Meet Director: Kathy Bullard
Course Setter: Miikka Kaira
Please contact Kathy (dcider@earthlink.net or
847-570-9158) if you plan to attend so she can bring enough
maps!
Snowgaine! Cost:
$15 per person (members and non-members)
| |
|
Schedule:
9:30 a.m. |
|
Registration begins |
10:45 a.m. |
|
Snowgaine! competitors' briefing and map distribution |
11 a.m. |
|
Mass start for Snowgaine! course |
5 p.m. |
|
Snowgaine! course closes |
Update on 2/5/06:
The forecast six days before the Snowgaine tells
us that it will be
quite cold next weekend. Follow the weather and note that the weather
we
have on Saturday in the Mississippi River Valley will typically
be in
Chicago on Sunday morning. Take proper clothing with you and consider
also that you have something warm in the last half of the race.
And
that you have something dry and warm clothing after the race.
There will not be any water at any control. We will have water
during the race at the start/finish
area. The start/finish is located at the "north" entrance to the
park, which is in the middle of the map and the race area.
After the race we are going to need a lot of assistance to pick
up the
controls. If you have any chance to help us, please do that. We'll
ask
you before the start and probably also after the meeting. If you
can
help us, take your flashlight with you. It will be dark after 6 p.m.
Details:
It's time to brush up your skills and have some fun in the snow!
Saturday, Feb. 11, there will be a Snowgaine! at the Mississippi
Palisades State Park in Savanna, IL. Teams of 2 people, any
combination of male and/or female, will have a maximum of 6 hours
to find as many checkpoints as they can.
Since this is a group event, it does not count towards
the CAOC 2006 Club Championship.
The competition map is 1:15 000 scale, with some incomplete
field checking. The course offers a tough workout and some stunning
views of the Mississippi. Many controls will be far from trails and
on difficult slopes. The Snowgaine! is not intended for
beginning orienteers.
The controls will be spread out over the entire eleven square
kilometers of the State Park. Fifteen minutes before the race begins,
teams will receive a map that shows the location of each control.
It should be difficult for any team to get all of the controls
in the
six-hour time limit. Part of the challenge is to decide which route
to take to collect as many points as possible and still finish on
time. A penalty will be assessed per minute (or portion of a minute)
that a team is late.
There will be awards given for top 3 overall. Warm
post-race food might be available, but there will at least be hot
beverages.
Course Setter's Notes:
Welcome back to the Mississippi Palisades and the annual Snowgaine.
Four weeks before the meeting the park was in excellent condition
for orienteering without any snow and hardly any ice. The weather
in the Mississippi Valley is changing quickly and one week
later, as this is being written, we have a couple
of inches snow. The weather on the day of the event could have
temperatures below
zero with
two feet of snow or it could be 50 degrees and muddy.
In this year's Snowgaine you'll have a freshly updated
map of the Palisades park. Michael Collins has updated the contours
and last fall almost the whole park was field surveyed and a
lot of new features have been added, like depressions, boulders,
cliffs, pits. The map is not yet perfect and there are some inaccurate
areas, but you'll see a lot of new control points this year.
The terrain in the park is very challenging and some controls
will be very difficult, even physically hard to get there. Those
controls are absolutely not for beginners. But there the course
is set with mentality "something for everybody". In
the clue list some controls will only have pictorial
symbols,
not verbal descriptions. It's a good time to review those. There
will
be
also a trick in this year's Snowgaine when you'll
need your orienteering skills more than fast running. This trick
might even affect the final results. The trick will be told
before the start at the registration area.
If there is interest, a 5k green-orange level course will be
set. That is not either for absolute beginners, but those who
have some orienteering skills, but think the Snowgaine is too
challenging. The 5k course will follow one of the great trails
in the park and all the controls locate less than 200 meters
from the trail. At least some of the controls are also part of
the Snowgaine. Let Kathy also know if you'll run or walk this
5k course, so that we have enough maps.
Welcome to Savanna and the Mississippi Palisades on February
11.
Miikka
Directions:
1) Take I-90 west to Hwy 20 west in Rockford. Follow Hwy 20 west
to Hwy 78 in Stockton. Take Hwy 78 South to Hwys 52/64 in Mount
Carroll. Go west to Hwy 84 in Savanna and follow 84 north to the
north park entrance about 3 miles north of town. (total time 2.5-3
hours)
or 2) take I-88 west to I-80 west to Hwy 84. Go north on hwy 84 to
the north park entrance about 3 miles north of Savanna (total time
3-3.5 hours).
or 3) take Hwy 52 south of Dubuque or Hwy 67 north of Clinton
to the Hwy 52 / route 64 bridge over the Mississippi. On the east
side
of the bridge, take a left and go north 3 miles to the park
entrance.
|