Discussion: Start times, and minimum essentials

So, as you may heard if you entered and my mail isn't spamfiltered, we had some major venue changes (again). Rex and I have been mapping nonstop since last week to make the event happen; if I have a spare moment, I'll update the webpage, if not, it'll stay as is. We are very close to being able to pull this off with two brand new maps (but not three), and both of them are our most scenic venues to date and the most scenic venues I know of (each beats even Point Bonita, which is also in play).

What you need to know: On Friday, show up either at Sports Basement or at Bay and Octavia and park on city streets. The new Friday venue is 2.6 km from Sports Basement, warm up or carpool. We are on the down-low for the new Friday venue, no permit (they know we are there, but it's not an official special event), no arena, no advertising the venue, no canopies or banners, fortunately yes checkpoints, and yes the most scenic place in San Francisco. Until Saturday.

If you aren't joining us on Friday and begin racing on Saturday, the directions on the website are correct.

Start lists are posted. And here's the shirt design:



If you have entered and you don't have my event-day email #1, email me and you'll also get directions to lunch and dinner. Dinner is sold out, unless I have to do the usual, spend my Saturday night pecking at Sunday's OCAD, in which case there are two more tickets.

The Tournament has two more slots. The Friday event is sold out.

One more Tournament berth to go! Who will grab it? (We can oversubscribe the Tournament, but not by too many people.)

The forecast is for 84 mm of rain between now and the first start on Friday afternoon. This is a full-on forest venue lineup; there will be some pavement running, the most pavement you'll have is at Stage One and Stage Five, but I'd still wear metal-less forest shoes at all Stages. Stages One through Three drain pretty well and should not be excessively muddy. I'd say there's a small chance they'll say Sunday is a no-go because of the rain, but it should dry up.

So that means no Spikes I presume?

No kinds of commonly used shoes are forbidden.

Thanks!

Looking out the window, I am very concerned. Will talk to the Parks ranger as soon as she's in. Golden Gate Park is most likely OK but Parks properties look like a problem.

Even if they say we can proceed, I am concerned about forming short-lived tracks and short-lived mudslides and this permanently hurting our ability to get permits in the future. Stand by...

Any news?

Any rainouts?

I have not been able to reach the NPS ranger all day. Stage Two/Three arena is posted closed. I was just there, no hazards are present and plenty of non-indigent people there despite the rain. In my best opinion, Stages One through Three are (a) safe and (b) we won't make a mess.

Haven't heard from Stage Four people (City of SF) either, which doesn't mean they won't show up and say it's a no-go. Hopefully not. I don't think Stage Four has any hazards either, but we may leave some tracks. They'll be short-lived. With this, we will have a Tournament with a proper seeding race, a Middle, and two new maps.

Stage Five is an entirely different animal. The coastal vegetation is sensitive and we are almost certain to make the smaller trails into a mess. In addition, if people go too much through the vegetation, they will leave tracks. I am not going to risk all OUSA clubs losing (potential) access to NPS land because of the damage, however fleeting. So, I sent the ranger a note to cancel the Sunday race at Point Bonita. The only way we'll have it is if I can't really cancel for some reason.

The suggested alternative is for all to head out to the Sacramento area for their Sunday event. It's a two-hour drive, new map. I well realize that for some, it won't fit the departure schedule. We'll pay the entry fees. I haven't sent out an email saying just this yet, because it may well be that their jurisdiction is also moisture-sensitive. Bill Cusworth doesn't think so, but the majority of Bay Area parks would not let us have an event after this much rain. Point Bonita, I think, got over 4 inches.

Are old Street Scramble courses a possibility for Sunday? I'm not sure if Sacramento is possible for our travel schedule (but it might be).

Certainly have tons of leftover S.S. maps.

It hasn't been raining for a while, but the ground is still wet. No communications received from the authorities.

Friday pretty final course parameters:

Men: 2.67 km; 63 m climb; 20 CPs
Women: 2.29 km; 58 m climb; 16 CPs
Masters/Juniors: 1.85 km; 35 m climb; 15 CPs
Beginner/Intermediate: 1.52 km; 30 m climb; 9 CPs

15 minutes winning time (for a OUSA 100-pt person on Blue; Red; Green; Orange, respectively) on all courses.

Map is 1:5000, 2.5 m contours. Created by Rex in about 6 days working half-time. Looks very pretty.

Friday notes:

Nothing unusual. Please don't go into the residential areas, which are mapped and posted. The uncrossable walls are the thick ones; you are not allowed to cross them, you will be in full view of the finish, and we will disqualify you if you cross these walls. The one black X that figures prominently is a WWII object.

