Choose Your Adventure #3: Corn Maze!
CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE
Saturday, September 22 at Bob’s Corn Maze & Pumpkin Farm in Snohomish, WA
The Choose Your Adventure series is designed to be extra fun, social, and friendly for beginners, yet interesting for seasoned veterans.
At Choose Your Adventure events, everyone gets the same map with checkpoints marked all over it. Then, after a mass start, you can find as many checkpoints as you want, in whichever order you want! Just be sure to mind the time, since there’s also a time limit. Return to the finish on-time, or lose precious points for every minute you’re late. (Wear a watch!)
Choose Your Adventure is especially good for beginners, since if you can’t find a checkpoint, you can just skip it and keep going. Veterans are challenged by trying to identify the most efficient route to find all the checkpoints, and the mass start means head-to-head racing for some.
Thanks to the excitement-inducing time limit, everyone finishes around the same time, making post-event socializing a core feature of Choose Your Adventure events.
Come join the fun!
COURSES
Course designer(s):
There is just a one-size-fits-all course for beginners through advanced runners. We’ll have a mass start and one map exchange. 12 checkpoints will be marked on the first map. Once you visit all 12 checkpoints (in any order you want) and return to the start, you’ll be given a second map with 12 more checkpoints (which you can also visit in any order you want). The total time limit is 80 minutes!
How does the scoring work?
All 24 checkpoints are worth the same amount: 1 point per checkpoint. The maximum score is 24 points. The first person or team returning with 24 points wins!
There’s a time limit of 80 minutes, and for every minute late, there’s a 1 point penalty.
Note for the map exchange: If you skipped any checkpoints from the first map, you cannot go back and get them once you take your second map. (This rule is to prevent an unfair advantage by collecting both sets of checkpoints during one loop).
COURSE NOTES
DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS THROUGH CORN! This rule applies to all maze visitors, not just orienteers. Anyone caught taking a shortcut will be disqualified. We want to be able to have events here in the future! All paths through the maze are about two meters wide. You should be able to complete the entire course without touching a single stalk of corn! Do not be tempted to take any “illegal” shortcuts, should you come across any.
The uncut corn is mapped as “area with forbidden access” (ISSOM 527.1 Olive Green).
In the giant tent at the maze entrance, there is one “start” path and one “finish” path. Everyone will start into the start path (ie: no entering the maze backwards).
The paths within the maze have more rounded corners in reality than they do on the map.
Bring a compass, especially if it’s cloudy. Bearings won’t do much for you, but man, it’s easy to get disoriented in there! Also, bring a pen/pencil/marker/highlighter. You’ll thank me later.
SCHEDULE
08:30am – Registration Opens
09:00am – Registration Closes
09:15am – MASS START for EVERYONE!
10:35am – Time Limit Ends
NEW FOR 2018: There will be a mass start at 9:15am this year for everyone! (In previous years, to prevent a log jam of orienteers at the single entrance to the maze, we utilized “wave” starts, where we started 5 people per minute until everyone had started). Due to crop rotation, Bob moved his corn maze 340 meters east of where it’s been for the last several years, but we’re going to keep registration and check-in near where we’ve always had it.
We’re going to start the race near registration, meaning that you’ll have a 340 meter run/walk along a dirt path to the maze entrance. This should be enough time to spread everyone out before you get to the maze, and it’ll also make the start process a lot simpler than before.
The map exchange and finish will be in the big tent at the maze, like always. Because we’re adding extra distance to the race, we’ll also add a little extra time: the time limit is 80 minutes this year, up from 75.
PRICES
PRE-REGISTRATION PRICES
$25 base price (includes entry into Bob’s Corn Maze)
– subtract $5 for CascadeOC members
– subtract $5 for using your own e-punch
DAY-OF-EVENT REGISTRATION
$30 base price (includes entry into Bob’s Corn Maze)
– subtract $5 for CascadeOC members
– subtract $5 for using your own e-punch
What’s an e-punch?
An e-punch records your race. At each control, you’ll dip the e-punch into an electronic box, which will beep and flash as confirmation. After you finish, you’ll download the e-punch at the download tent and get a receipt that show which controls you visited and how long you took between each; these are your “splits.”
Part of the fun of orienteering is comparing your splits with people who completed the same course, and discussing the routes you took!
SIGN UP
Online pre-registration closes:
Day-of-event registration is available by cash or check, made payable to Cascade Orienteering Club
LOCATION
PARKING
Park south of Elliott Road, where the farmhouse and country store are. From there, it is about a 200m walk, across the road, to the start and finish tent. There are toilets at the farm (near parking), at the start, and near the entrance to the maze.
CARPOOL
Looking for a carpool? Join the Yahoo listserv and share your request to find a ride.
THE MAP
The corn maze changes every year, and we have a 1:1250 scale of it, mapped to orienteering specifications. Most of the map is corn (out-of-bounds olive green), with a maze of paths throughout. There are a few other features, like firepits and a bridge/underpass.
Read more on the map pageSAFETY & ETIQUETTE
Return to the Finish
All participants MUST return to the finish and download their e-punch or turn in their punch card.
Even if you have not finished your course, you must still return to the the finish and confirm with event staff that you have returned safely.
Out of Bounds
Some areas may be marked out of bounds. It is imperative to respect these boundaries to maintain our relationships with land managers. Participants MUST NOT go out of bounds. Any participant caught going out of bounds will be disqualified.
Course Closure
All participants MUST return to the finish by course closure time. If a participant does not return by course closure, event volunteers will begin coordinating a search party.
If you need a long time on the course, start as early in the start window as possible, wear a watch, and be prepared to cut your course short to make it back by the course closure time.
Whistle
All participants MUST carry a whistle on the course. Complimentary whistles are available at the start tent (please only take one).
If you are injured on the course and need assistance, blow three long blasts to call for help.
If you hear a call for help, abandon your course to find the person in distress.
Voices
Part of the fun and fairness of orienteering is navigating your own course, so please be polite when you find a checkpoint and don’t holler that you’ve found it.
