2018 Python Adventure Race

Python Snake
Python Snake

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[toc]

DATE & TIME

Saturday October 6, 2018   2019 race will be on Saturday, September 28  with 3 or 10 hour versions     – more info soon!
8 or 3 hour versions:

  • Mass start for 8 Hour at noon.
  • Mass start for 3 Hour at 1pm.  But late folks can do casual starts up to 2pm.

REGISTRATION – Please fill out this form

Registration closes at 11:59 pm on Sunday, Sept. 30, which will let us know how many waterproof maps to print.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Back to Table of Contents

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.  Forty-six  flags will be spread across twenty km2.  Point values vary, so strategy is important to achieve a high score.

Location

Headquarters will be at Camp Manatoc, SE of Peninsula, Ohio.   From the Truxell Road camp entrance, follow the signs to the registration and start area. This start location is different from last year.

Camp Entrance on Truxell road:

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 two overlapping waterproof sheets.  The map is a composite of five existing maps (Boston Run, Ritchie Ledges, Kendall Lake, Camp Manatoc 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 the way out.

2018 Python Team

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

Course Notes

Water in gallon jugs will be available at several locations on the course. We learned our lesson last year. 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. There is also a gas station a few hundred meters from the NE corner of the venue.

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

Back to Table of Contents

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 8 hour folks (last two or three hours will get dark in the woods.)
  • Recommended equipment:  Water bottle or pack, layered clothing, bug spray, snacks, money for farm market/custard, long pants.

NOTICE

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

SCORING & AWARDS

Back to Table of Contents

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.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Back to Table of Contents

Saturday October 6, 2018 (RACE DAY)

  • 10 AM        Onsite Check in begins
  • Be prepared with your monies and your own finger sticks for number verification, if not borrowing one)
  • 12 Noon    8 hour Mass Start
  • 1 PM           3 hour Mass Start  (casual starts up to 2PM)
  • 4 PM          3 hour Finish and Snacks
  • 8 PM          8 hour Finish and Supper

Sundown is around 6:45PM.  Depending on cloud cover, forest cover and quality of twilight, a headlamp would be a good idea for 8 hour folks.

REGISTRATION FEES

Back to Table of Contents

Be prepared to pay onsite during check in.  Checks paid to “NEOOC” encouraged.

  • 8 hour – $40 (each person)
  • 3 hour – $10 per team ($5 discount for NEOOC members only, $3 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 3 or 8 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

Back to Table of Contents

HOTELS and CAMPING

There are several hotels / motels near the event site. Click on this link for Google Map, with hotels.

Tent camping is free and permitted at Camp Manatoc on Saturday night only. Contact Sanae Rogers (sanae@neooc.com) for details about tent camping.

There has not been enough interest in cabin style lodging this year and therefore is NOT available.

AIRPORTS

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport [airport code: CLE]

Akron/Canton Airport  [airport code: CAK]

EMBARGO

Back to Table of Contents

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, 2018 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

Back to Table of Contents

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

QUESTIONS?

Back to Table of Contents

Do you have any questions? Let us know below.