Discussion: Iron Hill in Aug

I'm going to be in DC for work the second week of Aug. I thought I might fly out on Sat and drive up for DVOA's Iron Hill event on Aug. 8th. However, I've never been there before and I can't find a scanned map online. Can I get some opinions on whether it is a good place to run a red or blue course? Thanks.

Iron Hill hosted the US short course champs a few years ago. It's a small area but has some interesting pockets of detail. Thus, any good courses there are likely to feature more control picking than large scale route choice. Moreover, you are unlikely to find a blue course there - though it is possible. Anything over 6-7 km would probably require some repeat visits to parts of the terrain.

Some of the forest is rather open, the rest is largely light green with some areas of fight that normally don't come into play. It's very fast when the leaves are down; in August, less than ideal visibility often limits top performances to 7.5 minutes/km.

All told, it's actually one of my favorite "core" DVOA areas. It's mapped well and a good course setter can produce really interesting stuff - albeit with a short course flavor.

Sergei Zhyk has a blue course at Iron Hill here and here.

The link above doesn't seem to work. Go to Sergei's home page and look for Mid-Atlantic Champs under 2002 maps.
http://www.geocities.com/orienteernumberone/home.h...

Also you should know that QOC hosts short events many Saturday evenings in the summer as part of our Summer Short Series. Details are not formalized yet, so watch the QOC website for info. (Besides being a fun way to keep in o' shape during the summer, these runs are fun social events -- we go out for dinner together afterwards -- and they're a fundraiser for the US Team ... but they only cost $2 with additional donations happily accepted.)

Be wary! Iron Hill is no place for the innocent and faint hearted, especially where Clem is involved. Clem is recently graduated, and has much idle time on his hands with which to dream up mischief. Do you have any useful skills? If so, then you will probably be impressed and forced into cruel manual labor. You could end up unwillingly joining the ranks of "those who we once knew well, but now long forgotten", those poor lost souls converted into semi-living O' zombies through secret voodoo conversion ceremonies (that's what Clem studied up at Yale, btw, following in the footsteps of Bush 43.) Or, much worse, you could turned into a (shudder) Start Slave. An indescribable horror. It will be bitter cold and windy--even in August--and then there is the greenbriar. The seas of greenbriar are so reknowned that not even the fearless Magellan dared set sail for those parts! Funny how Clem mentions the interesting pockets of detail but skips right over the part about the greenbriar, eh? And you might ask about the many little happy paths that throng the area, and their meaning.

But I'm not suggesting you shouldn't go there. Rather, I'm suggesting that if you do go, you have your affairs in good order, and that your loved ones know where to find your will. Finally, be sure to carry a big stick, for, in the words of one intrepid Swiss runner, "you will need it."

Well, with any luck, I'll still be attempting to crawl my way out of Wyoming in mid August, while evading the diabolical snares and artifices of those wily denizens hardened by that bleak locale.

This of course means that prospective visitors to the greater Delaware Valley will have nothing to fear from me and should feel free to enjoy the verdant vales, cascading rivulets, soft grasses and downhill courses that we offer to welcome our out of town guests.

I look forward to the rivulets and soft grasses - we don't have too many "nerf"-forests in TX and it will be a nice change.

Thanks for the map link Boris and thanks for the invite Peggy. I will try to make my flight for earlier in Sat so that I can join you guys if you have an event.

I really exagerated about the soft grasses. There may be a little of that, but there are rivulets for sure. In any case, it will be a change of pace. Even the Wyoming cowboys can't knock this place...