• What: BOK’s annual Old Skool adventure race, involving up to 8 hours of trekking, cycling, and paddling through the Beaverdam, Woodpecker Ridge, and New Light areas of Falls Lake State Recreation Area and the Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land.
• Who: The event is open to anyone with orienteering or adventure racing experience. First-timers may compete, but must have at least one experienced teammate. Solo entries are allowed; but teams up to four are encouraged. There are no scoring divisions (e.g., solos, co-eds, teams, etc. will all compete against each other in the standings). Three individuals or teams will be awarded a prize at the finish, based on the quality of their performance. Orienteers who want to do the course only on foot are welcome to register.
• When: Sunday, October 11. Mass start at 10:00 AM. Mandatory briefing at 9:45. Map handout at 8:30. (Note: Park opens at 8:00 AM and closes at 8:00 PM). Race Finish: 6:00 PM. Late starts can be accommodated; but the 6:00 finish deadline is firm for everyone.
• Where:
  • Registration/Start/Finish: Beaverdam Access/ Falls Lake Recreation Area. Shelter 21. (GPS coordinates = 36.036255, -78.685134). There are water fountains and bathroom facilities nearby.
  • Paddle launch/return: Beaverdam boat launch. (GPS = 36.033803, -78.683809).
  • Bike staging area: Between the parking lot and Shelter 21. (GPS = 36.036436, -78.685416). You may secure your bike(s) in this area the morning of the event. You may also keep bikes racked on your car at any time before or during the event.

The course consists of four ‘loops’ which may be done in any order. Teams will receive two copies of each loop’s map at the map handout.

It is not possible to estimate trekking, biking, and paddle distance for each loop because you (or your team) may choose different combinations of these disciplines to acquire their controls. Nonetheless, a ballpark possible amount of total (straight line) distance of trekking, biking, and paddling could be 17km, 25km, and 9km, respectively. Your mileage will differ, depending on your choices. There are no checkpoints that require paddling or biking, although these paddling or biking will greatly facilitate the acquisition of many of the checkpoints.

For each loop, the map will be printed on multiple (non-waterproof) pages at a scale of 1:10000. Contour interval is 2.5m. The map will look more like an orienteering map than a USGS map. Meridians are aligned with magnetic north (i.e., don’t worry about declination) and are spaced at 500m. All CPs will be pre-circled.

Navigators on each team should be familiar with the orienteering map symbol set. A few of the more relevant (or specialized) ones appear in the image below.

Additionally, you may print a legend with these and more symbols from this web page and carry it with you on the course.

Mandatory Team Gear

• 1 SportIdent fingerstick (available for rent at registration)
• 2 compasses
• 1 cell phone, charged, preferably with LiveLox pre-installed
• Maps and Course notes
• 1 water resistant timepiece
• When biking, tire repair equipment suitable for fixing one flat
• First aid, including: bandages, analgesic (e.g., Ibuprofen, Aleve), benadryl, moleskin and/or second skin, safety pins, tweezers or tick remover, insect sting relief, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic ointment, ~3m of duct tape, epi-pen (if needed), asthma inhaler + albuterol (if needed)

Mandatory Individual Gear

• Hydration — each racer must carry at least 1L
• Whistle
• On bike legs, a bike helmet is mandatory
• On paddling legs, a PFD and paddle is mandatory (supplied by outfitter)

Highly suggested Gear

• Bike locks/chains to secure bikes and boats at transition areas
• Protective case/covering for any electronics

There will be a LiveLox page for this event. For your own safety and for post-race analysis, one of your team members will be required to install and run the LiveLox recorder during the race.

Download the LiveLox recorder from Google Play or the App Store. Start recording at the beginning of your race, and stop when you’re done with the entire race. Instructions on using LiveLox will be given during the pre-race briefing.

Off limit areas are marked by red crosshatches on the map. Additionally, there is a significant amount of private property on the map, and it is not explicitly mapped as such. Obey all posted signs, and be careful not to go onto private property. Boundaries of public greenspaces are mapped with thick dashed olive colored lines. Dashed magenta lines show property boundaries between different public jurisdictions, and are safe/legal to cross. You are expected to stay within these public spaces at all times.

At all times, navigation along Hwy-50 is off limits. You must stay 30m away from this road unless you are crossing it. If crossing, you must cross it on foot, perpendicularly. The penalty for breaking this rule is loss of all points for the loop that you are on.

Bike travel is not allowed:

• West of highway 50 (Woodpecker Ridge)
• On trails within the park mapped with a green border.

The penalty for riding bikes in any of these areas is disqualification.

Most of the bike trails may only be ridden in only one direction, and bikers must adhere to the proper direction of these trails. Failure to ride trails in the prescribed direction will result in a loss of points for all CPs acquired near the trail. Note that foot traffic on unidirectional bike trails is permitted in either direction. It is also perfectly permissible to carry your bikes through the woods.

