Balls Bluff

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November 1
Sunday

Pre-registration is required and opens Monday Oct. 26 at noon; there is NO day-of registration.

Welcome back to Ball's Bluff Regional Park for a peak-autumn-foliage orienteering event along the high bluffs overlooking the Potomac River near Leesburg, Virginia. Time to run off all that candy consumption from last night's trick-or-treating! This year, registration, start and finish will again be the pavilion at Edwards Landing, a small municipal park that sits adjacent to Ball's Bluff Regional Park near its southern end.

Because of current Loudoun Country Public Schools restrictions on student athletic activities, we will unfortunately not have the LCPS Naval JROTC cadets running the event this season. We look forward to their return in the 2021-2022 season. For those who were at Ball's Bluff last year, the mapping error that led us inadvertently to place points on private land and then, as a result, have to modify some of the courses on site has been rectified, and with the generous permission of the landowner, some points of the southernmost segments of some courses will be placed on his land abutting Ball's Bluff and Edwards Landing parks. Please be mindful of this dispensation as you negotiate the southern parts of your courses.

And speaking of being mindful, don't forget to set your clocks back one hour, as the switch from EDT to EST takes place at 2am on the day of the event, November 1st.

This event requires pre-registration which will open on Monday, 26 October at 12 noon. QOC’s COVID risk reduction protocols, as also enumerated here, are in effect. Please read these guidelines carefully, particularly keeping in mind the need for participants to bring their own water for all their hydration needs before, during, and after their runs/walks.

Parking: Make sure to read these driving and parking directions carefully. Please do not park in the minuscule Edwards Landing Park parking lot unless you are a meet volunteer, nor on Powhatan Court, the narrow cul-de-sac immediately outside of Edwards Landing Park.

We prefer that you park at Ball's Bluff Elementary School as indicated here on this overview map. (The registration site at Edwards Landing is in the lower right corner of the graphic.) Buses and cars can drop participants at the mouth of Powhatan Court before proceeding on to the Elementary School if desired. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, we will NOT be employing a shuttle bus, so there will be a half-mile walk from the elementary school. Public parking along the wide through-streets running near the park (Hunton Place, Graywood Way, and Wood Edge Drive) is also permitted as long as driveways are not blocked, nor the local residents otherwise inconvenienced.

For those who are interested, here is an overview of the Battle of Ball's Bluff, fought on October 21st, 1861.

The park and battlefield have undergone restoration over the last several years to more accurately reflect its 1861 condition, and attendees will have the opportunity of touring the battlefield area and the associated National Cemetery above the Potomac River. Free Battlefield tours are conducted by expert volunteer tour guides from the group, Friends of Ball's Bluff, every Saturday and Sunday at 11AM and 1PM from early April through the end of November, so orienteers can take part in a guided tour out of the park main parking lot (not Edwards Landing) either before or after they run their courses. Tours include about one mile of walking on woodland trails and last from one to two hours. Please wear your face covering during the tour. Those wishing to take tours on their own may pick up a brochure at the visitor's kiosk in the main parking lot.

Any youth or large groups attending, although you will be pre-registering online, please contact the Event Director of your plans and numbers for his situational awareness.

Other points:

• PROPERLY WORN MASKS ARE REQUIRED at all times when near registration and epunch areas and their volunteers.
• Water will not provided in accordance with QOC COVID-19 risk reduction policies. Please plan for your own hydration needs before, during, and after your run/walk.
• Pets are permitted in the park but must be on the leash at all times.
• Port-a-johns will be on site.
• The size of start teams (groups of individuals orienteering together with one e-punch) on a course must be no more than four (4) individuals (juniors and adults combined).
• There is no planned, on-site beginner instruction, but beginners are encouraged to watch relevant videos such as this one created by QOC's instructional guru David Onkst