2021-22 Winter League Championships – Race 1 – Ft Ebey State Park
WINTER LEAGUE
Saturday, February 19 at Fort Ebey State Park in Whidbey Island, WA
The 2021-22 Winter League Series Rules and Information have changed due to COVID. Please read all the important information
for the Public Procedures/Rules here and for the WIOL Procedures/Rules here.
**THERE IS NO DAY OF MEET REGISTRATION**
Fort Ebey Meet Documents:
Winter League is the Pacific Northwest’s premier competitive orienteering series for all ages.
- Elementary, Middle School, High School and College students compete under the banner of the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League (WIOL).
- Winter League public courses offer a range of categories from a competitive long advanced category to non-competitive beginner-friendly categories at every event!
COURSES
Course designer(s): Will Enger
Course Controls/Length/Climb:
| Controls | Distance | Climb | |
| White /Beginner /Elementary | 10 | 1.7 km | 50 m |
| Yellow X / Advanced Beginner /Middle School | 10 | 2.5 km | 85 m |
| Yellow Y / Advanced Beginner/ JV Rookie | 10 | 2.8 km | 85 m |
| Orange X /Intermediate/JV HS Male/JV IC Male | 12 | 3.2 km | 125 m |
| Orange Y / Intermediate /JV HS Female | 12 | 3.3 km | 135 m |
| Brown | 11 | 3.1 km | 150 m |
| Green X / HS Varsity Male & Female | 13 | 3.9 km | 170 m |
| Green Y / Short Advanced | 13 | 3.8 km | 170 m |
| Red / Long Advanced Female /Varsity IC Female | 14 | 4.1 km | 200 m |
| Blue / Long Advanced Male/ Varsity IC Male | 17 | 4.8 km | 240 m |
Which course should I sign up for?
This Ft Ebey Meet is a National Ranking Event (NRE) and also Day 1 of Winter League Championships.
- If you do not care about NRE points or NRE awards, sign up for the course of your choice.
- If you want to be eligible to win a WL Championship award, sign up for either short advanced or long advanced both Saturday (Ft. Ebey) and Sunday (Ft. Casey). You must run the same course on both days to be eligible.
- If you want NRE points and to be eligible for NRE awards/medals for Saturday’s race:
You must sign up for a course that has a qualifying age category for you. Your “orienteering age” is based on your year of birth, not your actual birthdate. For example, if you were born in the year 1987, your orienteering age is 35 for this entire year.
We will need everyone’s birthdate even if you don’t want ranking points. We’ll use the date you have in your registration account, so make sure it’s correct by the time registration closes. If you have the default value in your account (1-1-1980), we will put you in a recreational category. Of course, if that’s your actual birthdate, let us know!
While everyone in a qualifying age class will receive national ranking points, you will only receive a national ranking for the year if you are an OUSA member.
If you are interested in ranking points and/or NRE awards, take a look at the table below and select the course that applies to your age class.
| Course | Navigational experience |
NRE Ranking Class | Winter League Class |
| White (1.7k) |
Beginner | F-10, F-12 M-10, M-12 |
• Elementary • Beginner |
| Yellow (2.5k) |
Advanced Beginner | F-14, M-14 | • Middle School • JV Rookie • Adv Beginner |
| Orange (3.2k) |
Intermediate | F-16, M-16 | • JV HS Female • JV HS Male • JV Intercoll • Intermediate |
| Brown (3.1k) |
Advanced | F55+, F60+, F65+, F70+, F75+, F80+, F85+, F90+ M65+, M70+, M75+, M80+, M85+, M90+ |
|
| Green (3.8k) |
Advanced | F-18, M-18, F-20, F35+, F40+, F45+, F50+ M50+, M55+, M60+ |
• Varsity HS • Short Advanced |
| Red (4.1k) |
Advanced | F-21+ M-20, M35+, M40+, M45+ |
• Varsity Intercoll • Long Advanced Female |
| Blue (4.8k) |
Advanced | M-21+ | Long Advanced Male |
Winter League Championships
This year, championships awards are based on your TWO DAY score. That means if you want to qualify for Winter League Championship awards, you must do the same course both days. Also new this year: we’ll have awards for men and women on Short Advanced!
How are courses measured?
