Indian Valley College
Date: (Sun.) May. 5, 2024
Location: Novato, CA
Event Director: 
- 415.895.6039
Course Setter: Petra Sundstrom
Type: B; Orienteering returns to the verdant hills around the Indian Valley College campus after a 7-year hiatus, with a new map; there will be the standard 7 courses (White through Blue); free introductory instruction for beginners, who are very welcome
Related Event Information
Course Setter's Notes
By Petra Sundström
After a long hiatus due to massive rebuilding and modifications around the campus area, BAOC is now finally able to hold an orienteering event on the updated map! The forest surrounding the campus is beautiful right now, with plenty of wildflowers, green grass, rolling hills, and the occasional grazing deer to complete the picture. And, as an added bonus, there is very little poison oak! But there are some thistles ... so, long pants and gaiters are still recommended for the Orange and advanced courses.
There will be one or two water controls on the Orange and advanced courses. Participants on the White and Yellow courses should carry their own water if they think they might want some.
The new map covers a larger area than we are currently allowed to use, so a challenge has been to keep the course distances reasonable without too much crisscrossing back and forth over the area, while still having interesting route choices and keeping the controls distinct and with a suitable level of difficulty. As a result, the Red and Blue courses will have a map flip. The map will be printed on both sides, with approximately half of the course on each side.
The campus area gives this map a bit of a sprint feel to it, and the abundance of trails and paths in the area should make for some fast running on parts of the courses. Other parts of the area are steeper, with some denser vegetation, but still without much ground vegetation. It will be a matter of keeping speed up when the terrain allows for it to make up for the slower parts! Generally, the first half of the courses will be more technical and physically challenging, and later become easier and more runnable.
A few things where noticed during the vetting of the courses:
- The rocks are very small, sometimes hardly noticeable, and hence they are mostly avoided as control features. Also, they can be tricky to rely on as navigational aids, so I would not recommend it.
- The black × symbol indicates a "man-made structure" that can be a range of things — picnic table, big sign, fenced-in electrical structure, etc. They can sometimes be quite large! So, keep an open mind when reading that symbol.
- There are a lot of very vague animal trails that are not mapped. In a few places, mapped trails are also vague, but generally possible to find. These are not issues on the White and Yellow courses.
- All the courses cross the road leading into the campus area, so look carefully for cars before crossing the road! The White and the Yellow courses should cross the road at a crosswalk if the course is followed correctly, but make sure to still keep an eye out for cars!
- On some of the courses, you will be crossing parking lots. Please be careful when doing so!
The course details are as follows:
Course Length Climb Controls Navigation
White 2.6 km 90 m 10 Beginner
Yellow 2.9 km 120 m 10 Advanced Beginner
Orange 4.2 km 185 m 12 Intermediate
Brown 3.7 km 190 m 12 Advanced
Green 4.4 km 260 m 14 Advanced
Red 5.6 km 235 m 12 Advanced
Blue 6.8 km 290 m 13 Advanced
In the process of course setting, I have had great support from Gary Kraght and Bill Cusworth; as well as a lot of help from my parents visiting from Sweden (two 70+ Brown runners) who enthusiastically took on the challenge; from my 12-year-old son who, while test running the Orange course found plenty of places with poison oak that subsequently could be avoided; and my 10-year-old daughter who greatly contributed by getting lost and angry on my first attempt to set a White course! (Yes, it has been adjusted!) My husband, who has been test running the Blue course, said it was grueling, and recommended a machete. (I'm not sure he made the best route choices, though.) I have found the forest pretty easy going! (And please don't bring a machete!)
I really hope you all will have a great day at Indian Valley. I'll be happy to hear any feedback that could contribute to better courses in the future!