Little Bennett

In addition to the regular beginning and intermediate courses, this event will also have one, single, very unique, “mass start” advanced course. Like last year, all of the advanced courses – Beige through Blue – will be rolled-up into one course/event. If you fear you won’t be able to keep up with the speedsters, don’t worry, there will be several twists to level the playing field.

In addition to containing regular orienteering course legs, the advanced course will also have 5 windows that contain a number of controls. The windows will vary in size and control density, and each competitor, depending on his or her gender and orienteering level will have a handicap that will determine how many windows he or she must run. The level is based on the normal course he/she runs at local QOC Meets.

As per normal window rules, you must visit every control in the window, but the controls inside each window may be taken in any order the runner decides. Adding another twist, each competitor, depending on his or her handicap, will be able to determine which of the windows he or she wants to run. For example, if the handicap is 3 windows, the competitor can decide which 3 of the 5 windows he or she wants to include. Suffice it to say that some windows are very small and only have a few bags, while others are much larger and contain multiple controls.

Wondering what a "window" on an orienteering course map is? See the diagram below. The key point is that after a mandatory numbered control (in this case, control 2), you can go to the three letter controls (A, B, C) in the boxed area in any order you like, before continuing on to control 6. Part of the fun is figuring out which way will be the quickest.

The handicaps are as follows:
Bumble Course / Handicap (Number of Windows Required)
Beige (Brown – F) / 1
Brown (M) / 1
Mint (Green – F) / 2
Green (M) 3
Pink (Red – F) / 3
Red (M) / 4
Blue (M & F) / 5

The advanced course length for each runner will vary based on his or her handicap and what windows he or she decides to run. Those with the most generous handicap should only have to travel approximately 5-6K, while those with the least favorable handicap might have to run upward of 10K. The rest will fall somewhere in between those distances depending on the choices they make. If racers select the course appropriate for their skill/fitness level, then everyone should conceivably finish at roughly the same time.

If you can’t make the 12:00pm mass start for some reason you can run the advanced course (according to your handicap) on your own just as long as you are finished by 3:00pm.

Mass start races provide orienteers with several different and exciting challenges than they normally encounter during regular individual courses (such as following other orienteers). So, we hope you’ll join us at this fun and unique event.

Lengths for non-advanced courses:
White: 2.9km, 80m climb, 11 controls; map is 1:7500 scale.
Yellow: 4.4km, 105m climb, 13 controls; map is 1:7500 scale.
Orange: 4.7km, 135m climb, 11 controls; map is 1:10,000 scale.