Queen of the Hills

Queen of the Hills

A National Ranking Event Sanctioned by Orienteering USA
Saturday, November 4 – Sunday, November 5, 2023

Registration is open!

Registration
Maps & Courses
Directions
Awards
Results
Travel
Safety
Event Officials

Saturday – Iron Hill

Map snippet from Iron Hill

Sunday – Fair Hill

Map snippet from Fair Hill

Click here to register for Competitive classes | Find out who’s registered
* * * * * * *
Click here to register for Recreational classes

Schedule

October 1, 2023 (Sunday): Regular Registration – closes at 12:00 midnight Pacific Time; Late Fees added after midnight Sunday, October 1st.
October 22, 2023 (Sunday): Late Registration – closes at 12:00 midnight Pacific Time; Registration after October 22nd only accepted if maps are available for your requested course.
November 2, 2023 (Thursday): Recreational Course Registration deadline – closes at 12:00 midnight Eastern Time

Saturday, November 4: Day 1 – Classic courses in Iron Hill Park, Newark, Delaware
Sunday, November 5: Day 2 – Classic courses in Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, Elkton, Maryland

Saturday, November 4, Queen of the Hills Day 1 at Iron Hill Park

  • 9:00 am:  First shuttle to Iron Hill parking area, if needed
  • 10:00 am:  First Competitive start
  • 10 am – 12 pm: Recreational starts
  • 3:00 pm:  Courses close
  • 5:00 pm: Happy Hour TBD
  • NOTE: Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 am Sunday morning. Remember to turn clocks back one hour.

Sunday, November 5, Queen of the Hills Day 2 at Fair Hill RMA

  • 10:00 am:  First Competitive start
  • 10 am – 12 pm: Recreational starts
  • 3:00 pm:  Courses close
  • 1:30 pm:  Awards

Note: All competitors are required to carry a whistle while orienteering on their course.

Registration

Queen of the Hills registration is open.
All competitors must register prior to the late deadline, October 22, 2023. 
Register for competitive classes on Event Register
See who’s registered
Late entries for all competitors after October 22, 2023, will be accepted only subject to map availability.
Email the registrar to confirm that a map is still available for your desired course.

Start times for competitive participants will be posted on EventReg. All competitive registrants will also receive an email with their start time(s) several days before the first event.

Fees Per Race

Fees and
Deadlines		Regular Registration
closes at midnight PDT
October 1, 2023		Late Registration
closes at midnight PDT
October 22, 2023		Recreational
closes midnight EDT
November 2, 2023
Adult$45 **$55 **$10 / map
Junior*$20 **$25 **$10 / map

  * Junior Defined: born in 2003 or later (i.e., age 20 or younger on 12/31/2023).
** The OUSA member discount is also offered to confirmed members of other IOF organizations.
E-punch Rental: $5 per race for competitive entries; included in Recreational fee. $40 charge if e-punch is not returned to DVOA.

Event Refunds

Refunds requested by email to registrar on or prior to midnight EDT October 14, 2023, will be a full refund less $10.00 for processing.  There is no refund after midnight EDT October 14, 2023.

Recreational Courses

Beginner and Advanced Beginner courses only will be offered for recreational orienteers (these will be the same White and Yellow courses that competitive orienteers will run). All recreational entries will be charged $10 per individual or group for this event, which includes rental e-punch if you do not have your own. There are no additional discounts for DVOA or OUSA members in the recreational category. Pre-registration is required for recreational courses and will close on Thursday, November 2 at midnight EDT.

Register for Recreational courses
at Iron Hill and/or Fair Hill.

On Saturday, White and Yellow recreational courses will be offered at Iron Hill Park.  A shuttle bus ride may be required to reach the arena.

On Sunday, White and Yellow recreational courses will be offered at Fair Hill Resource Management Area.

Timing System

The SPORTident (SI) electronic timing system will be used. Participants may use their own SI card or rent one when they register. Beacon mode will be enabled for this event for use with SIAC cards, with the exception of Start boxes. All competitors must punch the Start box.

  • SI card rental: $5.00 per day
  • Replacement fee for lost SI card: $40

Maps & Courses

DAY 1 – Iron Hill Park

Download a PDF of the old Iron Hill map

Iron Hill Map:
Scale: 1:7500 Brown X, Brown Y. 1:10,000 All other courses
Contour Interval: 5m
Base Map: Ivar Helgesen (photogrammetry)
Fieldwork & Drafting: Vladimir Zherdev, Eric Weyman (2020-2021)

Download Iron Hill Warm-up Map (1-7,500)

Download Iron Hill Warm-up Map (1-10,000)

Iron Hill terrain views

Iron Hill Terrain/Map Notes: Broad hillside with mostly open woods and moderate to dense trail network. Significant detail in the form of boulders, pits and quarries (from past mining operations). [See Iron Hill History from our 2021 event here.]