No biking or paddling equipment may be left on the course. At the end of each loop, bikes will be back to the shelter/parking lot, and boats will be back to the boat launch. The penalty for breaking this rule is loss of all points on the loop.

Scoring and Mandatory CPs. All CPs are optional. Moreover, within any loop, CPs can be visited in any order. You do not have to visit every CP within a loop before finishing the loop and starting another. Each mapped CP will count between 2 and 5 points depending on which loop you are on. CPs only score points during the loop that you are on. Thus, if run across a CP that is not on your current map, you will not score points by punching it. Teams must download and clear their fingerstick after each loop.

Teams who have not finished by 8 hours will lose one point for every minute after the finish time that they are late. For example, a team that finishes at 6:00:59 would not be penalized, but a team that finishes at 6:01:00 would lose one point. Teams that know that they will not make the cutoff will earn back 2 penalty points by phoning or texting the meet director between 6:02 and 6:15 PM and updating him about their situation. Text or voice updates after 6:15 will earn 1 point back. These update messages do not eliminate a time penalty; they simply add one or two points to the team’s already penalized score. For example, a team that sends an update text at 6:02:30 and finishes at 6:02:59 would not be penalized – their two point time penalty would be erased by a properly timed update message. A team that sends a well-timed update text at 6:02:30 and finishes at 6:03 would lose one point – a three point time penalty with a two point message bonus. A team that sends a badly-timed update text at 6:01:30 and finishes at 6:03 would lose three points. Teams that have already finished are ineligible for update text bonuses.

Bonus points. Each loop will offer one or more bonus CPs, each worth between two and six points. You will only find out how to earn these points at random CPs on your course. Follow the directions at these CPs to earn your bonus points. Bonus points can only be earned on the loop in which they were designed. Your map will indicate the total possible number of bonus points on each loop.

Additionally, each team that scores at least one point on each of the four loops will be awarded six bonus points.

Proximity. At all times, each teammate must stay within audible distance (appx. 30 m) of at least one other team member. At many paddling and bike CPs, it will be permissible for a team to split up such that some members leave the shore or trail to punch the CP, while one or more stay behind to rest or guard team equipment. In these situations, at least two team members must go to the CP and these team members must regroup with the rest of the team after acquiring the CP. Obviously, team members chosen to punch the CP will need to have the team’s fingerstick; but they should also carry the team’s GPS recorder in case they later need to verify a successful CP acquisition. If a team splits up like this, the away group is only allowed to punch one CP before regrouping with the team. If a team wants to drop some of their equipment in order to acquire more than one CP on foot during a bike or kayak leg, then the entire team must stay together. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in the loss of points for all CPs involved.

If a team member needs to quit the race, he or she must do so at the shelter. Once a team member quits the race, they cannot re-enter it later. If the team member needs to quit partway through a loop, the entire team must come back together and drop that teammate off. (The rest of the team may continue on the loop or start a new one at that point.) If a competitor quits the race and comes back to the shelter without his or her team, the team will lose all points for that loop.

TA/CP rules. The only official transition area on the course is the shelter, which serves as the start and finish for each loop. However, your team will likely want to transition from bike to foot and from paddle to foot at various ad hoc places on the course. It is strongly advised that you lock and secure your equipment safely in these areas, as there will not be race personnel there to monitor it.

It is possible that one or more CPs will not have electronic punching. If you visit one of these CPs, follow instructions in your course notes or at the CP on how to score its points. It is also possible that a control can go missing before the event. Points for missing CPs may be awarded at the director’s discretion if competitors’ recorded GPS tracks or other competitors’ testimony offer compelling evidence that the site was visited.

With the exception of the first loop, which will be a mass start, you must punch the start CP at the beginning of each loop. When you finish the loop, hand your fingerstick to the race director, who will download its data and clear it for the next loop.

Hydration. Each racer is required to carry water with them and to begin each leg with at least 1 liter of water on them. Plentiful drinking water will be available at the start, and a number of park water fountains will also be indicated on your map.

It is possible that heavy rains will force the park to close the bike trails. If trails are closed, all bike CPs will become trekking points. If your team is on foot on the bike trails, you do not need to adhere to the prescribed trail direction. It is permissible to carry your bike through the woods; but you may not ride it off trail.

Rental kayaks will be available from our outfitter at the transition area at the Beaverdam boat launch. GPS location of this transition area is (36.033803, -78.683809). The outfitter will also supply paddles and PFDs. If you have your own watercraft and/or additional paddling equipment, you will need to leave it secured near this TA in the morning, before you arrive to the start. Do not take or leave your paddling equipment at the TA before race day – it cannot be left in the park overnight.