2019 Python Adventure Race

Python Snake
Python Snake

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DATE & TIME

Saturday September 28, 2019  

10 or 3 hour versions:

  • Mass start for 10 Hour at 10 am.
  • Starts for 3 Hour from 11 to noon.  

Results here….

REGISTRATION – Is Closed!

The transaction will be completed by PayPal.  You don’t have to have a PayPal account to complete the transaction, and you can pay with any major credit card.

Click Here to email a question to the Registrar

Registration closes at 11:59 pm on Sunday, September 15th which will let us know how many waterproof maps to print (both 10 and 3 hour).

Click here to see who has signed up so far

Refund Policy: No refunds after September 10, 2019.  Refunds prior to that will incur a 15% handling fee (to cover PayPal fees, etc.).

Download, Print out, Fill out, and Sign our Waiver (registration) form to save time at Check in! (Each Person.)   (ignore stated fees)

GENERAL INFORMATION

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The tale of the Peninsula Python has been told since the summer of 1944, when some residents reported finding strange tracks on their property. Others said they saw the creature, a huge snake estimated to be about 15 to 18 feet long, that was rumored to have escaped from a traveling circus.  Hoax or not, your wanderings will remind all of the winding shape of a serpent.

Picture yourself orienteering in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park just as the leaves are changing in early fall.  Call it a ROGAINE, an Adventure Race, a Monster Score Event or an Extreme Navigation Challenge.  It all adds up to a long score-style orienteering event in one of the most visited National Parks in America.  Seventy flags will be spread across twenty km2.  Point values vary, so strategy is important to achieve a high score.

We have added a few “close in” controls within the camp areas (both Camp Butler and Manatoc) primarily to provide a beginner level challenge for the 3 hour people.   Note that ALL controls set are part of the 10 hour course including the “close in” controls, seventy total controls.

Location

Headquarters will be at Camp Butler, E of Peninsula, Ohio.   From the Rt. 303 (W. Streetsboro Rd) camp entrance, follow the signs to the registration and start area. There will be no foghorns or other activity at the camp this year!

Terrain  Click for terrain map

Post glacial down-cutting has produced a venue with lots of variety.  With its nearby outlet to Lake Erie, the meandering Cuyahoga River has settled into a kilometer wide flood plain marked by a patchwork of scrub and corn fields.  Cuyahoga means “crooked river” in the native Mohawk language.  The valley walls are steep enough in some areas to provide good downhill skiing.  The valley walls are dissected by a multitude of long branching re-entrants with many brooks draining into the Cuyahoga.  In one eastern area, a layer of resistant 310 million year old Sharon Conglomerate has produced a mesa-like island surrounded by impressive cliffs.  Most of the forested area is quite runnable.  Briars are mostly found in areas of abandoned farmland.  Poison ivy is present, but not usually a problem in most areas.  Same for briars.  Ticks have been common this year, but may be less in the fall.   Only one tick brushed off during 9 days and 53 miles of vetting.

Map

1:12,500 printed on three overlapping waterproof sheets.  The map is a composite of five existing maps (Boston Run, Ritchie Ledges, Kendall Lake, Camp Manatoc/Butler and Oak Hill) plus the land connecting them.  The connecting land will be mapped more generally as would normally be seen on a ROGAINE map.  The Kendall and Ritchie Ledges maps were used during the 2004 North American Orienteering Championships.  One controversial control (placed by the author) even deserved its own webpage!

Corn Maze

Yes! There will be three controls placed in a corn maze using a separate map.  Participants must check in at the maze entrance and exit at the maze exit.   Should take only about ten minutes unless you are hopelessly confused, reduced to tears and have to ask advice of small children to find your way out.

 

2019 Python Team

  • Event Director – Howard Montgomery (howard@neooc.com)
  • Project Manager – Sanae Rogers (sanae@neooc.com)
  • Registrar – Fred Mailey (fred@neooc.com)
  • Course Design & Chief Control Setter – Bob Boltz
  • Volunteer Coordinator – Howard Montgomery
  • Tent camping (Friday and Saturday night) – Sanae Rogers (sanae@neooc.com)
  • Camp Manatoc/Butler Liaison – Ivan Redinger
  • Python Wrangler – OPEN!

Course Notes

Water in gallon jugs will be available at several locations on the course. There will be plenty of water. Food is available at the NW and SW corners of the venue. Notably, Szalay’s Farm Market has fresh buttered sweet corn, custard with your choice of berries and fresh fruit. Peninsula has the National Park Store for snacks and two restaurants. 

Rootstocks are marked with a green X. My new mapping standard is to indicate only those that are taller than I can reach. Some of the older maps have them mapped to a lesser standard, or they have rotted away over time. Two of the older maps as well as the new land in between were geo- referenced. The old maps are less reliable in this regard and were a royal pain to incorporate into the composite map. The corn maze map is not to orienteering standards but is mostly accurate and is suitable for framing.

