PWF Happyland

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March 17 - March 18
Saturday - Sunday

This event is cancelled. Prince William Forest Park was heavily impacted by the recent windstorm and the rangers say they expect to be closed for safety reasons for a few weeks while they clean up and repair damaged buildings.

The 2018 edition of QOC's training weekend will take place March 17-18. As in 2017, it will be focused on juniors but open to everyone, and include a regular QOC night-O event on Saturday evening. For those who can't manage a whole weekend, there will be an option to sign up just for Saturday. NOTE: There will be no regular QOC event on Sunday.

This webpage will focus on the training and overnight accommodations; please consult the separate page for the Night-O event (coming soon) for information about it specifically.

The training camp, helmed by Boris Granovskiy (with some rumored assistance from and the anticipated presence of national Junior Development Team coach, Greg Ahlswede) will run from 10am Saturday to early afternoon on Sunday. The plan is for training on the Turkey Run Ridge map (center of the park) on Saturday and on the Happyland map (SW part of the park surrounding Cabin Camp 5) on Sunday.

Coaching will be provided for all skill levels. The training will be open to everyone, including adults at any skill level, but the coaching effort will be concentrated on the juniors, i.e. as an adult, you'll be part of a group with a coach assigned but don't expect much focused, individual coaching attention.

Night-O: On Saturday evening there will be a night-O, with beginner, intermediate and advanced course options and starts from ~6:30pm to ~8:30pm (precise timing TBD based on astronomical tables), with socializing and games the rest of the evening.

Accommodations: Happyland can accommodate up to 104 people staying overnight in one of 4 heated dorms (mattresses are provided; overnighters will have to bring their own bedding. If your travel arrangements dictate travelling light; please inform the registrar and we'll work on lining up bedding for you.). For early arrivals, the camp and dorms will be open starting Friday evening as well as on Saturday night.

Meals: (Saturday lunch and dinner and Sunday breakfast and lunch) will be provided courtesy of a highly skilled culinary team led by the inestimable Florence Tan. The food alone makes the camp worth coming to! Please don't neglect to inform us while registering of any food allergies, sensitivities, or special diet. We'll do our best to accommodate everyone although it would be much appreciated if people with special dietary needs registered earlier rather than later so the culinary team can plan menus and prepare food without a lot of last minute stress.

Transport: please note in the registration form comments if you won't have a private vehicle with you for the duration of the camp. This will help us plan logistics. Also, if you could use a lift to and from the park from a DC area airport, bus terminal, train station, etc. we'll do our best to arrange that rather than leave you at the mercy of taxi services.

Fees: The regular fee for the training camp will be $60 per participant. This includes meals and overnight accommodations at the cabin camp as well as participation in the night-O. Early-bird registration for $50 per participant will be available through February 12 (Update: extended through February 16). After March 4, the late registration fee of $70 will apply. Registration will close at midnight on March 11.

Registration will also be offered for Saturday participation only. This will cover meals and training sessions. It will cover neither the night-O nor overnight accommodations (registration for the night-O will be available separately on-site at usual QOC event rates). Deadlines will be the same as for the full training camp. Fees for Saturday only will be $22/$27/$32 (earlybird/regular/late).

A full refund of camp fees will be provided if requested before the close of early-bird registration. Once the regular registration period begins, $10 per registered participant will be deducted from any refunds. This will increase to $15 during the late registration period. No refunds will be provided after the close of registration.

If you will be accompanying a group of participants but not orienteering yourself, you may register for meals and accommodations as a non-orienteering coach/chaperone for a reduced fee of $50 (40 early/$60 late; $17/$22/$27 for the Saturday only option).

Since training requires advance organization and beds are fairly plentiful but not in infinite supply, online pre-registration will be required using OUSA's Event Register system OUSA's Event Register system.

Locator Map: For those who would like a printable map showing the drive from the Rt 619 Joplin Rd & Mawavi Rd junction to the night-O registration and parking area(s), click here. Camp participants should park in the eastern of the two parking areas, nearer the cabin camp buildings.

Note: park rules prohibit pets and alcohol within the Happyland cabin camp, which is our base of operations for the weekend - please leave both at home. Smoking is also forbidden by NPS rules inside buildings at Happyland.

Saturday, March 17

10:00am - 10:30am: Arrival at Turkey Run Ridge and introductions

10:30am - 12:30pm: Training session 1

12:30 - 2:00pm: Lunch

2:00 - 4:00pm: Training session 2

5:30 - 6:30pm: Group dinner at the cabin camp

7:00pm Night-O registration opens

7:30 - 9:00pm: Start window for Night-O.

10:30pm - Night-O courses close

Sunday, March 18

8:00am-9:00am: Breakfast

9:00am-11:00am: Training session 3

9:30am-12:00pm Lunch bar (self-service)

12:00pm - 2:00pm: Training session 4

2:00pm-3:00pm: Packing, cabin cleanup and departures

You can participate in as many or as few exercises as you want. There will be beginner, intermediate, and advanced options for each exercise, and you can decide together with the coaches what is best for you for each session.

Parents and coaches are welcome to participate fully in the camp, i.e. in all the exercises, meals and night-O. Please sign up online as a junior camp participant if you wish to do so. If you won't be orienteering yourself but focusing on coaching/supervising your children/juniors accompanying you, please sign up as not competing for all the training camp options and select only the "Training Weekend W/O Orienteering" option near the bottom of the online registration form.

The expectation is that minors participating in the camp will, in general, be accompanied by an adult also in attendance throughout the weekend, fully participating in the orienteering activities or not. Should you wish to send an unaccompanied minor to the camp, please contact the Event Director or Registrar first so we can go through the issues that raises and make sure they can be adequately addressed.