Discussion: Long Day's Night registration open

I'm pleased to announce, on behalf of Quantico Orienteering Club, that the web site and online registration for the Long Day's Night Challenge, featuring the 2014 US Night and Ultralong Orienteering Championships, are now open. Earlybird pricing is in effect until October 1st. We invite you to come test yourself navigating some of the most runnable terrain the Mid-Atlantic region has to offer.

is there (or will there possibly be) a group discount on the comfort inn in Lorton?

We've got a block of rooms set aside, as described, and there should be a special rate associated with that, but we haven't yet got the precise instructions on how to claim one of those rooms at that rate. As soon as we've got the process confirmed, the details will be on the web site and I'll post here. Thanks in advance for a little more patience.

Just in general, if you've got questions about the event, I'll be keeping a close watch here, at least during the day on weekdays and evenings throughout the week, or you can email me - email in my profile info.

Looking forward to the event. One question/comment/suggestion for the organizers:

I'm rather disappointed to see that the middle distance Saturday is in the very middle of the day - I had assumed morningish starts and then take the kids in to do some touristing in DC for the rest of the day. I'm sure the thought was to let people sleep in, but with night-O starts so early, its not going to be that late a night Friday, so no reason to wait until Noon to start the Saturday race.

Hey, I don't want to be too big a complainer, but I'd like to suggest that earlier starts on Saturday would be a lot more convenient to those of us coming from out of town who'd like to be able to spend some time visiting DC as well. With early afternoon starts, by the time we get back to DC, a lot of places (eg Smithsonian) will be closing. (Spending some time in D.C. is as big a selling point to my local juniors as the orienteering itself)

I can't argue the point regarding the schedule not providing maximum convenience for DC toursim but I don't think we're going to be able to allow the tourism tail to wag the orienteering dog - sanctioning was concerned, what with the distance between the night-O and middle venues and the likelihood people would want to eat dinner after the night-O, that we not start too early. And there were other reasons, including Saturday morning being probably the best time for a lot of people to do the model event for the Ultralong and middle. Though if you aren't too concerned about getting in every last bit of preparation for the middle, the middle itself will serve very well as a model for the Ultralong terrain just a few miles downstream.

Smithsonian museums in general open 10am-5:30pm on Saturdays. 10am is difficult given the timing of the orienteering but you're being maybe a bit too pessimistic about not being able to get back to DC enough before 5:30pm to allow for some meaningful tourism, though less than you were hoping - with X and Y courses on brown, green and red, we hope to have a fairly short start window. It's also worth noting that many of the outdoor attractions have longer hours or are open 24 hours a day. A sampling:

- Lincoln Memorial - open 24 hours a day
- Jefferson Memorial - open 24 hours a day
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial - open 24 hours a day
- Arlington National Cemetery - 8am to 7pm
- Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden - 7:30am to dusk
- Washington Monument - tours 9am to last tour starting at 4:30pm, ticket distribution starts at 8:30am

Many of the outdoor monuments are arguably at their best when lit up after dark. Though I won't be offended if people choose not to stay for awards on Sunday in order to get in a longer block of museum time before heading home if they can spare the time and still get home at a reasonable hour.

Also, I'll post separately but please everyone take note of the fact that tomorrow will be the last day of earlybird registration.

P.S. Instructions on how to claim one of the rooms set aside for event participants at the Comfort Inn in Lorton are now posted in the Local Info section of the web site.