Morgan Territory Regional Preserve
Date: (Sun.) Oct. 28, 2012
Location: Livermore, CA
Event Directors: 
- 925.516.7622, - 925.516.7622
Course Setters: Luc Poppe, Theo Verhoeven, Cedric Lasfargues
Type: B; All the standard courses will be offered — Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
Course Setter’s Notes
By Theo Verhoeven, et al
Course Statistics
Technical Course Distance Climb Controls Difficulty
White 2.0 km 85 m 8 Very Easy Yellow 2.8 km 85 m 9 Less Easy Orange 4.0 km 160 m 10 Intermediate Brown 3.1 km 225 m 14 Advanced Green 5.3 km 300 m 16 Advanced Red 6.3 km 370 m 18 Advanced Blue 7.5 km 425 m 21 Advanced
White, Yellow & Orange Courses
The White, Yellow & Orange courses have a short walk from the registration area to the Start (500 m, 15 m climb).
The White & Yellow courses are ideal for beginners — both follow trails. Note that some trails are covered with rocks, and are not suited for strollers. All White controls are located on a trail, while Yellow controls may be located within a short distance of a trail. The Yellow course also has some opportunities to go off-trail to shorten the distance between two controls. There is water at the Start and Finish, but not on the courses. You may want to carry water, especially on a warm day.
The Orange course is intended for intermediate runners. It goes off-trail and is more physical. There is one water stop on the Orange course.
Beginners should keep in mind that the distances listed represent the total of the straight-line distances between controls. The actual distance traveled on a course will always be longer — how much longer will depend on route choice and error.
There is poison oak in the park, but there is very little if any on the White, Yellow, and Orange courses.
Brown, Green, Red, & Blue Courses
All the advanced courses have a remote Start. It is about a 15-minute walk from the parking lot (750 m, 50 m climb). We added some controls in the less frequently used area west of Morgan Territory road. A mix of longer and shorter legs should test both your route-choice and technical skills.
Each advanced course needs to cross Morgan Territory road twice (once to the Start, and once during the race). Traffic on Morgan Territory road is generally light, but that lone driver/rider may come quite fast around a corner. So be careful when crossing the road.
The advanced courses are more physical than last year. Please check the stats and plan accordingly. There is one big climb (about half way). Each course has two water stops, roughly one before and one after the big climb. If it is a warm day, you may want to carry extra water.
There are several fence crossings. On Brown, there are three fence crossings that are quite impossible to avoid. Depending on your route, the best technique is probably to crawl under on the ground.
Some of the reentrants are steep and may be cluttered with boulders and loose rocks. Be careful when crossing. There should be plenty of safe options. When in doubt, do what the cows do.
Poison oak is getting more and more prevalent in Morgan Territory, as elsewhere. Although the courses are designed to avoid the worst areas, you will encounter poison oak on each course. It is often only a few feet high, found in patches and can be mostly avoided. At this time of the year though it has lost most of its leaves and it may be more difficult to identify. We recommend that you wash with something like Tecnu after the event.
Terrain & Map
The terrain is approximately 50% open oak forest, 40% grassland, and 10% fight. The "white" forest has good visibility and running, except on the steep slopes. There is a moderate trail network.
- There are many rock features in the terrain. Sometimes the smaller boulders are not mapped, and sometimes they are mapped as small dots. Sometimes, a 1 m high boulder is mapped by itself on the map, but is actually surrounded by smaller boulders that make it hard to identify. The black triangle symbol is used to indicate a boulder cluster, but in areas where several are close together it can be hard to differentiate them.
- Clearings are mapped extensively, but the small ones can be hard to identify sometimes.
- There are numerous cow trails that are not mapped.
- Fallen trees and/or tree stumps are mapped as green ×'s, but not all may be mapped and some mapped ones may have largely eroded.
- "White" forest can consist of very sparse trees; in addition, a cluster of even just two trees can be mapped as a white patch. That said, more distinct trees are mapped with open green circles.
- The “undergrowth†vertical lines are often used to indicate areas with moderate poison oak, and can be generally relied upon if you want to avoid such areas.