The updated version of the map was field-checked by Vladimir Zherdev in 2019 with a second pass by Eric Weyman in 2020. Eric also made more recent minor updates competed in October 2021. Map scale for the Brown X, Brown Y, Green X and Green Y courses is 1:7500. Map scale for all other courses is 1:10,000. Contour interval is 5 meters.

The disc golf course will be closed during the race. Most courses cross through the disc golf area. The tees consist of small concrete pads. Targets are metal baskets, shown on the map with a black “o” (symbol 530 – prominent man-made feature). Fairways are cleared of brush and some edges are therefore mapped with a distinct vegetation boundary symbol. For the entire Iron Hill map, all vegetation boundaries are shown using the green dash symbol (symbol 416). This symbol was chosen to minimize confusion with boulders and rocky ground. A map sample showing the green dash vegetation boundary and typical disc golf elements is shown below:

Boulders 0.5 meters high and above are mapped. Rootstocks 1.5 meter and above are mapped. Rootstocks are shown with a brown “x” which is a non-IOF symbol.

DAY 2 – Fair Hill Park

Fair Hill Map:
Scale: 1:7500 Brown X, Brown Y. 1:10,000 All other courses
Contour Interval: 5m
Base Map: Ivar Helgesen (photogrammetry)
Fieldwork & Drafting: Vladimir Zherdev, Updates: Jon Campbell (2023)

Fair Hill Terrain/Map Notes: 

Fair Hill is a 5,656-acre Natural Resources Management Area, part of the Maryland State Park System. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north and is located less than one half mile west of Delaware. It is also an internationally recognized destination for equestrian training and events featuring Dressage, Cross-Country, and Show Jumping competitions. Fair Hill is known for its pristine fields, woodlands and natural beauty. The area is bisected north-to-south by the Big Elk Creek, fed by multiple small streams and waterways on the property. The terrain is mainly rolling hills with “puzzle-like” wooded areas containing dense trail networks, connected by open fields, some with scattered jumping fences and prominent trees.

Fair Hill terrain views

Course/Class Structure
Classes are assigned to courses according to the following table (refer to OUSA Rules, Appendix A.40):

Competitive Courses
WhiteYellowOrangeBrownYBrownXGreenYGreenXRedBlue
F-10
M-10
F-12
M-12
M/F-White


F-14
M-14
F-Yellow
M-Yellow



F-16
M-16
F-Orange
M-Orange



F70+
F75+
F80+
F85+
M80+
M85+
F-Brown
M-Brown		F-18
F55+
F60+
F65+
M65+
M70+
M75+
F-20
F35+
F40+
F45+
F50+
F-Green

M-18
M50+
M55+
M60+
M-Green


F-21+
M-20
M35+
M40+
M45+
M-Red

M-21+
Non-Competitive Courses
WhiteYellow
White-RECYellow-REC
Your age is defined as the actual age you will be as of 12/31/2023
F-10 = female 10 years of age or under
M75+ = male 75 year or older
F-Orange = female of any age

Day 1 – Classic at Iron Hill – Course Stats

TBA

Day 2 – Classic at Fair Hill – Course Stats

TBA

Competitive Classes

All classes (M/F21+ and older) will run courses as specified in the OUSA Class Structure (URL: http://orienteeringusa.org/rules#A11). Brown & Green age classes are split as per guidelines in Rules, Appendix A.40:

Brown X: F-18, F55+, F60+, F65+, M65+, M70+, M75+
Brown Y: F70+, F80+, F85+, F90+, M80+, M85+, M90+, F Brown, M Brown

Green X: M-18, M50+, M55+, M60+, M Green
Green Y: F-20, F35+, F40+, F45+, F50+, F Green

Day 1 Course Notes

  • Walk to start: TBD

Day 2 Course Notes

  • Walk to start: TBD

Directions

Day 1 – Iron Hill (coordinates 39.6291520, -75.7633904)

