Discussion: Pit Orienteering WR & Sebago Sprint on 3/13

The Pit Cup features a blue course (30c, 7.6k) which is the world record in v-pit orienteering (and in single feature orienteering). Red (18c, 5.5k) and green (14c, 4.2k) also feature exclusively v-pit controls.

The controls are set inside the pit, only visible when standing at the edge of the pit, according to the rules of the International Pit Orienteering Federation (IPOF).

The snowstorms from last week added some Christmas-like twist and buried some of the controls, which were set early. The IPOF commissioner will dust the controls or dig them out when needed. The warm weather in the beginning of the week should help, too.

The Sebago Sprint (10c, 1.5k) is part of the Sprint Series. It uses regular control features. Following an ancient alpine tradition it has a reverse downhill race first and a nice super-g downhill finish. The map is 1:5000, badgers, pirates and pit rats might be marked in day glow red (depends if they are there).

Starts are between 10 - 12 at the American Canoe Association Camp at Harriman State Park (not at Sebago Beach, look for signs 3k west of the Sebago Beach turn off on Seven Lakes Drive, or about 5k east coming from Sloatsburg on SLD.

Check the HVO web site (http://hvo.us.orienteering.org/ ) for details.

The IPOF commissioner/course setter

Daniel Schaublin

It has long been a deep and burning ambition of mine to see badgers, pirates, and pit rats combined in one glorious race, and I for one am glad to see someone else has been thinking along similar lines. In my opinion pit rats have been long underestimated, and have been unfairly cast in the shadow of the much overrated (but always popular with the media) Norwegian Wharf Rat.

But what about topping the thing off with some high winds that might even blow away or slightly displace a control or two? Then I think you might just have the perfect event.

Good luck, best wishes, and congratulations for the concept!

Is anyone going to this meet and able to somehow give me a ride from NYC? All my usual options have fallen through. Please email me at boris at post dot harvard dot edu.

Thanks!

Update: The controls for the pit cup have double been checked and dusted off. Some bags were covered under a foot or two of snow. They have been dug out to create so called snow pits.

The course is covered with 1 - 4" of snow, it is quite runnable. The snow makes running downhill in the woods easy. We expect only a dusting of snow until race day.

The blue course (7.7k, 30 controls) has been prerun, the time was 85 minutes while vetting the controls, with the time for digging and resetting controls deducted.

I expect a winning time for blue between 70 - 80 minutes, on the red course (5.4k, 18c) it will be about 55 -60 minutes.

The Sebago Sprint (10c, 1.5k) has been adjusted for the snow cover. The courses are preprinted on a 1:5000 map. The runners get the map at the actual start time.

There is a lodge with a fire place to warm up before and after the race. Sunday's expected temperatures are around 37 degrees with some sun and clouds.

Updated sprint series standings are at http://users.crocker.com/~pg/team/sprintstandings....

I noticed that I somehow erased Eddie from the Sprint Series standings. This will be fixed and updated shortly.

Some informations for people with concerns about the snow conditions at Sebago. I ran the blue course on Thursday. Running was good at 90% of the course, with some snow on the ground but always good footing. There was one short downhill trail after #12 (well, you don't where this is, yet) with some melting water/ice. The ice can be avoid by going off the trail.

It is easier to run in the snow than in the spring mud which follows. Downhill running is out right fun, because the snow gives a good hold.

Last night's snow has mostly melted during the sunny day.

We have a fire inside the main cabin to warm up, so everything should be fine.

The Pit Cup was a great course, one of the best laid out courses I have run at Sebago. The challenge of finding the pits in the circle was interesting, and the snow trails of others were sometimes useful, sometimes not.

Have the results been posted anywhere yet?

I uploaded a couple pictures from the event to the gallery at TheWaterStop. You can view them here.

Thanks to all the organizers. It was a great event.

The results are at http://www.hvo.us.orienteering.org/hvo/results/200...

Thanks to Daniel and everyone else for some really fun courses! I really enjoyed the blue and all the pits and the snow. Lots of fun!