Race
Details
Maps
Friday Sprint maps will be 1:4000, 2.5 meter contours for all courses.
Long and Middle Maps will be
1:10,000, 5 meter contours for most courses. Some courses (white, yellow, brown) at Carter
Caves (Sat and Sun only) may be printed at 1:7500 (to be determined).
See the description of each day
below for more specifics.
Courses
All standard USA courses and classes
will be offered.
Control Descriptions
Control descriptions are printed on
your map. Loose description sheets may
be picked up when you enter the call-up area, 2-3 minutes before your
start. Descriptions for white and
yellow courses are in English only.
Descriptions for orange course and above are in IOF symbols only.
Control Markers
Control markers will be IOF standard
orange and white flag. Control markers
will have a blue stripe, either diagonal or vertical.
Course Length (km) and
Climb (m) Table
(subject to change)
Lengths
are straight line, climb is along “optimal” route.
|
Course |
Classes |
Friday
– Sprint Morehead |
Saturday
– Long Carter
Caves |
Sunday
-
Middle Carter
Caves |
|
, |
Course
Setter |
Ben
Hart |
Shin
Shimizu |
Dave
Waller |
|
1
White |
F-10,
F-12, F white, M-10, M-12, M white, Group white |
1.4
km, 35m, 14
controls |
2.8
km, 120m, 11 controls |
1.9
km, 85m, 9 controls |
|
2
Yellow |
F-14,
F yellow, M-14, M yellow, Group yellow |
2.0
km, 45m, 15 controls |
3.8
km, 165m, 13 controls |
2.1
km, 100m, 11 controls |
|
3
Orange |
F-16,
F orange, M-16, M orange, Group orange |
2.3
km, 50m, 18
controls |
4.7
km, 250m, 13
controls |
3.8
km, 190m, 16 controls |
|
4
Brown A |
F65+,
F70+, F75+, F brown, M 75+, M brown, all 80+ classes |
2.0
km, 45m, 16 controls |
3.6
km, 170m, 10 controls |
3.0
km, 155m, 14 controls |
|
5
Brown B |
F-18,
F55+, F60+, M65+, M70+ |
2.0
km, 45m, 16 controls |
4.2
km, 225m, 10
controls |
3.5
km, 205m, 15 controls |
|
6
Green A |
F35+,
F40+, F45+, F50+, F green, M green |
2.4
km, 70m, 17 controls |
6.0
km, 290m, 12 controls |
3.8
km, 220m, 17 controls |
|
7
Green B |
F-20,
M-18, M50+, M55+, M60+ |
2.4
km, 70m, 17 controls |
6.4
km, 320m, 12 controls |
4.3
km, 250m, 18 controls |
|
8
Red |
F-21+,
M-20, M35+, M40+, M45+, M red |
2.7
km, 70m, 20 controls |
9.1
km, 480m, 15 controls |
4.4
km, 260m, 21 controls |
|
9
Blue |
M-21+ |
3.1
km, 80m, 22 controls |
12.0
km, 675m, 22 controls |
5.2
km, 290m, 23 controls |
Start Procedures
Clear and check your SI card when you
arrive in the start area.
You will be called up 3 or 4 minutes
before your scheduled start.
2 minutes before your start, you
will move forward and may pick up loose control descriptions. White and yellow may pick up their maps,
mark name/number, and preview the map.
1 minute before your start, you will
move forward to the map line. You may
mark your name / number on the back of the map.
Do not look at your map (white/yellow may preview map). You may ask the starter to check that it is
the correct course.
When the beeper sounds, you punch
“start” and pick up your map.
There may (or may not) be a short streamered run to the start triangle shown on your map (to
be determined). You must run to the
triangle. There is a flag but no punch
at this point. At this point you may
begin navigating to your first control.
Drinking Water on
Courses
FRIDAY: There will not be water on
the sprint course.
SATURDAY: There will be at least one water stop
on long courses of yellow length and above.
