Discussion: Event Notes

We're 8 days away from the (Center of the) Universe Orienteering Champs! I'm about 90% done with the map & course, so here's some info!

Safety:
There are some busy streets on the map, and they are mapped as out-of-bounds. I haven't mapped anything north of the main east-west arterial, so there's no reason to go there. However, Fremont Avenue runs north-south and bisects the map. Do not cross Fremont Avenue at street level. The only permitted crossings are underneath the Fremont Bridge on either the Burke-Gilman Trail or Northlake Way.

The rest of the streets on the map are in bounds and consist of side streets with stop signs, speed bumps, parking lots, and crosswalks. In other words, pretty typical for what you'd see in an urban sprint.


Bridges:
There are two bridges here, the Aurora Bridge and the Fremont Bridge.

The Aurora Bridge is (by far) the largest feature in the neighborhood; however, the span of the Aurora Bridge is not mapped. It's 50 meters over your head! I opted to more legibly show the ground underneath, which includes a small park, parking lots, side streets, and four giant support pillars for the bridge. (There's no way to access the span of the bridge from anywhere on the map.)

The Fremont Bridge is mapped, and the span of the bridge is mapped as the primary running level. Fremont Avenue traverses this bridge and the roadway is mapped out-of-bounds. The sidewalks on either side are in bounds. There are two permitted crossings underneath the bridge: Northlake Way and the Burke-Gilman Trail. These crossings are clearly marked with ISSOM passageway symbols.


Checkpoint Markers:
Pin flags with manual pin punches.

Course Details:
24 checkpoints (pin flags with hole punchers)
4.0 km shortest-route distance (2.6 km straight line)
45 m of total climb
1:4000 scale ISSOM map

Burke-Gilman Trail
Please be aware of cyclists along this trail, which you could be running along or crossing 4-10 times (depending route choices). Cycle traffic from 6:30-7:30pm is past peak, but please try to be careful when crossing.

Map Printing
Because of the potential for rain, maps will be printed on Rite-in-Rain waterproof paper. Maps are 8.5" x 5.5" (half sheets). The punch card is printed on the same sheet as the map.

Checkpoint descriptions are *not* printed on the map. I will provide those separately, on regular paper. I'll have description sheets available in both symbol (for the regular orienteers) and text (for non-orienteers).

Start & Finish
The gathering area is in the parking lot immediately south of the Burke-Gilman Trail, on the east side of #1000 Northlake Way (this is also directly across 34th Street from Fremont Brewing).

The clock will start at the northeast corner of the building, but the start triangle on the map is 60m west along the Burke-Gilman.

The finish is on the east side of the building (#1000 Northlake Way).

Here's a map snippet that illustrates my previous comment (on April 4) about safety, out-of-bounds, and the Fremont Bridge.

What you're looking at here is the span of the Fremont Bridge over Northlake Way. The road on the bridge span (Fremont Ave) is out-of-bounds and is mapped with the pink stripes.
Northlake Way is a legal way to cross underneath the Fremont Bridge, and that's shown with the dotted passageway symbol (with faint pink striping to indicate the out-of-bounds above).

There's another legal crossing along the Burke-Gilman Trail, not shown in this snippet.

This also shows two different colors of pavement: the darker tan shows where you could expect motor vehicles. The lighter tan shows pedestrian access (eg: sidewalks).