Courses are measured as the crow flies, in a direct line from control to control. Unless you have wings, you will travel farther than this distance! Courses are measured in kilometers, so a good rule of thumb is to simply round up to miles to estimate how far you will go. So in a 5 kilometer race, you’ll likely travel up to 5 miles.
COURSE NOTES
Fort Ebey State Park is a rugged, mostly forested venue with lots of contours and thick vegetation. The unique and most prominent feature of the park is the many large and small depressions, or “kettles,” which feature throughout. Some are small, just a contour or two, while others are quite deep. Expect to encounter some of these on your course, whether running through or past one on a trail, or bushwhacking into one to reach a control. We’ve endeavored to avoid the deepest, gnarliest kettles, but nearly all of them are a lot tougher and slower to move around in than walking or running on a trail. Vegetation in the park is generally some shades of green, which includes stretches of extremely thick salal, more open areas of the familiar sword ferns with fallen branches and trees, and endless combinations of other bushes and groundcover. Rule of thumb – if you can’t see through it, you probably don’t want to go through it! In general, because they see less light, the bottoms of the kettles are clearer of vegetation and easier to move through.
Luckily, the park also features an extensive web of trails throughout – these will be your friends! Successful navigation at Fort Ebey will require accurate map contact when traveling on trails, and careful route choice decisions about when and where to venture off-trail. In addition, the ability to read and understand basic contour shapes will also be fundamental to success, particularly as the courses advance in length and difficulty. Tip – make sure you know where you are on the map when leaving a trail, and have a plan to get where you want to go! The good news is that, while it’s easy to get bogged down or turned around in the forest, you’re rarely very far away from a trail or road. If you find yourself needing to relocate, returning to a trail will usually be your best bet, and can usually be accomplished without too much difficulty.
Other notes:
-Trails directly along the top of the steep bluff leading down to the beach have been marked Out-of-Bounds with pink hashing. This has been done for safety reasons, and courses have been set to avoid them.
-All campsites themselves are Out-of-Bounds as marked with black stripes, but the roads in the campgrounds are not- but WATCH OUT for cars parking.
– As with other recent maps such as Summit Trails, rootstocks are represented with a brown triangle. Prominent man-made features in the forest are represented with a black X.
– All courses will finish with a control or two or three in an open, grassy “shelf” area along the bluff – here again, please avoid the nearby bluff – and don’t get distracted by the views of Puget Sound, at least until you finish!
– Fort Ebey is one of the more challenging venues we have, but it’s also a beautiful and unique place and a lot of fun to orienteer in. We hope you enjoy your experience!
SCHEDULE
**Due to COVID – ALL Public and WIOL participants will have assigned start times**
- 9:45 am—12:15 pm Start Window
- Noon—Coupeville Elementary Multi-Purpose Room opens
Warm/dry room with ventilation (bathrooms available and tables) Masks required - 1:30 pm—Fun Games and About the Route Live with Will and Patrick
- 2:15 pm – Course closes
- 2- 2:30 pm—Awards Begin (WIOL and WL Season Awards & NRE Awards)
- 4 pm—Must vacate Coupeville Elementary
PRICES
PUBLIC COURSE PRE-REGISTRATION PRICES
$27 base price
– subtract $5 for CascadeOC members
– subtract $5 for using your own e-punch
-running as a group? Add $5 for each additional adult (16+) group member, no charge for additional children. Max group size is 3 due to COVID restrictions.
Become a member here.
**Due to COVID, there will be no day of meet onsite registration for Winter League 2021-22.**
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 RSVP dates:
- The deadline for Meet Registration for public that wants to request a start time is Tuesday pre-meet at Noon.
- The deadline for Meet Registration for public not requesting a specific start time is Wednesday pre-meet at 9pm.
- Friday evening pre-meet at 7pm all COVID attestation forms are due.
LOCATION
PARKING
- Parking is in the campground next to the Gun Battery inside Fort Ebey State Park. A Discover Pass is required.
- A Parking volunteer will direct you at the entrance to the campground. A Parking volunteer inside the campground will help direct the parking. Ideally five vehicles need to park inside each campsite parking strip.
- Please carpool to the campground if possible. Meet your buddies for carpooling and park at Coupeville Elementary (6 S Main St, Coupeville, WA 98239).
SAFETY & 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.
