Empire Orienteering Club

Social Distancing Meets

By Tom O’Grady

Many competitive and recreational sporting events have been canceled or postponed, so it seemed like 2020 would end up being the year that wasn’t. The primary reason is that the events require participants to compete against each other and there are many opportunities for contact with participants and spectators. A solution for some tech savvy race directors has been to put on virtual events. The Empire Orienteering Club of the Capital Region decided to attempt a non-contact event at Garnsey Park in Clifton Park the weekend of May 15-17.

During a typical orienteering meet, individuals will compete solo or as a team and search for controls along the course at the same time. Individuals or teams get to choose between four different difficulty ratings from easiest to most difficult that are typically white, orange, green and red. The white course is usually around 2K “as the crow flies” and contains between 8-10 controls while the red course is 5K or more and has anywhere from 18-20 or more controls. Participants at typical events usually end up pretty spread out. Contact usually is only required to punch your manual or digital time stamp at each control checkpoint.

Hosting a non-contact event took some planning but was possible with some changes to the standard setup, in addition to providing education on social distancing, and following CDC guidelines on holding non-contact events. Precautions included holding the course over the span of an entire weekend instead of having everyone check-in and start at the same time. Individuals were asked to sign up for 30-60-minute start windows throughout the weekend to avoid contact with anyone else while at the park. We requested an 8:30am start time on Saturday but were asked to move to 6pm to avoid the early morning peak the park sees over the weekend. 

While a standard event requires participants to come into contact with a control checkpoint to record a time stamp, individuals simply had to come within eye contact of the control, to read a visible numerical marking on it. Many times check points are in the woods, hidden in a gully, or are surrounded by rocks or some other physical barrier. Control checkpoints in this event were never far off the trail and did not require moving any barriers to avoid cross contamination from touching. Finally individuals were asked to bring masks and be prepared to observe social distancing guidelines should they be around others at the park at the same time. 

With those guidelines, we arrived at the park 10 minutes prior to our start time, and began to search for the controls. We chose the second easiest orange course, which was approximately 2.1K if you walked the shortest distance between each control, and contained 10 control checkpoints to find. A quick look at the map revealed that most controls could be found by sticking to the main trail, although cutting through some forested sections would significantly reduce the time and distance required to complete the course. Within a few minutes we found the first control and verified the numbers were accurate. The kids enjoyed the set-up with green glass soda bottles surrounding yellow and black caution tape. We were off to a good start and quickly found the second control. 

From the second control, things became a little dicey when we determined what looked like a smaller offshoot, was not the primary perimeter trail. This caused us to walk a considerable distance to what ended up being the fifth control. Unlike in other formats of orienteering this event required controls be found in sequential order. Some back tracking all the way to the second control, and walking to the split we missed at first, ended up correcting the error. Instead of evenly spaced intervals of 3-5 minutes I had expected, this third control had taken nearly a half-hour to find! From there we had already gotten our bearing on the first half of the course and found the fourth and fifth controls quickly. This first half of the course had taken us from what was primarily open fields into nicely wooded forests. We took some time to stop and the information kiosks along the way. From the fifth control, where we had made our initial error, we quickly headed back towards the field and found the sixth control. 

After finding the sixth control, we checked the map and planned what appeared to be a quick circuit of a lower loop that would bring us back towards the entrance of the park. When we came to the appropriate loop, our two oldest children ran ahead and verified where the ninth control point was for reference. This gave them some more time to burn off extra energy. Upon reporting back on the location of the ninth control, we had a reference point for where the seventh and eighth control points should be. Unfortunately, after circumventing the loop we arrived at what looked like the opposite side of the loop. Heading back to the reference point verified we had made it to the opposite side without finding the two intermediate check points. We had missed a small trail offshoot and missing the seventh control, which had caused us to lose prospective on the eighth. Some backtracking allowed us to find the seventh and eight controls before heading back to the ninth and then final checkpoints.

The outing overall was a success. We ended up completing the course in one hour, 26 minutes which was good enough for fourth out of six teams on the orange course. Instead of covering 2.1K, our backtracking and sticking to the primary trails likely had us covering closer to 5K of actual walking. While we were out there, we saw one other team who was moving quite quickly and I suspect won our grouping. The post event email informed everyone that the new format had been a success. There were 23 individuals or teams that had registered and 18 of the individuals or teams were able to finish. The registration was pretty evenly distributed from “expert” to “novice” with each of the courses having five to six registrants. 

Garnsey Park

Located on NY Route 146 in western Clifton Park, it’s one of a number of multiuse recreational facilities within the area. The park itself covers about over 150 acres of land, with a primary trail that’s a two-mile plus loop that has an addition one-mile of trail spurs and loops for walking. This was a new location for the orienteering club. The lower portion of the trails are primarily grass meadows and are mowed to maintain good footing. The upper loop is a wooded walk that is more rocky and rooted. There are a variety of educational postings along the way to inform you of the different animals that inhibit the area. 

The main trail upon entering the park is marked in blue there are additional trails designated as red, white and yellow. Each trail is between a 0.25 and 0.75-mile for a total of 2.25 miles of trails. Connector trails and loop sections that bring you back to your starting point all provide ample opportunities to add on distance and make the total distance covered variable. The courses for the EMPO event covered each of the primary trail sections so individuals had an opportunity to experience the full sense of the park. Although this was a summer event there were some questions about whether a ski-orienteering event could be held in the winter. The Shenendehowa Nordic Club grooms the trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing so a Ski-O even seems possible.

The park does have some wetland areas and boggy sections. The first control required crossing a small bridge, and the last control required some exploration near the exit of the park, which gave several participants a challenge. The park is good for bird-watching and photography, and we saw and heard many birds while walking through the park. The most plentiful on this trip appeared to be blue birds. 

Future events

The success of this first no contact meet allowed the EMPO club to make necessary changes to hold a second event. The next meet will follow similar rules, and it will be held at Cole Hill State Forest in Berne from June 5-8. Abiding by social distancing and following event guidelines is important to make sure events like these can continue. Checking out something like this allows you to get out and enjoy the outdoors, get exercise, use your navigational skills, and potentially see someplace new! Learn more about the sport and future events at empoclub.org.

Tom O’Grady, PhD, MPH (thomas.james.ogrady@gmail.com) of Slingerlands is an avid runner, hiker and lover of the outdoors. Learn more at ogradystrategies.com.