Cunningham Falls
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PDF versionShareThisOctober 20
Sunday
Pre-registration is required and will open Monday, October 14 at 6pm and close at noon on
Saturday October 19, the day before the event.
There will be no day-of registration.
Welcome back to Cunningham Falls for the seventh edition of Platformpalooza, which is "an orienteering celebration of that rare in our area but nevertheless humble remnant of the era before fossil fuel dominance, the charcoal platform" (a grassier than usual for this event Scottish exemplar of this trace of human impact on the landscape is pictured to the right). Course stats will be available soon.
The park charges a per vehicle entry fee - $3 for MD residents, $5 for out-of-staters. If a ranger states the park is too crowded to enter and tries to turn you away at the gate, since we have a permitted event, please tell the ranger on duty you are attending our event in order to be let in.
Cunningham Falls is more rugged than many of our other venues, and as a precaution, QOC has again partnered with Maryland and Mid-Atlantic Wilderness Rescue Squad to provide on-site first response in the event of participant injury. The on-site responders will almost certainly arrive faster than calls placed to 911, so, unlike other QOC events, call the Rescue Squad first if there’s a serious injury. Their emergency number will be printed on each map.
Check in will open about 9:45am and courses will open at 10:00am. Everyone must be out of the woods and back at the registration/finish area by 3:00pm when we will begin picking up the controls. Allow yourself time to get back to the registration area and download regardless of whether you have finished. We want to make sure of everyone’s safety and status.
Free Beginner Instruction will be offered, but please reach out to the Event Director if you have a large group, so we can plan accordingly. Group Leaders should scan our For Group Leaders webpage and then contact the Event Director with their plans and numbers for her awareness.
Other notes & reminders:
- Pets are allowed in Cunningham Falls Park.
- The campground is out of bounds.
- QOC will continue to use pre-registration as the ONLY method of signing up for our meets. There will be NO day-of, on-site registration. Refunds are paid only in the case of event cancellation.
- For this event (as with most others this season) there will be eight 15 minute check-in windows followed by two 45min windows.
| Location | Cunningham Falls St. Park, Manor Area (Classic) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registration | Advance registration is required. There is no day-of registration.
Registration opens at 6pm on Monday Oct. 14 and closes at 12 noon on Saturday Oct. 19 (the day before the event). Pre-registration is mandatory. Who's Registered? Check by clicking here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start Times | Start times will be by windows (to be defined for this event before registration opens). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schedule | Sunday, October 20
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| Volunteers |
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| Location Details |
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| Course Details | Classic
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| Course Notes | Classic The map does not have the level of detail that most of our maps do. There may be boulders, rootstocks, and small depressions that are not mapped, but the ones that competitors are most likely to see should be mapped. There will still be features that you come across that are not mapped. Some mapped vegetation is based on field checking, but most is still based on LIDAR data. Contours are reliable and well-mapped, as are the charcoal platforms. You can expect intermittent streams to be wet even if it hasn't rained recently. If you have not seen a charcoal burning platform before, these are mapped as brown triangles. Shape/size in the terrain may vary but they are typically 5-10m across, and appear as a very flat area on an otherwise sloping hillside. They are a bit easier to spot from above than below, so keep that in mind. This is steep and rocky terrain, with some areas of deadfall and a few thorns; even areas that are mapped as open and runnable may not be as fast as most of our maps. As a result, course lengths are a bit shorter than normal, but this is not an event to move up a level. That said, I had fun running around out there and I hope you will too. Do not enter the campground or the area around the park operations house. These areas are marked as out-of-bounds (purple stripes) on your map. Hwy 15 (and adjacent grass) is also out of bounds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Entry Fees | Individual Entries
Note: juniors = under 21
Group Entries Participants are welcome to orienteer together as a group (up to the maximum for that event; usually 4). Each member of a group is charged their individual rate as shown above, up to a group total of $30 (maximum), and each receives a map. A group receives one epunch. Individuals or groups desiring to compete on a second course after completing their first can do so for a reduced fee of $2/map subject to approval at the event by the Event Director. Important Notes
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