2024-25 Winter League #6 – Fort Ebey State Park
WINTER LEAGUE
Saturday, January 25 at Fort Ebey State Park in Whidbey Island, WA
- Pre-registration is required for ALL Winter League Events. There is NO day-of-event registration.
- Public Reg will close 1/22/25 at 11:59 pm for this meet.
- PUBLIC start time sign-ups are open from January 11th at 3 pm to January 22nd at 11:59 pm.
- ALL runners will be called to enter the start procedure line 8 minutes prior to their assigned/picked start time. Please be race-ready when your name is called.
- 2024-25 Start Procedures can be found here.
- Read the 2024-25 WIOL Rules here and the 2024-25 Public Rules here.
- Site map is here.
- Start list is here.
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): Brett Aniballi and Stuart Bradshaw
Public Courses
| Controls | Length | Climb | |
| Beginner | 13 | 2.0 km | 55 m |
| Advanced Beginner | 10 | 2.3 km | 110 m |
| Intermediate | 10 | 2.7 km | 175 m |
| Short Advanced | 13 | 4.0 km | 310 m |
| Long Advanced | 14 | 5.0 km | 355 m |
WIOL Courses
| Controls | Length | Climb | |
| Elementary | 13 | 2.0 km | 55 m |
| Middle School | 12 | 2.2 km | 80 m |
| Rookie-Female | 10 | 2.3 km | 110 m |
| Rookie-Male | 10 | 2.5 km | 135 m |
| JV Female / College JV | 10 | 2.7 km | 175 m |
| JV Male | 11 | 2.7 km | 175 m |
| Varsity | 13 | 3.4 km | 235 m |
| College Varsity | 14 | 5.0 km | 355 m |
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
(Recognition – Will Enger’s course notes of 2022 – snippets incorporated)
A kettle is a depression in the ground formed when a block of ice left behind by a retreating glacier melts, leaving depressions of various sizes. Fort Ebey State Park is a rugged, mostly forested venue with the most prominent feature being the many large and small depressions, or “kettles”. Some are small, just a contour or two, while others are quite deep. Vegetation – all shades of green are represented including thick salal, more open areas of sword ferns, fallen trees and branches, and other combinations of bushes and groundcover.
Luckily, the park also features an extensive web of trails, and these will be your friends! Successful navigation requires accurate map contact when traveling on trails, and careful route choice decisions about when and where to venture off-trail. Ability to read and understand basic contour shapes will also be fundamental to success. Good news – you’re rarely far away from a trail or road to re-locate.
– All campsites are Out-of-Bounds as marked with black stripes, please do not use the campground roads as this is the parking area for buses and cars.
– Course 1 (Beginner) is longer than usual and has a section 350 meters in length that requires 30 meters of elevation gain. You will experience traveling out of a kettle!
– Other courses appear shorter than might be expected but you can expect a challenging experience via extensive use of trails and travel into and out of kettles.
– Rule of thumb – if you can’t see through it, you probably don’t want to go through it! But sometimes just a few meters of perseverance will lead you to openness.
– Tip – make sure you know where you are on the map when leaving a trail and pay special attention to tick marks (slope lines) which indicate downhill.
– Brown triangles on the map can be either a rootstock or stump.
– Some courses may require use of roads; be cautious of cars.
SCHEDULE
This event is Pre-Registration Only.
Schedule:
9 am – Info Tent and Newcomer Instruction Opens
9:38 am – Start process begins
9:46 am – First start
12:30 pm – Last Start
2:30 pm – Course Closure
Why is there a start window?
This event uses an interval start, which means that participants are started in waves instead of all at once. When you arrive at the start tent, find the chute for your course and follow the start volunteer’s instructions.
PRICES
PRE-REGISTRATION PRICES
$22 base price
– subtract $5 for CascadeOC members
– subtract $5 for using your own e-punch
Participating as a group? Just $5 for each additional adult (16+) group
member, no cost for additional minors. Max group size is 4 participants.
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
There is no Day-of-Event registration. Pre-registration will close Wednesday 1/22/25 at 11:59:00 PM.
Remember to also sign up for a start time for public runners. Start time sign-ups for WL #6 will be open from Jan. 11th at 3 pm to Jan 22nd at 11:59 pm.
LOCATION
PARKING
-
We have secured parking at the campground at Ft. Ebey. DO NOT park along any roads. See site map here.
-
In order to fit all cars in the campground, multiple cars will need to park in a single campsite. Please work with our parking volunteers, who are there to help.
-
A Discover Pass is required, or you will get a ticket!
- A special thank you to the coaches and cadets from Oak Harbor for cleaning up the campground so we could get this permit!
CARPOOL
Looking for a carpool? Join the club email group and share your request to find a ride.
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.
