Unofficial 2006 US Team Trials Page

Directions and Model event info added 5/17/06
Course notes consolidated 5/18/06
All other sections updated 5/11/06 by Eric Buckley.

Once again, Carol's Team will be co-hosting a national orienteering meet with the St. Louis Orienteering Club. This year, the meet will also be the US Team Trials. The official information page can be found on SLOC's site. What you get here are the juicy, not ready to publish nuggets about the course and terrain. There's not really much organization to it, but if some new piece of info seems particularly important, I'll post it at the top. Links to the individual venues are at the left.

Information about the actual team selection process can be found at the US Team page.

Directions to Venues

Note: As of 5/17, this information was incorrect on SLOC's site. These are the correct directions.

To Sprint from Airport via Metro Link: Get off at the first UMSL stop (UMSL North). We'll have a copy of the spectator map with registration area on it posted at the stop (it will probably be less than 200m away).

To Sprint from Airport (and just about everywhere else) by car: Take I-70 to exit 240 (Florissant Rd/University Blvd) and turn south on University Blvd. Follow O-signs to parking.

To Meet Motel from Airport or Sprint: Take I-70E to downtown St. Louis, then get on I- 55 South (if you mess this up, you'll cross the river into Illinois). Alternatively, you can go around the city on I-270, but that's longer. Exit I-55S at 174B (US-67). Go south 34 miles and take left split onto MO-32S. Super-8 is on the right just after getting on 32.

To S-F (model event and Middle) from Meet Motel: Take US-67 S about 10 miles. Look for S-F on the left just after crossing into Madison County.

To Hawn (long) from Meet Motel: Take MO-32S (East) and make a right on MO-144. Parking will be on right.

From Hawn back to St. Louis: Take MO-32S to I-55N. Cutting the corner by taking Country Road O left off 32 just after Weingarten saves a little time.

Model event

Maps for the model even will be available for $5 at S-F between 5:00 and 6:30PM on Friday. All competitors should be out of the terrain by 7:30PM. It's entirely possible that responsibilities at the Sprint will cause me to be a little late getting down there. If you get to S-F and the O-signs aren't up, drive in to the ranger station and wait for me to arrive. The model course is only 3K, so there will be plenty of time.

All wooded areas not on the Model event map are embargoed.

Final course notes

Link to official course notes that will be distributed with packets (MS Word doc).

Friday - Sprint

Everybody will run the same course: 2.6K, 50m, 17c (actual running distance will be considerably further due to buildings, lakes, etc.). I can run it in around 17 minutes, so we should see a winning time in the low teens for M-21+ and mid teens for F-21+. Clue sheets will be given two minutes prior to start and you're definitely going to want to read them, so have a system worked out in advance. Clues will also be printed on the map.

To keep the map a nice small size, the legend will not be printed on the map. There are no deviations from the ISSOM symbol set. Copies of the map legend will be available at registration for those no familiar with the symbols. This will also contain a map of the spectator area, so you can check out the mapping style in advance.

We will be using epunching for the sprint (only). If you don't have an SI stick, we'll have some available to rent at registration for $2.

Uncrossable/out of bounds. Crossing features mapped as uncrossable (walls, gardens, and railroad tracks) will result in disqualification. No exceptions. If you don't know which symbols are uncrossable, get the map legend at registration. There is one marked crossing of the railroad (underpass). The only legal crossing is to go under the bridge. Any other crossing is a DSQ. You are free to go around completely if you choose. This is in the spectator area, so it will be pretty easy to enforce.

As noted in the previous paragraphs, there will be a spectator area. Feel free to wander around this area to cheer and/or heckle the competitors. Competitors not on course should not leave the spectator area until after all runners have finished.

Saturday - Middle

Blue - 5.6K, 115m, 17c. I test ran this in 42 minutes. Winning time should be around 33. Red - 4.5K, 95m, 12c. I test ran this in 35, but wasn't pushing quite as hard. Winning time should be around 31. Both courses are designed to be fast running throughout (no long climbs or stretches of nasty vegetation). Almost all white and light green woods - both of which look slow, but aren't. Trails may play a part in some route choices, but most is just running through the woods.