I will pack some SF Street Scramble maps for the check-in if I don't forget.

Four to five inches of rain throughout the area since Wednesday late night, with several more to come today. There can be more cancellations; I believe the arena for Stages Two and Three and the Middle is still posted closed, will check on the way to Sports Basement. If I can't see McLaren Park from my window, things can't be good.

Please do update as soon as you can if Stages Two and Three are cancelled- it will determine whether I fly down or not from Portland at 6pm today. (I understand reasons and all, this is really just practical- if there aren't races, it doesn't make sense for me to put the effort into travel.) Thanks much and good luck!

As of now, not looking good. Park still closed. The office lost power for the whole day yesterday, that's why I couldn't get in touch with the ranger. If Sutro Heights Park doesn't reopen by the time of the first Friday start, we'll cancel all Saturday races; it doesn't make much sense to proceed just with Stage Four, which may also get cancelled, this park just isn't as proactive in contacting me nor am I in contacting them.

The Friday event is a definite go. It is still pouring rain, however.

So the decision is that I send someone to Sutro Heights at 3 pm. If it's closed, Saturday is off. If it's not, we will proceed with all three Saturday stages (hoping that Stage Four is OK). I do not have a phone number for the person who makes that decision or know who she is, and the permitting ranger wouldn't tell me.

For Sunday, the ranger just let me know that we weren't going to go ahead regardless of me making the decision. A major trail run just got directed away from the area (and they don't have an approved final permit). Marin got hit the worst, with the first 3 inches or so hitting in the first 3 to 4 hours, so ground is really soaked.

Even if you can't put on an official sprint series on Saturday is there something you can put on, like keepin stage 4, for those of us that are already here and have spent a lot of money to come here? To me it doesn't matter if it is a ranking event.

GCO just let me know that their venue is definitely open (it wasn't a given, since other venues in the same area closed). I can take two people on Sunday morning. We are paying the regular GCO entry fees. We'll figure out what to do about entry fees for this year's event, hopefully to the participants' satisfaction.

Amy, thanks for your input and yoru kind words! I can certainly go out there and place flags in GG Park, but we can't have the event there outside the permitted window or the permitted area. Yes, let's have Stage Four regardless, unless they tell me that we can't.

And actually I don't know why we can't have the GG Park event sanctioned/ranked; it was going to be a credit day. I only have one (= M21) course planned, but it made it past the Course Consultant, who I think is available. I can make other courses, too. But let's wait until the Sutro Heights decision first.

Thank you Vlad. We are going to print out a couple of the street scramble maps as well in our hotel.

Update. We can't actually get to the maps. Hopefully you have some you can give out? :).

Since we were all going to do M21 for Stage 4 anyway, are you allowed to leave it as M21 for all age groups if it becomes a ranking event for each age group? Or is there are a requirement to stay within time guidelines for each age group?

I will answer questions as I get more time... going out to set CPs for Stage One shortly.

Is check-in still at Sports Basement until 2:30? Our flight was delayed.

I was going to check in at Bay and Octavia, which is an indicated option in the first post on this thread.

Hard to detangle best info on what's up for tomorrow - is it that Stages 2 and 3 are definitely out, but something will happen for 4? Or are we still waiting for news on 2+3? Hoping for an update before catching the bus to the flight!

Have fun all that are there for today's event!

Short Answer: we don't know for sure about Sutro (stages 2 and 3) until tomorrow, honestly. I went to the park a few hours ago and there are closed signs all over. We called the event permit people and they say that we *should* be good to go, but they can't guarantee that all of the barricading will be taken down by then (the parks people have a lot to do), in which case it's off.

I'm sorry that I don't have anything more concrete, but the storm did a lot of wacky things here.

It's ok, totally helps to have a little more info so thanks for the update! I really wouldn't be so picky except having been so overwhelmingly busy so that there's just a strong pull to have a less-stress weekend. Leaning towards not going unless 2+3 are definitely on, but will be bummed to miss out!

Everything Saturday is on!

Will Enger just announced as winner for Stage 1!

Ali, are you coming or no?

(I've been named bracket czar, so I'm creating the bracket heats for tomorrow.)

Stages Two and Three are on. Stage One was precipitously close to not happening after our schedule slip midday, but it did. Sounds like courses and terrain were enjoyed by all. A titanic labor was accomplished by Rex the Backstreet Boy who not only made a brand new A-class map in less than a week, but came through at the key moment and persuaded me to go ahead. Nobody was disappointed.

The procedure was too much of a mess for the results to count for rankings, but in my view and view of all who came, the results are fully representative and Patrick is now generating the seedings.

The weather at Stage One was mostly clear skies.

Yup, made it to SF!