French Creek East Course Notes
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Topic created by FredR on Sun Jul 7, 2013 at 2:06 pmHi, guys. Here are Sam's course notes for the French Creek East meet on July 14th. I'll put these in the news blurb off the home page, too. Ask any questions here.
-Bailey
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Registration and snacks will be at the covered pavilion building about 150 meters from parking. There is a 5 to 15 minute walk to start from there, depending on how fast you go (1 kilometer with some climb). Streamers will mark the path to start. First start time at 10am. There will be water at start as well as on the course. Go Control will be shared with all courses and the shoot to finish will be marked. Finish and download will be right next to registration.
Since it's been rainy these last few weeks, the water features are more pronounced than usual. This is the standard course notes you find with most events.
What's not standard is the condition of this map. Most of you have probably at least heard about the forest fire, which has drastically changed the vegetation of much of the area. Some areas have been changed into walls of thorns that tower over your head, while others have been completely cleared out of all underbrush. There's really no way to tell from the map which section of woods you would want to travel through. As course setter, I've set courses to avoid the worse areas no matter what route you take. That's really the only way to make fair courses under these conditions. There is also a bit more trail running than usual to get through some of these particularly bad areas.
With the map in the condition it's in, the chances of somebody getting lost or not finishing their course is particularly high. Please remember to always download whether you finished your course or not so we have proof you returned. A 3-hour time limit will be strictly enforced (meaning an OT result, bad/no ranking points). Start closes at 1pm. Controls will begin to be picked up at 3pm, starting with early controls working forward. By 4pm the finish will be taken down. If you don't know if you can finish the course you've chosen in 3 hours, please run the easier course.Course-specific notes:
White-- Solid course, gets to see the fire damage without having to walk through it.
Yellow-- A little bit on the hard side for a yellow course. Leg 2 to 3 has a streamered section of about 100 meters that crosses a stream with no bridge. This course also sees the fire damage.
Orange-- Physically very challenging. Be ready to rock hop and cross streams over fallen trees. Visits a section of woods I don't think Orange has ever gone to before.
Brown-- Made to be physically easy as possible. Smart route choices will avoid all rocky ground. About 80% white woods and trail running.
Green-- Not to be taken lightly. About 70% white woods and trail running.
Red-- Even harder than green. About 60% white woods and trail running
Blue-- I'm so sorry for what I have done to you. Goes pretty much everywhere south of Chestnut Hill. About 50% white woods and trail running -
Reply by ErikEddy on Mon Jul 8, 2013 at 5:26 pmSounds like a challenge!
I want to confirm (and also make public if still true) that the 1:15,000 map will be used?
Thanks, Erik -
Reply by FredR on Mon Jul 8, 2013 at 10:10 pmYes-- 1:15k map for all courses. There was some thought of using a 1:10k map for some courses, but that really complicates things planning-wise. There is a nice 1:10k map of the Baptism Creek area, but the fire rendered so much unusable that the bigger map is necessary to get to the remaining nice spots.
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Reply by Len on Tue Jul 9, 2013 at 10:45 amThanks for this thought Erik. After Hickory Run a week ago, I dont need to be starting off on the wrong scale again. There are so many things to be thinking about at the start, map scale has been low on my list... but moving up.