Blue course only: There is a leg that goes through two recently felled areas. The Scouts are clearing this out, but probably won't be done on meet day. The areas are reasonably small and you can see them from a distance, so you won't have to make the around/through decision until you see it. The areas are mapped as vertical slash. Vertical slash is not used anywhere else on the map.

Other course distances are Green (3.6K, 75m, 11c), Orange (2.6K, 55m, 7c), Yellow (2.0, 30m, 13c), and White (1.6K, 25m, 11c).

Sunday - Long

Blue - 13.6K, 330m, 21c. Red - 9.3K, 210m, 15c. I haven't test run either of these, but I expect we're looking at winning times in the upper 80's for Blue and low 70's for Red. Much will depend on the temperature. The first part of both of these courses is on the western side of the map which is greener than indicated, but still runnable. See map notes for details. (Note: the IOF controller differs with my definition of "runnable". Some of the undergrowth is sufficiently thick that some may need to walk. You can generally tell from the height how easy it will be to run through).

Other course distances are Green (5.8K, 155m, 12c), Brown (4.3K, 105m, 10c), Orange (4.0K, 75m, 12c), Yellow (3.3K, 40m, 10c), and White (2.9K, 20m, 10c).

All courses will start near the parking area and finish approximately 1500m away at the campground. People who are not camping should leave their cars at the upper parking area. We will have a shuttle to drive people back who don't want to walk (it's a nice walk, but uphill most of the way). We will also take one reasonable-sized backpack, gym bag, or plastic bag per competitor to the finish area so you can change there while waiting for awards.

Meet at the meet

Trying to meet up with your buddies at the airport and still make your start is a pain. No need for all that hassle. From the airport, just hop on the Metro Link and get dropped off right at the start. The Link runs about every 15-20 minutes, so the worst case scenario has you at the meet site in a little over half an hour.

What to wear

It will be warm. The sprint in particular might be downright hot. There will be water on the course (except for the sprint), but you might want to consider bringing your own, particularly if you think you'll be out on course for longer than an hour.

For the sprint, regular running gear is probably best. Almost all the running will be on pavement or short grass. There will be some woods and longer grass.

The short course is more of a toss-up. S-F looks thick, but is pretty easy to get through. You will get a bit scraped up if you don't wear leg protection. Also, you'll probably pick up a few ticks no matter what, but you'll certainly get more if you're legs aren't covered.

For the classic at Hawn, leg protection is a really good idea. Hawn has a fair bit of light thorny stuff that you can blast right through with pants on. In shorts, you're going to at least be distracted by it, if not considerably slowed. Hawn also has its share of old barb wire fences. These are mapped, but if you don't see them, you can give yourself a pretty good gash in the shin.

Hazards

Nothing out of the ordinary, but here's a short list of things to think about.

• Tics and other biting bugs. A little prevention goes a long way. Insect repellent is a good idea. Tucking your pants inside your socks helps a lot unless you're wearing O-pants with ventilated panels. Missouri has a fairly low incidence of lyme disease, but you can get it here. Tics generally don't bite for several hours, so as long as you clean yourself up promptly, you should be fine. A cool, wet spring means that chiggers aren't yet a problem, but wandering around the tall grass near the parking area at Hawn is probably not a good idea.
• Vlad saw some snakes when he was out checking the courses at Hawn. That's unusual, but not unheard of. Venomous bites at Hawn or S-F are exceedingly rare, but all snakes can put a hole in you if you make them mad enough.
• Barb wire. Even though it's mapped, it's not always easy to see. We try to set courses to avoid it, but you still might encounter some.
• Poison ivy. The woods are pretty free of it, but it does grow along the edges of fields. If you don't know what it looks like, you might want to look here. Washing off with soap and water is usually sufficient to avoid a bad rash. If you're really allergic, you might want to look into blocking and/or cleaning products specifically designed for dealing with it.