Prince William Forest

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January 29
Sunday

PWF Bridge Pre-registration is required and is now open: Register and pay via this link.

Welcome to QOC's classic orienteering event at picturesque Prince William Forest Park near Quantico, VA. This event will have a full set of seven courses (white through blue) courtesy of course setter Vido Aleksiev; course stats and course setter comments are now shown below.

Event timing will be our standard: register any time between 10:45 - 1:15, start between 11 - 1:30, and make sure to be out of the woods and back to the Finish by 3pm. We will not offer "walk up" registration on event day, so please pre-register.

New to orienteering? We will hold beginner clinics continuously during the event; just tell the friendly folks at registration if you'd like to be in one and they'll take care of you. Also, make sure to check out our Your First Event and For Beginners webpages, and if they don't answer any question you have, just use our Contact Us form and ask away!

Group Leaders: please see our For Group Leaders webpage and then contact the Event Director so your group can get pre-registered in advance.

Additional Information:

  • Online registration will remain open up until 1 PM on the day of the event. However, if you register after 8pm on Saturday, January 28, you must bring a copy of the registration confirmation with you - paper or digital copy.
  • If you do not have a National Park or Prince William Forest Park annual pass, the park entry fee is $7 per vehicle (another good reason to carpool!). If the gatehouse is not manned, you must pay the fee at the Visitor Center that you will pass on your way to the parking area.
  • Contour interval for all maps is 5m. Map scales will be 1:5000 for white & yellow, 1:7500 for orange, and 1:10000 for all advanced courses.
  • Dogs are welcome in this park but must be kept on leash at all times.

Location

Prince William Forest Park, Pine Grove, Triangle, VA (Classic)

RegistrationPre-registration is required and is now open: Register and pay via this link. See note above about when registration closes.
Start TimesYou may start your course at any time during the start window listed below for your event.
ScheduleSunday, January 29
11:00 am - 3:00 pmClassic:
Volunteers
Event Director:Petya Aleksieva
Course Designer:Vido Aleksiev
Location Details

Classic
Prince William Forest Park
Pine Grove
Triangle, VA
Google Map

Take I-95 to exit 150 (150B from points north). Head west on Joplin Road (VA-619) and take the second right for the park entrance. The Pine Grove pavilion is on the left just before the Visitor Center.
Course DetailsClassic
Course NameLength (km)Climb (m)No. Controls
White 1.91358
Yellow 2.316010
Orange 3.627515
Brown 4.521511
Green 6.528016
Red 8.233520
Blue 9.439521
Course NotesClassic

Start and Finish: There are two Start locations. One for the Intermediate (Orange) and advanced (Brown and higher) courses, and another for the Beginner (White & Yellow) courses. The Finish location for all courses and the Start for the Beginner (White & Yellow) courses are next to the registration and download area which is at Pine Grove pavilion. The remote start for Intermediate (Orange) and advanced (Brown and higher) courses is about 900m from the registration area with no climb (I kept the climb for the courses).

Safety precautions:
The Beginner (White & Yellow) and Intermediate (Orange) courses do not cross the South Fork of Quantico Creek. Some of the legs for the Beginner (White & Yellow) and Intermediate (Orange) courses are close to or cross one of the parking lots near the registration area, so watch out for moving vehicles.

The Advanced courses (Brown and higher) cross the South Fork of Quantico Creek twice. The creek is out-of-bounce and you must use the bridges. The Advanced courses are designed to use these bridges and they are marked with the crossing point symbol. The Advanced courses (Brown and higher) cross and/or use roads with vehicle traffic. Pay extra attention when crossing or running along the roads.

Maps: The map scale for the Beginner (White and Yellow) courses is 1:5000. The scale for intermediate (Orange) course is 1:7500. For the advanced (Brown and higher) courses the map scale is 1:10000. The contour interval on all course maps is 5 meters.

Courses: As usual for this Finish location, the last few legs for all courses have more climb than the others. The climb for the courses is calculated using aggressive route choices close to the straight lines, so it is possible to avoid some of it by choosing less aggressive routes. The first part of the long advanced (Green and higher) courses is using nice open woods not recently used for our events. The light and medium green woods are runnable this time of the year.

Refreshments: All courses have at least two water/refreshment controls.

Entry FeesIndividual Entries

Note: juniors = under 21

Club Member, adult Club Member, junior Non-Member, adult Non-Member, junior
Epunch Owner $5 $5 $10 $5
Epunch Borrower $10 $5 $15 $10

Team or Group Entries

Participants are welcome to compete together as a single team entry. Teams containing one or more nonmembers are charged the nonmember individual rate. Teams containing one or more adults are charged the adult individual rate. For teams to receive member or junior rates, all members of the team must be members or juniors, respectively. Each extra team map beyond the first is an additional $2. Individuals or teams desiring to compete on a second course can do so for a reduced fee of $2/map.

Important Notes
  • At the event, we can only accept payment in cash or check; online, you may use a credit card or PayPal account.
  • If you have access to a smartphone, you may become a member at the event by joining online via this webpage (which also explains the member benefits). Membership is completely optional. If you wish to join or renew, we strongly recommend joining (or renewing) online before the event rather than at it to save time and because it's easier.
  • Most of our events use an 'epunch' timing chip for electronic timing. Individuals or groups without their own epunch pay a higher entry fee (see above), which includes the loan of an epunch for that event. Loaned epunches that are lost incur a $40 replacement fee. Epunches (also known as SI-cards or finger sticks) are usually available for sale at each event as described here.
  • Former QOC members who have let their membership lapse pay non-member fees.
  • Compasses are available at no charge, but if lost incur a $15 replacement fee.
  • Please provide collateral (driver's license or car keys) when borrowing a compass or epunch.
  • For additional safety, whistles are available for sale at $1/each.
  • Free beginner instruction is always available - just ask at the registration table.