George Mason University

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March 9
Sunday

Pre-registration is required for this event, opening Monday March 3 at 6pm and closing Saturday March 8 at 12 noon. There will be no day-of registration.

This season QOC will be holding its sprint event at George Mason University's campus in Fairfax VA, a fun, new, challenging campus environment for urban sprint orienteering (see campus locator map here). With the University of Maryland campus embargoed for orienteering due to its use in the planned 2026 National Championships hosted by QOC, GMU will make a nice change of pace in 2025.

Tom Strat has designed two each short, medium, and long courses. Your pre-registration will entitle you to run both of the courses at your preferred distance with as much of a break between courses as you would like.

The A and B courses for each of the Long, Medium and Short options will be printed back to back on one sheet. Prior to your second course, you will need to download your first course at the e-punch station and then re-register your e-punch for the second course. You'll then be ready to tour a different part of the campus!

IMPORTANT: Please note that all participants who are not yet 18 years old MUST be accompanied to this event by one of their parents or a legal guardian. JROTC instructors, scout troop leaders, and other adult leaders of youth organizations MAY NOT act in a supervisory role for those under 18 who are not their own children or legal wards. This stipulation stems from GMU's liability and insurance requirements. We will have general pre-registration as normal for this event, but there will be no JROTC unit pre-registration.

Note that orienteers less than 13 years old must be accompanied on their courses by their parent/guardian if they are doing the long or medium options (which go outside Patriot Circle). Orienteers under 13 may do the short option (inside Patriot Circle) unaccompanied.

Check-in will open about 9:45am and courses will open at 10:00am as usual. We will keep the Start open until 2:15pm (last check-in window 1:45-2pm), but you’ll still need to finish and be off the courses by 3 pm when we start control pickup.

Metal spikes are prohibited on the course and inside all GMU buildings.

There will be a mandatory use of crosswalks for crossing roadways outside of Patriot Circle whose locations will be identified on your maps. Course notes (to be posted closer to the event date) will provide more detail on the courses and guidance for orienteering around the GMU campus.

Note also that all the construction that has gone on over the last several years on the GMU campus is now complete. Also, the event will take place during the university's spring break, so there should be relatively little pedestrian traffic. But of course, the right of way should always be ceded to any passers-by. There should also be low levels of vehicular traffic, but use caution crossing roads.

Parking will be located in GMU's Lot K (see this graphic) on the periphery of the campus. Then it's a short walk of about 300 meters past Mason Pond up an outdoor staircase and up onto Wilkins Plaza with check-in and pre-registration near the statue of George Mason and start and finish in the general vicinity.

Parking registration: The GMU parking fee for all orienteers has been paid in advance by the club. However, the university requires online parking registration for each vehicle, as they have a parking patrol that scans license plates to verify paid-up status. Follow these easy steps to register your car before or (less optimally) at the event:

1. Click on the registration link: https://www.offstreet.io/location/E39KZYXZ
2. Enter your license plate details and any other required information on the online page.
3. Your license plate will serve as your parking permit. No physical permit is needed.
4. Optionally, you can enter your email address once registered and click on the send button to receive a confirmation email for your parking confirmation.

We encourage you to pre-register your parking spot to ensure a smooth arrival on the day of the event. If you forget to pre-register, no problem! You can register on the day of the event by scanning the QR code on the site.

For those who would like to park right near check-in, the pay-to-park Mason Pond Parking Deck will be open (see this graphic). The weekend fee is $10 for the entire day. If you choose to use the parking deck, please enter and exit, using the the SW entryway on Mason Pond Drive in order to minimize vehicle traffic on Aquia Lane near the start.

Restrooms will be located inside of the Johnson Center near check-in.

Volunteer: Sign up for a volunteer slot via this form, or email the Event Director directly for other options.