Mapper's and Course Setter's Notes and Information
***SUNDAY course notes will be in packet***
***FRIDAY
- A Construction project has started this week, toward the end of Friday's
courses. A grove of trees has been bulldozed to within a few meters
of one control, but we have been assured that is as far as they are going.
This will cause noticeable map changes on 1 to 2 legs for all courses except
blue and brown. Due to drenching rains on Wednesday and Thursday,
the construction area will be very muddy and should be avoided for your
safety.***
Friday, March 16, 2006
Middle Distance Courses at Miami Whitewater North
1:10,000, 5m. contour. Map is 8.5 x 11 inches
landscape, with control descriptions on the front.
Course Setter Mike Minium Vetter
Bill Swift
Walk to the start is about 700 meters, mostly flat.
If you're a slow walker, 12-15 minutes should be plenty.
Restrooms are at the Harbor Visitor Center.
That's about 400 meters in the opposite direction of the walk to the start.
Do not wear spikes or muddy shoes in the building.
Warm up in the open areas along the walk to the
start. Please don't enter the woods.
Clothing return We'll do our best to transport
warm-up clothing from the start back to the finish, but it is a short race,
so you might finish before your clothes are brought back.
Course Setter's Notes
Miami Whitewater North is essentially one large
hill, about 90 meters tall, with complex ridges and reentrants winding
out from the hilltop. There are two areas of extremely intricate
eroded "badlands" terrain, and there are also a couple areas with some
karst / sinkholes.
Part of the WHITE course will follow an indistinct
trail, which will be highlighted by bright pink streamers. Some of
the controls are 10-20 mters off the trail. Flagging marks the trail,
but does not go up to controls that are a few steps off the trail, so keep
your head up & be alert.
Yellow runners might be able to use the streamers
as a guide as well. White runners (and others) may also see a couple
old "park boundary" posts, which are well inside the park and nowhere near
the current boundaries, so don't let them confuse you.
Most of the forest mapped as white is very open
and very runnable. In the intricate badlands areas, there are many
cedars, and although you can still move pretty fast, you can't see as far
ahead. Light green is usually not too bad, but medium and dark green
are on the thick side and generally best avoided. In general, the
mappers (Gizatulin and Kuntsevitch) used green more sparingly than Vladimir
Zherdev, whose maps have been used in most recent Flying Pigs.
There are remnants of a few ruined fences in the
park, waiting to trip you. I'm putting some flagging tape on them
when I see (or feel) them, but I doubt that I'll find them all.
There are a lot of orange and pink streamers in
part of the area. They're not ours.
A major construction project has just started.
Towards the end of your course, you'll pass by the construction area.
For your safety, please don't cut through the work area. None of
the construction is mapped, since work started just a week before the Pig.
Green X is a rootstock on the Miami Whitewater Maps.
Because of the intricate contours in some parts of the map, I think the
rootstocks make more sense in green. Brown X is used on the Saturday
Sprint maps where the contours are less intricate. Green O is a single
tree (not specified whether it is broad-leaved or needle-leaved).
Two areas are marked out of bounds on your maps
(purple stripes) for environmental reasons. They should not affect
your route choices, but please be sure to stay clear of them.
Control descriptions for white and yellow courses
are in English only. Descriptions for orange and above are in IOF
symbols only (ISCD2004). A couple notes about the descriptions follow:
Hunter's stands / shooting
platforms probably should have included the modifier "ruined". They
consist of 1-2 rotting boards 3-5 meters up in a tree with some metal railroad-type
spikes in the tree. In other words, you'll probably see the control
bag first unless it is behind the tree from your direction of approach.
On the advanced courses,
most of the hills and knolls used for controls should have been modified
as "low". In an area of intricate spurs, gullies, they rarely rise
more than a meter.
On BROWN and RED MAPS, there
is a clue for "special X". On your map, it is shown as "Special O".
There is nothing else manmade in the circle, so I didn't feel it necessary
to reprint all the maps for this minor correction. The descriptions
handed out before the start are corrected.
| FRIDAY | Length | Climb | Controls |
| white | 2.2 | 80 | 12 |
| yellow | 2.7 | 120 | 14 |
| orange | 3.3 | 160 | 16 |
| brown | 2.9 | 140 | 13 |
| green | 3.8 | 180 | 15 |
| red | 4.7 | 240 | 17 |
| blue | 5.5 | 290 | 19 |
Saturday, March 17, 2007
For both sprints
Starts You will be called up 3 minutes
before your start. You will get control descriptions at this time.
At 2 minutes, you'll move forward one line. At 1 minute before your
start, you will move up to the map line. You can put your name or
number on the back of the map. At the start, punch the start box
and turn over your map. On sprint #1, you will have a 50 meter run
from the maps to the start triangle where you may begin orienteering.
You must pass by the start triangle (marked with a control flag), but there
is no punch there. On sprint #2, maps will be within 10 meters of
the start triangle, and you may begin orienteering immediately.
Courses There will be 3
courses. Classes normally on white or yellow will share course 1.
Classes normally on orange, brown and green will share Course 2.
