director Joan Roos for her leadership.
- Leslie Minarik for vetting the courses.
- Rex Winterbottom for working with U.C. Berkeley to obtain the permit.
- Bob Cooley for printing the maps.
I hope everyone enjoys the courses as much as I enjoyed designing them.
Top of page