Please use the cups provided and dispose of them in the bag or bin
provided. Some water stops will be at
controls. There will be one water stop
on orange and brown on a trail (not at a control). There will be two water stops on trails (not
at controls) on green and above.
Yellow, Green B, and Red will have 1 additional water stop at a
control. Blue will have 2 additional
water stops at controls. There will be
no water provided on the white course.
SUNDAY: There will be one water stop on the
middle courses of orange length and above.
The water stop will be located on a trail (not at a control) at 1.8 to
2.8 km into your course. Please use the
cups provided and dispose of them in the bag or bin provided. There will be no water provided on white or
yellow.
Time Limits
Time limit will be 1 hour for the
Sprint on Friday, 3 hours for the Long on Saturday, and 2 hours for Middle
Distance on Sunday.
Friday – Morehead State
University
Maps: Sprint Distance, ALL
maps will be 1:4,000, 2.5 meter contours, north lines
are spaced at 120 meters apart.
Parking
is a large lot, 100 m to registration, 250 m to finish
Restrooms
will be modern, indoor.
Walk
to the start is 500 meters, flat.
Course notes and special symbols:
ISSprOM
standards. Know what you are allowed to
cross (or not).
On Friday afternoon, roads and parking lots may be busy with students and staff
leaving campus. Please exercise extra
caution crossing roads and parking lots.
Don’t assume that drivers will respect you just
because you are in a crosswalk or they have a stop sign.
There are several
emergency call boxes around campus.
Obviously, they should be used only for serious emergency. They are not shown on the map.
On the control
description sheets, paved sidewalks are described as “path”,
not road.
Saturday and Sunday –
Carter Caves State Park
Saturday
Long –
Maps: Long
Distance, ALL maps will be 1:10,000, 5 meter contours,
north lines are spaced at 250 meters apart.
White,
Yellow, Orange and Brown maps are 8.5 x 11 inches, portrait. White and Yellow have descriptions in both
English and Symbolic.
Green maps
are 11 x 17 inches, portrait.
Red and blue
maps are 8.5 x 11 portrait, but they are 2-sided. You will use the front of the map, then flip
the map to complete the course.
Note for
white and yellow: On the description sheets, paved paths (for example old cart
paths on the former golf course) are described as “road”.
Event Check-in Check in
(and recreational registration) will be at the lodge.
Finish The finish will be
about 300 meters from the lodge near the old tennis courts.
Parking At the lodge, Please leave the parking spaces in front of the
lodge for lodge guests. Park either
in the parking lot to the right before the lodge, or continue past the lodge
through the turnaround circle, and up the hill to the golf course parking
lot. Cottage and campground guests are
encouraged to walk from your lodging, since parking at the lodge is very
limited. Please walk along the roads and
do not cut across the old golf course or through the woods. Please park “tight”
and carpool if possible.
Walk to the Start White
and Yellow courses will start less than 300 meters from the lodge. Walk up the hill to the old golf course
clubhouse (now a ranger station) where the Maze-O will be set up. Your call-up area will be near the ranger
station and Maze-O. Orange,
Brown, Green, Red and Blue courses will have a 2
kilometer road walk, beginning with an uphill segment, then mostly flat
past the campground areas.
Restrooms Modern restrooms
are inside the lodge. There are also
modern restrooms in the horse campground, just under 250 meters before the
start area for orange and above.
Clothing Return Warm-up
clothing may be left at the call-up areas, and will be returned to the finish
area.
Sunday Middle –
Maps: Middle
Distance, All maps except brown will be 1:10,000, 5 meter contours, north lines
are spaced at 250 meters apart. Brown maps will be at 1:7500. All maps except brown will be on 8.5 x 11
landscape. Brown will be on 11x17
landscape.
Event Check-in Check in
(and recreational registration) will be adjacent to the swimming pool.
Finish The finish will be
adjacent to the swimming pool.
