Ioco WJR Why Just Run
May 25th 2025 10:00am - 4:00pm
Organizers: Stan Woods (Event Director), Joanne Woods (Membership), Jonathan Harris (Assistant), Reuben Ford (Assistant), John Rance (Coach), Robyn Astridge (Assistant), Adam Woods (Assistant), Jordan McIntosh (Assistant), Chris Benn (Organizer)
Come and visit some newly mapped areas and enjoy this wonderful forest.
The schedule for Sunday 25th May
9:20 - Potential for some volunteers to start.
10:00 - First start. People with less forest orienteering experience should start early.
10:30 - Final start.
14:00 - Course closes for Everyone. For safety reasons, everyone must be back at the finish area and parking lot before 2pm.
Course Notes- Much of the map is runnable open forested terrain, with rich contour, marsh and rock features. Metal spikes, or good trail runners are recommended. There are many areas with short sections of un-mapped trails and these are usually mapped as white forest. In some places the mapped trails have debris covering short sections of the trail. All courses will have the same Start (located 20 m North of the Registration tent).
Power Lines are NOT Mapped To avoid cluttering the map, the overhead Power lines are NOT mapped. The Big/high power poles are mapped. Wooden power poles are NOT mapped.
Time Start and Start Triangle: Ioco will use a separate ‘Time Start’ located about 50 m before the ‘Start Triangle’. People waiting in the start queue will pick up their control descriptions, and map, and then the Starting Official will tell people when they can start. People will then start their time with the ‘Start’ SI unit (on a stand but with NO control flag) and run 50 meters along a flagged trail toward the ‘Start Triangle’. The ‘Start Triangle’ is shown on the map, as usual, but will have NO SI unit (a control flag on a stand but with NO SI unit).
SI Timing - all courses will have SI air timing, however if you are the first person to arrive at some of the more remote controls (further from the start) you may have to wake up the control by inserting your SI stick into the control unit. There will be SI sticks available for rental when you register for those who do not own one.
Courses Designed with 'Long' Course characteristics
The three most common orienteering formats are 'Sprint', 'Middle' and 'Long'. All of the Ioco courses are designed with 'Long' format characteristics emphasizing route choices and navigation in rough, hilly and demanding forest terrain. Often the control is the end-point of a long leg with demanding route choice and is not necessarily in itself difficult to find once you are in the immediate area of the control. The four longer courses have one or more 'Long' legs of about 1 km or longer.
Courses:
Please carry water and perhaps food as none will be provided on the courses. For safety, carrying a cell phone is recommended.
Intermediate: Straight line distance of 2.6 km with 130m of climb. Map scale is 1:7500. This is the easiest (least technically/physically difficult) course and has a combination of controls on trails, and near trails (Technical Difficulty 3). Due to the complexity of the trails, and the complexity of the terrain there is NO course offered for solo Beginners. The Intermediate course is the ‘easiest’ course and is only suitable for beginners in groups of two or more. Those who have some orienteering experience in city parks but are new to forest orienteering should register for this course.
Short Advanced: Straight line distance of 2.4 km with 135m of climb. Map scale is 1:7500. This course requires advanced orienteering skills and navigation. The course has less climb, and is less physically demanding than the longer courses and hence is a Technical Difficulty of 4. This course may be suitable for older people or those who want a shorter course.
Advanced 4km: Straight line distance of 4 km with 285m of climb. Map scale is 1:7500. This course requires advanced orienteering skills and navigation. The course has more climb, and goes through steeper and more physically demanding terrain than the shorter courses and hence is a Technical Difficulty of 5. This course is designed for those with advanced forest orienteering experience.
Expert 5.4km: Straight line distance of 5.4 km with 400m of climb. Map scale is 1:10000. This course is long and physically demanding and requires expert forest orienteering experience. An elite female (F21) with National Team level forest orienteering skills and fitness would likely take about 85 minutes (or longer) to complete this course.
Elite 8km: Straight line distance of 8 km with 510m of climb. Map scale is 1:10000. This course is very long and physically demanding. An elite male (M21) with National Team level forest orienteering skills and fitness is expected to take 90 minutes (or longer) to complete this course.
Directions and Parking
To get to the Parking area and Registration/Start head toward Belcarra Park along Bedwell Bay Road. Pass the exit to Sasamat Lake and continue along Bedwell Bay Road to a 3-way stop. At the 3-way Stop, go straight (left) onto Tum Tumay Whueton Drive leading to Belcarra Park. Continue for 1.0 kilometer and turn left onto Thermal Plant Road. Proceed 450meters until you see an access gate on the left leading to the CPTA (Canadian Pacific Trials Association) parking lot. The pin on google maps is the access gate to the CPTA parking lot. If the gate is closed, a GVOC volunteer should be nearby to open the gate into the parking lot. We are renting the parking area from the CPTA (Canadian Pacific Trials Association) and will be sharing the parking lot and some of the trails with the Trials (motorcycle) riders.
Why Just Run
What should I bring? Wear something comfortable that you don't mind getting a little dirty! If it's wet outside, you might want to consider a change of shoes and socks! A compass is optional (we have extra ones for borrowing). For added safety, a whistle is mandatory for all GVOC events. Read more in the WJR Introduction to Orienteering.
How much does it cost? Regular "Why Just Run:" events cost adult: $15 / under 20: $10/ family discount (adult(s) with children) 40% (we now accept credit and debit cards on site). Some special events may cost a little more, and this will be made clear in the event detail above. Annual club membership is also required.
Club membership: See details on the club home page. Please complete before your first event!
Refunds: If a participant is unable to attend an event for any reason the event organizer may refund the event fees (at their discretion) but the processing fees will not be refunded. If an event is changed or cancelled by GVOC and participants request a refund, the processing fees will be refunded.