2022-23 Winter League #3 – South Seattle College

COURSE NOTES

• After the first two Winter League events that were in city parks with forests, orienteering at South Seattle College will feel quite different! At only about 50 acres, the event area is quite small, but it packs a punch. In the center of the map, there’s a dense collection of campus buildings intermixed with courtyards and pathways. Surrounding the more complex urban areas are open areas with trees and thickets. On the north end of campus, there’s a small arboretum area with winding and crisscrossing paths among landscaped areas.
• This venue was mapped to the “sprint standard” (ISSprOM), so make sure you know what symbols are illegal to cross. Namely, the thickest black lines (tall fences, tall retaining walls) and olive green areas (generally nice landscaped areas). It is also illegal to enter buildings (dark gray), but knowing the light gray symbol for open-air canopies and walkways will be useful; the start chute and finish chute are under two of them!
• The courses are very “sprinty” and winning times will be fast. The map scale is 1:4000, there is very high feature density, so things will come up quickly! The venue is quite flat and comparatively small, and courses are a little shorter than usual.  Despite being shorter in length, the courses have a lot of controls, with a variety of leg lengths to mix up the tempo a bit. We gotta keep ya on your toes!
• Pay attention to your control codes! There are 60 controls out there in such a small area, some as close together as 15 meters. You will likely see many flags that aren’t yours! (Note: for Intercollegiate Varsity/Long Advanced runners, if you’re using or renting an older SI-5 e-punch, those only hold 30 control punches. With a 28-control course, your e-punch only has room for 2 erroneous punches, so take care to check your control codes).
• Because the area is quite small, JV/Intermediate courses and above will cross over themselves several times. The Long Advanced course crosses itself a whopping 13 times!
• The courses for High School Varsity, Short Advanced, and Long Advanced/Intercollegiate Varsity will visit the arboretum area, where there are two things of note:

1. These courses have been designed so that runners entering and exiting the arboretum will be separated from most vehicles arriving, departing, and driving through the parking lot. Be aware that there may be other vehicles driving along this part of the course, but most event attendees will not be driving here.
2. In the arboretum, there is a lot of out-of-bounds olive green on the map, which are landscaped and curated areas of the garden. If you’re on a path or grass, you’re good to go!

• South Seattle College is a technical and mechanical school, meaning that there is a lot of vehicles, machinery, and construction equipment and supplies parked or placed in various locations, especially in the eastern part of campus. Expect to see cars, trucks, semi-trailers, or even a few small airplanes! These objects are generally not mapped, as they change frequently and are not permanent fixtures. Take care when traveling around or through these areas!