Parking Parking
is at the swimming pool. Please be
exceptionally careful approaching and leaving the pool area as runners on all
courses will be crossing the road.
Lodge guests are encouraged to walk from the lodge, since the number of
parking spaces at the pool is also limited.
Please park “tight” and carpool if
possible. Beginning from sunrise on
Sunday, lodge guests (and others) may use the trail to walk west of the lodge
across Smoky Bridge to the pool area, but please stay on the trail directly to
the pool parking lots.
Walk to the Start All courses
will have a walk of around 600 meters from the finish to the start. There are no restrooms closer to the
start. After passing the clothing drop, you’ll have a short trail walk to a path junction. From that junction, orange, brown, green, red and blue runners will proceed straight ahead for just a
few meters to their call-up line. White
and yellow will turn to the right and walk about 100 meters up the path to
Shangri-la Arch. Parents and any other
participants may also go visit Shangri-la Arch.
The white/yellow call-up line is under Shangri-la Arch. After being called up, white and yellow
runners ONLY will ascend a steep wooden staircase to the top of Shangri-la
Arch, where they will get loose descriptions and maps. Runners not on white/yellow may not go up the
steps to the top unless they will be shadowing a white or yellow runner on the
course.
Restrooms The modern block
restrooms at the pool area should be open for our event. If they are not, we will bring in portable
toilets. There are no restrooms closer
to the start.
Clothing Return Warm-up
clothing may be left where the path leaves the small paved turn-around 150-200
meters before the call-up areas, and will be returned to the finish area.
Map and Course Notes for both Saturday
and Sunday
The Carter Caves map was made for
the 2015 U.S. Middle and Long Championships.
It had minor updates for another event in early 2019. The map is still excellent, with just a few
minor recent edits to vegetation, paths, and a few manmade features. The golf course was closed in 2018, and is
mapped as open (very runnable) and rough open (taller grasses, but except for a
few very small patches is not difficult to cross).
Terrain is very steep and
rocky. In places, there are rock cliffs
as high as 20 meters or more. Be
extremely careful approaching any mapped cliff from above. There are also several natural arches, and
you may cross either over or under some of them on your courses.
Carter Caves is named for its many
caves. Some of them are huge openings in
the sides of hills; others are just holes in the ground, with the bottom of
unknown depth in the darkness far below.
A black “v” symbol (rocky pit) may be a large, visible pit, or it may
simply be a hole in the ground. In
either case, exercise extreme caution, as the pit may be quite deep. Some small depressions (brown u) and pits
(brown v) may also have openings in the bottom.
White and light green vegetation is
generally quite runnable. Medium green
may be younger, denser trees or patches of brambles, but usually is also not
too difficult to cross. There are a few
areas of rhododendron or mountain laurel, mapped as medium or dark green. Advanced courses may see some larger areas of
medium to dark green which may be scrubbier and thornier.
Rootstocks are not mapped. There are many, and some are enormous, but
you won’t see them on the map.
Horses may be encountered on either
day. Please yield trails to horses and
avoid startling horse or riders. If the
trail is on a slope, you should move off to the lower side of the trail if
possible. Stop or walk (don’t run) and talk to the rider and horse in conversational
tone.
White
Course Note: The white course will go off-trail between
two controls on Saturday. A route
between these two controls is marked with white streamers. The white course will go off trail for two
consecutive legs (three controls) on Sunday.
Again, the route between these controls will be marked with white
streamers. Your control
descriptions will indicate the streamered leg(s) and
the connection lines on the map are dashed.
Embargo Note: After finishing Saturday’s Courses,
…Embargo will be lifted for the areas that are to the east of Caveland Drive (road from the visitor center to the lodge)
and/or north of Cave Branch Rd, so that you may visit or re-visit these
spectacular locations such as Raven Bridge, Fern Bridge, Laurel Cave, Horn
Hollow, Bat Cave Nature Preserve, and the rappelling / rock climbing area.
updated
2023-03-21 at 0115