Discussion: Surebridge in the news

It doesn't get much better than that.

Excellent article. A map that every North American orienteer should compete on to gauge their ability.

Great map, great terrain and just one of ten or so maps in that area that people should run on before they die. The article talks about Tero's attempt to beat Thoresen but of course that wasn't on Surebridge (well the last 1km is on Surebridge).

The short final was at Polebrook. Thought this is within the circle of confusion, seen from Europe. The article is fine, though. Including the colorful photo by Bob Tullis.

yeah I guess I meant to say last 1km overlaps onto Surebridge.

Is there an overview map of Harriman (similar to the Laramie maps) that shows how they fit together and where are the access points? The map I have (Baileytown) doesn't have any public parking lots on it.

Park at silvermine ski hill (on seven lakes drive) to access Baileytown.

@hammer: I had a look at the courses before writing that part of the article (Ivan wrote the rest), and to me it looked like part of the short distance WOC 1993 was on Surebridge, thats why I wrote it that way :) I added a short comment about the Polebrook map in the article now.

If any of you have comments about other maps in the vicinity which are equally interesting / more interesting than Surebridge mountain, please add a comment in the blog post.

Surebridge is truly a sublime map. Almost like none other.

Its scope and sweep, variety, drama, and simply immaculate mapping and cartography, plus a je ne sais quoi causes me to feel like I am closer to heaven... even looking at it on the computer causes some sort of physiological reaction. OK, that's enough...

Is there an overview map of Harriman (similar to the Laramie maps) that shows how they fit together and where are the access points?

This shows the maps. If you go to the park bookstore on the Palisades Parkway, I think you can get a hiking map that shows where parking areas are.

What is the area like that is between Surebridge and baileytown like?

Probably about the same, but only a strip next to the road is part of the park, and it's mostly off-limits to the public (maintenance area). The bulk of that chunk is privately owned (Columbia University?).

Whoops, I just checked, and my information is out of date. As of 2005, that's no longer the case, but I don't know what the status is now (maybe it is part of the park?)

http://www.osiny.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Pres...

The AT corridor goes through that section, so it hasn't all been out of bounds in the past, but maybe it was only the trail corridor that was accessible.

Right now we don't know exactly what the Open Space Institute plans to with the area between Surebridge and Baileytown. Alan Y. and I talked about this area in the morning after running at SB, we keep an eye on it for a future map.

>we keep an eye on it for a future map.

as in a HQ and sprint terrain for the next Harriman WOC?

2018 is a nice 25th anniversary!

Yes. The Arden House would be an event center for the ages.

WOC 2018: great idea. In Harriman: more "we hide in the woods" sneering from the IOF, deserved or not.

"we hide in the woods"
OK then the sprint goes in Central Park instead.

A WOC sprint in Central Park would certainly be an event to remember.

The Central Park Sprint with a WOC in Harriman can certainly placate the IOF, but I pity the person who's going to work on permits and other city relations. Logistically with enough grease all things are possible; but my impression is that the organization wouldn't be able to afford the permits for a spectacle of the size that the IOF would be happy with—it'd just be a bad business decision to proceed. I can very well be wrong.

However, I have a pretty good idea of what a similar-size production would cost on the left coast, and it all seems reasonable and doable.

I think it would be a good coming out party for the US. Heriman is like our ideal home terrain and we could really sell the sport by having the sprint in central park, get some TV coverage, I think the expense would be worth it.

>I think the expense would be worth it.

Esp. when Schirm wins gold!

WOC sprint in Central Park? Why not? How the hell do they put on the New York marathon, anyway? Someone has to know how who'd be willing to share that info.

They put on the NY Marathon by charging 40,000 people $185. I see that a WOC Sprint is off about two orders of magnitude.