Valley Forge Battle to the End O' Marathon

Valley Forge, PA [topo]
Dec 15, 2007

Entry-deadline: Dec 12
Type: Orienteering - Other

Info:

What

• New on 12/11: Course Setter's Notes
• This is the first known Orienteering event to be held in the US that is of full Marathon (42.2km) distance.
  
• A half-marathon option is available.
  
• This is a fundraiser for the US Orienteering Team & DVOA.
  

When

• Normal mass-start is 9AM, early-start at 7AM available on request, course closes at 4PM.
• Cutoff times will be in place to make sure everyone is done before dark (which comes around 4:45pm.)
  
  • 1/2-way-point: 12:30pm
  • 3/4-point: 2:15pm
    
• Please arrive at the event and check in at least 30 minutes prior to the start.
  
• Please contact angelicariley at yahoo.com if you'd like to request an early start.
  

Where

Maps

Course

• New on 12/11: Course Setter's Notes
• Half: 21.10km, 370m climb, 24 controls
• Full: 42.20km, 615m climb, 49 controls
• Length Orienteering-measured distance (minimum permitted* distance) is the full 21.1km on each half of the marathon. Actual distance of the ideal route appears to be ~23km on each half. *(Note you are not permitted to cross into private property marked on the map, or cross freeways, swim wide rivers, or cross high fences or cliffs. Route is measured around such obstacles.)
  
• Climb is less than 2%.
  
• The half marathon is the 1st half of the full marathon, so you can change your mind and stop halfway if you don't make it.
  
• The navigational difficulty ranges from beginner (White) to intermediate (Orange) level, usually on the easier side of that range. The goal is to allow many people to finish this marathon w/o the need for advanced navigational skills. Figuring out what trail you are on, and planning which to take next is sufficient for the vast majority of the course, with further 'advanced' level optimizations possible in some cases.
  
• The best route is ~30% paved trail*, 40% dirt trail, and 25% off-trail (mostly fields, a little forest), with <5% on the side of roads. (*dirt shoulder usually available if you're really pavement averse)
  
• As of 12/11, the course is wet, but free of snow & ice, and will probably remain this way for race day.
  
• Course Setter is Wyatt Riley.
  

Gear

• You probably don't want to wear metal spiked shoes due to the amount of pavement.
  
• Full leg covering would be good through the fields and forests if you choose to run through these.
  

Aid Stations

• At 13km, 21km, 28km, 31km, 35km, there will be aid stations with water, Gatorade, Coke, Mt. Dew, and bananas.
• Additional water at winterized drinking fountains will likely be available at 9km, and 38km (we drop water at these if they freeze up.)
• The halfway point (21km) is the same as the start/finish, so feel free to leave further aid items for yourself there, e.g. in your car..
  

Controls

• Controls will be a mixture of wire flags & regular orienteering bags, some of which will have Epunching for splits and the rest of which will have normal pin punches.
  
• You must either epunch, or pin-punch each control.
  
• You will be using one control card - boxes for punch numbers 21 to 49 are printed on the back. You'll only punch in about half the boxes because the other half are epunch.
• Control descriptions will be printed in a side-by-side fashion, that you can fold in half to 'normal' size.

Accomodation

Registration & Cost

Other

The background

Event Website

added by angelica

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Attending:

Avg "yes" distance: 171mi

95		ebone Cool! I wish I could go!
91.1		jfredrickson Yahoo! What a way to start the Winter season!
88.7		Wyatt course setting + running unofficially, starting late, I think
86.1		j-man Assistant event director and running
84.2		Joe viktoria and pavlina too
83.3		Nikolay Nice. I want.
80.6		Samantha Doesn't look so certain now. I'm falling apart already.
79		PG I think this is one that shouldn't be missed.
78		speedy Start-Halfway-Finish-Rescue-and-Search if needed :)
76.9		hkleaf recovery from injury, bummer!
74.3		Ratlaf Aaarrggghhh Need more money!
72.9		Tom_O Is a complementary pineapple included in the entry fee?
70.4		jjcote
69.9		coach Some one has to carry the food....
69.9		cmorse
69.7		bishop22 Very tight travel schedule
68.1		L-Jackson half sounds about right
66.5		angelica Event Director & running too
66.3		viktoria
65.3		PBricker
65		Boojums temptation won
60.2		TimGood Maybe I will try the full distance afterall.
58.9		Charlie and Rhonda, too. early start!
56.3		triple-double Hope to do the half-marathon
55.2		pkturner unable to cancel out on becoming a grandpa
53.6		kswede
49.3		barb
47.9		levitin Sounds great. Too bad it's a Sat.
46.2		vmeyer
44.6		furlong47 May attempt half
43.1		wilburdeb Zac & I are doing the 21 km
		cporter not sure if i'll finish, but i'm gonna try
		McDowell
		fredder full marathon? maybe
		playnq
		Maryann Trying the half
		UncleCrispy I am in for the full..sounds awesome
		yoyonateo looks like a lot of fun
		orienteeringmom Halfway/finish station chef
		mforbes mforbes
		allnoise3rd Half Marathoner
		Sswede Volunteering
		simkiss Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...I'm doing the full marathon...Actually I'm not....but I will do the half...
		rkinsley Will check with the holiday calendar - but I too have not run a marathon & trail option is appealing
		div Would be good reason to run marathon
		Bernard Have to see what this might conflict with