Classes normally on red and blue will share course 3. The start interval
on the Sprint course is one minute. Control descriptions are on the
front of the map.
Descriptions for Course 1 are in English only.
Descriptions for Course 2 and 3 are in IOF symbols only (ISCD2004).
Sprint Course #1 at French Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Course Setters Steve Vaughan and Mike Minium
Vetter David Williams
Walk to the start is under 500 meters. You
will need to cross a busy road (Ridge). Use extreme caution and cross
only at designated point.
Returning from the finish to the parking lot, cross
Ridge only at the intersection of Ridge and Section. There are traffic
lights including pedestrian signals at this intersection.
Restrooms The Amberly Village Municipal Building
will be open, but the restrooms are small. Do not wear spikes or
muddy shoes in the building. Please be extra careful to keep this
building clean!
Warm up west of Ridge Rd around the Amberly Village
Municipal Building and Amberly Village baseball park. French Park
itself (east of Ridge, north of Section) is off-limits until you start.
Clothing return - None. If you leave
any warm-up clothing at the start, please plan to come back afterwards
to retrieve it.
Mapper's Notes
The map is 1:5000 with 3 meter contours. Map
is 8.5 x 11 inches landscape, with control descriptions on the front.
Symbols are mostly to ISSOM standard.
Brown X is a rootstock
Blue O is a pump or drinking
fountain.
Green X is a distinct single
tree (no distinction between needle and broad leaved).
Green dots represent small
trees or shrubs.
Small Black O is a trail
sign post. Generally a 6x6 post (15 cm by 15 cm), about 1.5 m. tall,
with colored stripes on one or more sides.
Black X is playground equipment,
large sign, stone monument, junk pile or other miscellaneous object.
You should not have to worry
about uncrossable features (except for buildings) on this course.
There are only a couple very short uncrossable walls and fences on this
map and they should not come into play.
Vladimir Zherdev mapped this area in October, when
leaves were still up. Some of the indistinct trails are now hard
to see. They were made by deer and other animals, so the taller you
are, the more you might have to duck if you use them. The major trails
are all pretty open and easy to follow. In general light green is
quite fast. But, there is a lot of medium and dark green on this
map, so beware. There are some areas with blackberry/raspberry bushes,
which tend to grow out over the indistinct trails and in the rough open
areas and younger forest. If I were picking one sprint in which to
wear shorts, this would not be it.
We aren't able to close the park road to the general
public, so although we've arranged parking for orienteers outside of the
park, there may still be a few cars on the road, so cross with care.
The trails are heavily used by dog walkers, as well as other walkers and
joggers.
I'd use spiked shoes. You might run on or
cross the one paved road in the park, but this is mostly a wooded sprint,
with some steep slopes. Even the open, grassy areas of the park are
likely to be wet and slippery at this time of year.
The ice storm in early February has downed many
large branches and a few whole trees. On some of the indistinct trails,
you may have to climb over or around a couple of them. There are
a couple big trees across major trails as well, but they shouldn't take
more than a few seconds to get over or around.
| Sprint Course | Normal
USOF Courses |
Length | Climb | Controls | Estimated Winning Time | Max.Points in the
U.S. Sprint Series |
| Course 3
Sprint |
blue
red |
2.9 | 140 | 15 | 13 - 15 minute winning time
for top M-21+ runners |
40 |
| Course 2
Sprint |
green
brown orange |
2.5 | 100 | 14 | 12 -15 minute winning time
for top M 50+ runners |
30 |
| Course 1
Sprint |
yellow
white |
2.1 | 75 | 11 | 10 - 15 minute winning time
for top M-14 runners |
30 |
Sprint Course #2 at Burnet Woods, Cincinnati,
Ohio
Course Setter Mike Minium
Vetter David Williams
Walk to the start depends where you find parking.
about 500 meters from finish. This is an urban area. Lock your
cars. Be sure to place valuables out-of-sight.
Restrooms Port-o-lets will be near the finish.
Warm up along Clifton Ave, west edge of the park.
Clothing return - None. The start and finish
will be fairly close together. Your cars will probably be pretty
close too, unless there's some other big event in the area.
Map History - originally mapped in 1984 by
Torbjorn Stenbeck and Joe Harris. completely remapped in 2001 by
Alexei Redkozubov. updates in 2002 by Mike Minium. Updated
for sprint events by Mike Minium in 2007.
Course Setter's Notes
The map is 1:4000 with 3 meter contours. Map
is 8.5 x 11 inches portrait, with control descriptions on the front.
In general, ISSOM 2007 symbols are used.
Pavement and buildings are on the darker side, since they only cover a
small percentage of the map.
Green X - single tree, needle-leaved
Green O - single tree, broad
leaved
Green dot - small tree or
shrub
Brown X - rootstock
Black O - picnic grill
Black X - frisbee golf target,
playground equipment, 1 m. concrete planters, junk, birdhouses on posts,
debris huts
Blue X - sewer hole
Blue O - fountain, drinking
fountain or pump
Permanent picnic tables,
benches and light posts are not mapped.
