Meet Notes

WCOC 2 Day A Meet October 25-26, 2003

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The Event in Kent

Western Connecticut Orienteering Club is pleased to welcome all our O friends for another taste of the wonderful terrain of our small but varied state. This year we are returning to Kent and the Pond Mountain map. Those with long memories may remember the fun A meet here in 1998 or the Billygoat the next spring. The woods are still open and fast; the map well defined to the normal Dominie standard. Great courses have been designed to test, but not perplex (that is: no controls buried in pits, thick vegetation or scraping the ground).

For the lucky Orienteers returning to Connecticut, this weekend will meet the high expectations from your past experiences. For our new visitors, you will count the days till you can return.

We hope you enjoy the terrain and the courses we have designed to try to show it off. Most of all enjoy yourselves and thank you for joining us.

Lyn and George Walker, Presidents
And the Members of WCOC

Meet Officials

Course setter: Peter Goodwin

Vetters: Lyn and George Walker

USOF Course Consultant: Evan Custer

Meet Director: Susan DeWitt

Registrar: Jim Henderson

Map

Pond Mountain, Kent, CT, 1:10,000; 5 meter contours

Originally field-checked in 1988 by Peter Goodwin, revised and expanded in 1998 by Mark Dominie.

Course Lengths and Climb

Course Setter Notes

General

The map is still very good and conditions haven’t changed in the past few years. Some trails have become less distinct and some animal trails sometimes look like trails. Also, the falling leaves will make many of the trails hard to see and follow. The courses have been set so that there is generally good running although there are steep descents. Please use care. Some barbed wire is not mapped and, where it has been found, it has been streamered. Be aware that there may be other barbed wire and it may be on steep slopes. Be careful. Some controls are relatively close to others so check your codes. The separation of controls and controls with similar features are according to IOF standards but please be careful. Control numbers will be inside the control. The hillside near the finish both days is very steep. Please use care in your route choice and with the placement of your feet. Many of the cliffs, especially on this hillside are very dangerous. The courses have been set so these cliffs should not come into play but some people may choose routes that I have not foreseen. We do have poison ivy and ticks. The courses have not been intentionally set into areas with these hazards but avoiding them is not always possible. Please take precautions!

Day 1

The courses start “up on the hill” so please allow plenty of time to get there and rest up if you so desire. The warm-up area is south of the start, down the hill. (For a really good warm-up, take a bag of clothes down the hill and/or bring water up the hill to the start.) Out of bounds near start includes all areas to the north and east of the start area. All of the courses on day 1 stay to the west of Skiff Mountain Road so if you are thinking of crossing a road, you are lost. The trail that leaves the start is a good route choice for white and yellow and will be streamered because it may be difficult to see in the fall leaves. Other trails may be streamered.  There are streamers from the “go” control to the finish and if you do not follow the route, you may have to climb a fence. This is possible but it may take longer than the suggested route to the finish. 

Day 2

There will be a bus ride to the start of all courses. White and yellow courses will have a different start than the other courses. This means that the people going to these courses have to get off the bus before it goes up the hill. Make sure that you get off for these courses because it will take quite a while to get back to your start if you miss the stop.

White and yellow courses go through the backyards of various members of the Kent School faculty. They know about the event but please be respectful of their property. Also, the courses have been designed so that you never have to set foot on the pavement of a main road (you may cross driveways). Therefore, please do not walk on pavement of any road, please walk on the grass or dirt beside the road. SAFETY is first.

All courses other than white and yellow have a road crossing. A control is right before the road crossing and is on a good trail. Please use this trail to get to the road, it is the obvious route choice anyway. There will be someone at the crossing but it is your responsibility to avoid being hit by cars that may be traveling fast down or up the road. If you are delayed for a significant amount of time, tell the road crossing guard and give your number. The guard should be able to adjust your time. The road crossing is designed so that all runners will cross perpendicular to the road with a control just before the road and one across the road. You should have a reasonably good view of cars coming from both directions but BE CAREFUL!  Running along the road is dangerous and if you choose the road as a route choice (not what I would do for any of the legs of any of the courses), again, please be careful. As on day 1, the route to the finish will be streamered and will show a route that will avoid climbing fences.

The safety bearing before you cross the road is west to the road. After crossing the road, you can go either east or west and come to the road or the valley. If you get to the valley with the flat floodplain, head south to the finish. On the road, head south back to Rt. 341. All areas on the east side of the road, except the walk from the road to the start, are out of bounds. Also, all areas south of the start area on the west side of the road are out of bounds. You can run north up the wood road on the west side of the road but PLEASE be careful crossing the road. Because this is a natural area with hikers using the area, no streamers will indicate the out of bounds.

