Sierra 2000 O-Fest


Trail-O

Friday, August 4

Contact: Karen Dennis and David Irving, event directors

Trail orienteering, or trail-O, was developed to give those with limited mobility - folks in wheelchairs, with arthritis, etc. - a chance to enjoy the map-reading aspects of orienteering. No athletic ability is required, and speed is not an element of competition. Instead, you must accurately identify, from a distance, which of several control flags precisely matches each circled spot on the map. It's not as easy as it sounds!

For the Sierra 2000, the trail-O course will be held at Northstar. It contains some highly technical points and will present a good challenge for experienced orienteers. We will be posting the answers near the controls, along with some analysis, so you can learn as you go. In addition, attending the workshops on trail orienteering during the USOF Convention will definitely give you an advantage.

The Course

The start and finish will be near the Village at Northstar. The course is about 2 km long, but it has a lot of climb. There will be 10 controls, including one timed control at the finish. If you are handicapped and would have trouble with the climb, let us know and we may allow you to access parts of the course by vehicle.

Control 1 is particularly difficult for a first control - don't let it fool you. Control 2 is in an area that may be very congested during the event, and may have to be eliminated if there are too many people about. The other controls are arranged around mostly rock and vegetation features, since the contours near the ski areas have been smoothed too much to present a challenge.

Start Times

Starts will be from 9:00 am to 11:30 am; there are no pre-assigned start times. The trail-O is a little informal and may be left up Friday afternoon.

Watch out for...

There will be other people on the trails and areas around the trail-O. Be courteous and step off the trail when at the viewing stations. Watch for fast-moving mountain bikes at all times. When we were designing the course, we saw bears several times; hopefully, they will be gone by now. Please respect private property and stay on roads and trails near the condos.

We detected magnetic anamolies at some of the control sites, particularly closer to the ground, so beware of relying strictly on bearings. Binoculars or other vision aids are allowed.

Biographies

Karen Dennis has been orienteering for over 20 years and first discovered trail orienteering in 1993. She competed in the first Trail-O World Cup in Scotland last year in the Open category. She has put on several trail-O events for her local club, and is currently a member of the USOF trail-O committee.

David Irving has been orienteering since 1977 and specializes in map memory. David has been active in trail orienteering for several years; he represented the U.S. at the first Trail-O World Cup in Scotland last year and took 3rd place.