There are a couple uncrossable
walls and fences, which must not be crossed. The lake may not be
crossed. Use caution if you run the lakeside trail. If you
slip in, there are deep areas and the water is very cold (still partial
ice cover as of March 6).
A few single trees are mapped
within the forest. Single pines (X) are very visible in the otherwise
deciduous forest. Single broad-leaved trees (O) are simply trees
with a significantly wider trunk diameter than others in the area (about
1 meter thick). One is used as a control.
Spiked shoes are probably a good idea. You will
do some running on paved roads, but mostly you'll be on grass or in woods.
Most of the park is on slopes. There is very little completely flat
area, and unless temperatures have been well below freezing, you can expect
muddy and slippery conditions.
There will be traffic allowed on the park roads,
although it should be light. Please use care when crossing.
There has been some recent removal of honeysuckle
bushes in sections of the park These formerly green areas are now
mapped mostly as white forest. But, beware of stumps, generally 0.3
m. high or less... low enough that they can be hard to see among leaves
and debris, but solid enough to send you sprawling. There is very
little thorny stuff on this map, although you'll probably push through
some medium green areas of honeysuckle bushes, and it is possible to find
a briar patch or two.
Since printing, I've found a couple map corrections,
but you probably won't notice either while running. A path leading
up to one shelter was left a black line (not changed to ISSOM path), and
a small area along a road, which should have been filled with yellow (open
land) was left white.
| Sprint Course | Normal
USOF Courses |
Length | Climb | Controls | Estimated Winning Time | Max.Points in the
U.S. Sprint Series |
| Course 3
Sprint |
blue
red |
2.9 | 150 | 14 | 13 - 15 minute winning time
for top M-21+ runners |
40 |
| Course 2
Sprint |
green
brown orange |
2.4 | 120 | 13 | 12 - 15 minute winning time
for top M 50+ runners |
30 |
| Course 1
Sprint |
yellow
white |
2.0 | 90 | 12 | 10 - 15 minute winning time
for top M-14 runners |
30 |
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Classic Distance courses at Miami Whitewater
1:10,000 map for all courses. Blue and red
runners should expect IOF long winning times and distances.
Course Setter Matthew Robbins
Vetter Gerald Yip
Walk to the start is about 1 kilometer, with some
climb. There will also be a walk of 500 meters or so from the finish
back to the parking area. Please stay on the left side of the park
road walking to the start.
Maps for white thru green courses will be 8.5 x
11 landscape. Red and blue have 11x17 maps. The blue map will
be angled on the page, but all print will be aligned to north.
The blue course (only blue) will also have a theta loop, meaning two control
locations will be visited twice. They must be punched in proper sequence
both times. Look for Matthew’s Course Notes for more details.
Course Setter's Notes – Not completed at press time.
Look for a separate insert.
Green X is a rootstock.
Restrooms are at the Harbor Visitor Center.
Do not wear spikes or muddy shoes in the building. There are additional
restrooms at the campground, across Harbor Ridge Rd. on the way to the
start, but officially they are for campers only, so please only use them
in emergency. Also, the Rangers would prefer that we not be crossing
Harbor Ridge Rd, due to limited visibility at the crest of the hill opposite
the campground entrance.
Warm up You may warm up along
the road to the finish and along the left side of the trail between the
finish and the start (between trail and lake). Do not enter the woods
to the right of the trail.
Clothing return None.
You'll pass the finish on your way to the start. They're only 300
- 400 meters apart. So please leave any warm-up clothing near the
finish.
| SUNDAY | Length | Climb | Controls |
| white | 3.0 | 80 | 16 |
| yellow | 3.9 | 145 | 13 |
| orange | 4.9 | 200 | 13 |
| brown | 4.0 | 185 | 11 |
| green | 6.1 | 290 | 13 |
| red | 8.4 | 390 | 15 |
| blue | 12.3 | 495 | 21 |
Pig Weather
In late March, we typically
get rain about one day in three. Snow is possible, but usually melts
quickly. Sunrise is about 7:50 am. Sunset is about 7:45 pm.
| Date | Normal High | Normal Low | Record High | Record Low | Forecast |
| Thu.
Mar 15 |
54 (12 C) | 33 (1 C) | 80 (27 C) | 9 (-13 C) | 100% showers high around 45
50% rain, becoming mostly cloudy , low 30-35 |
| Fri.
Mar 16 |
53 (12 C) | 33 (1 C) | 79 (26 C) | 19 (-7 C) | partly sunny, high around 45
partly cloudy, around low 25 |
| Sat.
Mar 17 |
52 (11 C) | 32 (0 C) | 76 (24 C) | 20 (-7 C) | partly sunny, high around 45
mostly clear, low around around 25 |
| Sun.
Mar 18 |
54 (12 C) | 32 (0 C) | error | 16 (-9 C) | mostly sunny, high 45
partly cloudy, 40 % chance of showers late, low around 35 |
| Mon.
Mar. 19 |
55 (13 C) | 34 (1 C) | 76 (24 C) | 17 (-8 C) | 40% chance showers, high 55-60 |
Entry Form (printable version)
How to Use Electronic Punching
updated 0900 on 15 March 2007