RULES & EQUIPMENT

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Portable GPS systems are allowed as long as the intention is to simply record the route taken for later analysis, discussion and sharing.  Whistles are mandatory.  No help from others or caching of supplies is allowed during the race away from the base camp. If in a team, team members must stay within sight and speaking distance throughout the event, except for coed teams when going potty.  Solo competitors are allowed.  All teams should have a working cell phone with them, however, cell reception is spotty especially in deep re-entrants, caverns and Faraday cages.

  • Required equipment:  ID, whistle, compass, event bib displayed front or back, cell phone turned off unless using it to call (no GPS maps), flashlight or headlamp for 10 hour folks (last two  hours will get dark in the woods.) Sunset is at 7:13 PM.
  • Finger Sticks:  There are 70 controls.  If possible, bring your own stick capable of holding the number of control punches that you estimate you can get in 10 hours.   We will have only 38 high capacity finger sticks (128 punch) available to borrow.  The rest of the club’s sticks only hold 50 punches. 
  • Again, if you consider yourself an elite team that could find more than 45 controls, please first try to provide your own finger stick capable of holding 128 punches.  Then if you cannot, the club will have 38 of the high capacity sticks for borrowing during the registration process (first come, first serve).
  • Recommended equipment:  Water bottle or pack, layered clothing, bug spray, snacks, money for farm market/custard, long pants.

NOTICE

  • No alcohol at Camps Manatoc or Butler.
  • No dogs allowed at Camps Manatoc or Butler.
  • Dogs must be on leash in the National Park.

SCORING & AWARDS

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The point value of all control points visited is totaled. The lateness penalty will be 10 points for every minute late. Tie scores will be decided by the order of finishing times.  If in a team, all members of the team must be present at the finish.

There are three age categories:  Elite (age 17 and over), Masters (age 40 and over), and Veterans (age 55 and over).  Within each of these categories are  gender categories:  Men, Women, and Mixed.  You will be placed in the most competitive category that fits all team members.  For example, a team of three women age 40, 44, and 57 would be in the Masters, Women category.  Team members under age 17 are not considered in determining age category unless all are under age 17; then the team is Elite.

BLING 

All 10 hour participants will receive a fantastic hoo-rag to commemorate the hours of pain and suffering they endured during this event.  In case you are unaware of this amazing multi-function head ware, this is a stretchy tube hat that can be worn 15 different ways!  16 if you count blindfold.  As a bonus, it looks great on your dachshund.

Three hour folks will have the opportunity to purchase one at a good price.

EVENT SCHEDULE

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Saturday September 28, 2019 (RACE DAY)

  • 7 AM – Onsite Check in begins
  • Be prepared with your your own finger sticks for number verification, if not borrowing one)
  • 9 AM – Instruction and maps handed out for 10 hour
  • 10 AM – 10 hour Mass Start
  • 11 AM to Noon – 3 hour starts
  • 2 PM  to 3 PM – 3 hour Finishes and Snacks
  • 8 PM – 10 hour Finish and Supper

Sundown is around 7:13PM.  Depending on cloud cover, forest cover and quality of twilight, a headlamp would be a good idea for 10 hour folks.

REGISTRATION FEES

  • 10 hour – $40 (each person), Maximum charged per team – $120 (beyond 3 people are Free!)
  • 3 hour – $10 per team ($5 for extra map)
  • Whistle – $1 or bring your own
  • For teams: Register the entire team on ONE registration form, State your team name, members, and ages in the designated field.
  • For the 10 hour – If you are taking kids younger than 17, you can register as a solo (but will just get one map set).  Otherwise, those 17 and up all pay the fee and get their own map set.
  • Borrowed finger stick included in above fees.

AREA ATTRACTIONS

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HOTELS and CAMPING

The Hampton Inn has set aside a block of 10 queen and 10 king rooms at a rate of $82 + tax ($94.50).  Call motel directly at 330-945-4160 and reference Python Adventure Race Group.  Or book on-line at www.stow.hamptoninn.com and enter group code PAR to receive group rate. This deal is for either or both September 27 or 28.  You must reserve by August 30 to get this rate.

There are several other hotels / motels near the event site. Click on this link for Google Map, with hotels.  There are cheaper places, but read the reviews!!

Tent camping is free and permitted at Camp Butler on BOTH Friday and Saturday nights. Contact Sanae Rogers (sanae@neooc.com) for details about tent camping.

AIRPORTS

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport [airport code: CLE]

Akron/Canton Airport  [airport code: CAK]

EMBARGO

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The area bounded by Oak Hill road on the west, Bolanz Road & Quick Road on the south, Boston Mills Road on the north and Akron Cleveland Road on the east is off limits for foot traffic starting the month of September, 2019 for those competing in the Python. (the park is open as usual for those not participating in our race)  Those wanting to train the week before the event are encouraged to try the Brecksville Reservation just a few miles north of our event venue.  The NEOOC web site has a download of a permanent course for that venue.

WEATHER

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Average low 48F / 9C        Average high 65F/18C

QUESTIONS?

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Do you have any questions? Let us know below.