  • From the North: Take I-95 South to Exit 1A, Rt. 896S. Merge onto DE 896 South (going North will put you in UD football traffic) and follow to the first traffic light at Old Baltimore Pike. Turn right on Old Baltimore Pike and travel 1.3 miles southwest to Praise Assembly Church on the right (just past Iron Hill Park). Park at the Church. More information on getting from parking to the arena will be posted soon.
  • From the South: Take I-95 north to Exit 109, MD 279 North, and follow signs for MD 279N / Newark DE. After merging onto MD 279, go 0.9 miles and turn right onto Iron Hill Road. *Turn left when Iron Hill Road T-s into W Chestnut Hill Road. At the first traffic light (Otts Chapel Road) turn right, and continue approximately 1.5 miles to Old Baltimore Pike. Turn left onto Old Baltimore Pike and look for signs for parking at Praise Assembly Church on the left. More information on getting from parking to the arena will be posted soon.
  • From the meet headquarters on MD 279, turn right to head north for about a quarter mile and turn right onto Iron Hill Road, and continue from * above.

Day 2 – Fair Hill (coordinates 39.6884614, -75.8413730)

  • From the North: From I-95, take Exit 109A-109B toward Newark, Delaware, then keep right to continue on Exit 109B. Follow signs for MD-279N / Newark, DE. **Merge onto MD 279N. In about 0.8 miles, ***turn left onto MD 277 W (Fletchwood Rd). Continue on MD 277/ Fletchwood Road—which becomes Elk Mills Road—for about 3 miles, then turn right onto Russell Road. In about 0.5 miles, turn left onto Gallaher Road and watch for O signs.
  • From the South: From I-95, take Exit 109A and continue from **.
  • From the meet headquarters: Turn right to head North on MD 279 and follow directions above from ***.
Embargoed Areas

Per OUSA Rules of Competition, Iron Hill Park, and the portions of Fair Hill NRMA Park, south of MD 273, are off limits for all purposes (including hiking, training or orienteering) for those competing in this event.

Arena Maps

Maps of the venue showing parking, registration, and start areas for each day may be posted here.

Iron Hill, Newark, Delaware
Parking and Arena Layout
(PDF for printing)

Fair Hill, Elkton, Maryland
(PDF for printing)

Warm-up area: The start and finish locations indicated on the warm-up map will have a streamer hung as close by as possible to mark them in the terrain. Control locations will have a stand and flag, but no e-punch box.

Awards

All regular adult and youth OUSA courses/age classes will be offered and top three will receive awards based on the combined times from both days in the NRE classes.

Awards presentation: Sunday, 1:30 – 2 pm (est.)

Results

Day 1:

Day 2:

Overall:

On Attackpoint 

Iron Hill (to be posted on or about November 4)

Fair Hill (to be posted on or about November 5)

Travel

Directions to the events: see the Directions section above. The closest commercial airports are Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), airport code PHL; and Baltimore-Washington International, south of Baltimore, Maryland, airport code BWI.

Event Hotel

  • Holiday Inn Express & Suites Elkton-University Area, 1570 Elkton Road, Elkton, Maryland 21921 Phone: 1+443-350-9154
    • Use this link to reserve a room in our block at the Holiday Inn Express. Enter the date and it should take you to the block reservation ($149 + taxes).
  • Hampton Inn Elkton, 2 Warner Road, Elkton, Maryland 21921 Phone: 1+410-398-7777
    Mention Group Code DVO
    • Room with one King bed $179 (10 available in block)
    • Room with two Queen beds $169 (10 available in block)

What Else to Do in the Area

Safety

Time Limit: Classic course time limit is 3 hours. Anyone nearing the three-hour limit should proceed to the finish and download area as quickly as possible, whether or not they have completed their course.

Hospital / Urgent Care: ChristianaCare, Christiana Hospital, 4755 Ogletown-Stanton Road, Newark, DE 19718. Phone +1 302-733-1000

Note: All competitors are required to carry a whistle while orienteering on their course.

Event Officials

  • Event Director: Angelica Riley
  • Event & Course Advisors: Ralph Tolbert, Mary Frank, and Wyatt Riley
  • Course Setters: Sergey Ryzhkov  – Iron Hill (Saturday, November 4); and Bob Agosta – Fair Hill (Sunday, November 5)
  • Registrar: Janet Tryson
  • Course Vetters: Glen Tryson
  • Awards:  Angelica Riley
  • Start Team: Tim Walsh and Ron Wood, and Mark Frank
  • Registration/Welcome Table: Patty Carrigan
  • Parking: Jim Eagleton
  • Results: Vadim Masalkov
  • Refreshments: Svetlana and Nikolay Frolenko
  • Photography: Julie Keim 
  • Announcer: Greg Balter
  • Marketing/Social Media: Oriana Riley
  • QotH Webpage: Janet Tryson
  • Permits: Mary Frank
  • Control Pick Up – Patrick Shannon
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