Because of the large size of the map and the smaller size of the course printer, green, red and blue courses will have two maps, one will be facing one way in the map bag and the other will face the other. This will avoid a map exchange. This means that when you pick up your map(s), you could look at one or the other of them and start planning your route. This is unfair. You should pick up your map, check to see that it is the right one if you desire and then hold it by your side, out of sight. A logical time to stop using the first map and start using the second is at the road crossing. One map has all the controls east of the road and the other has all controls west of the road.  The maps have quite a bit of overlap so this should not be a problem. Clues will be on both maps.

Safety

If west of Skiff Mountain Road, head south or east to get to Skiff Mountain Road and go south (right) to Rt. 341. If east of Skiff Mountain Road, head west to get to the road and then go south (left) to Rt. 341.

There is a 3 hour time limit for all courses. You must come in on time. Competitors taking more than 3 hours (180 minutes) will be recorded as Overtime.

Starts

We will use a simplified start procedure on both days, with a single call-up line. Your bib number has a bar code. Please do not cover up the bar code so we can read it at the start line.

Saturday

First start is at 11 am. Please allow for a 25 minute walk with 100 meters of climb. Follow signs to start. There will be clothing drop-off on both days but please try to limit the clothing you take on Saturday so volunteers don’t have to haul too many bags down the hill.

Sunday

TIME CHANGE: Please remember to turn your clocks and watches back 1 hour on Saturday night.

First start is at 9 am. There will be a 30-minute bus ride to the start, 20 minutes for White & Yellow courses. There are 2 busses.

Finishes and Awards

All competitors must come through the finish chute ― even DNF, overtime or mispunch. We need to know you have returned safely.

We’ll present awards on Sunday as soon as possible (presumably by 1 pm).

First Aid

An EMT and/or a doctor will be present to assist initial emergencies. The New Milford Hospital is about 15 miles to the south and takes about 30 minutes to get to. Directions follow. There is also a hospital in Sharon, CT, which is about 15 miles to the north.

New Milford Hospital
21 Elm St
New Milford, CT

Directions:

Follow Rt. 7 south for about 14 miles to Rt. 202 in New Milford. Turn left onto Rt. 202. In less than a mile, turn left onto Elm St.

Recreational Courses

White and Yellow courses will be available both days. $5 per map/day. Free String-O is available both days. Go to the Babysitting area for information.

Saturday

Rec courses will be available from 11:30 to 1:00 on Saturday. Register at the Recreational Registration table. You will get a bib number and a standard punch card marked "REC". Follow signs to the Start area and get a start time from the start crew. When you are called for your start time, you will receive your map and will follow the same White and Yellow courses as the A meet courses, finishing at the A meet finish area.

Sunday

Rec courses will be available from 9:30 to 11:00 on Sunday. Register, start, and finish at the Recreational Registration table (like a standard local meet). Do not get on the bus for the A meet starts. You will copy your map at Rec Registration and follow a different course than the A meet courses.

Sunday’s recreational courses follow a road for a short time. Please use caution.

Saturday Dinner at Kent School

For those with tickets for dinner, the dining hall opens at 5:30. From the hockey rink (where the parking is), follow the road toward the campus, go up the steps on the walk, turn right, go past one dorm and the building that runs east-west in front of you is the dining hall. (It has big tall windows.) Dinner is cafeteria style, so after you enter and give your ticket to the ticket taker, get your meal. Salad is at the “L” of the dining hall, drinks are on the west wall of the part of the dining hall that runs north-south. We will be eating in Walker Hall that is the “room” with a higher ceiling at the south end of the north-south part of the dining hall. It is easier than it sounds to find your way around.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Kent School for letting us use their facilities, parking lot, and fields, and for allowing us to join the students for dinner on Saturday.

Thanks to all our hardworking volunteers. Most of these people have answered the call for help many, many times in the past and their commitment and expertise is greatly appreciated. Please forgive us if we’ve missed anyone.

Dick and Marilyn Fetzer, Karen and Dan Olah, Ed White, Rich Nietupski, John Goodwin, Eric Schonenberg, J-J Cote, Nancy Koehler, Donna Fluegel, Lois Stauffer, Ellen Nerbak, Rick DeWitt, Gari and Tina Williams, Bob Auer, Neil Bostrom, Sue and Steve Worthington, Craig Weber, Mark Dominie, Julie Worthington and Chelsea, John-Eric Nelson