By Rex Winterbottom (Regional Event Coordinator — Sierra Nevada)
What a crazy beginning to a new series of events! TrailCross. What should we expect? Although much was written and posted about this new format, many of our previous BAOC participants came thinking they wouldn't leave the trail for very long. There were lots of surprises! Some planned, some unplanned.
Links: Photos and BAOC Facebook page
The Start
The feeling at the mass start (video) was fun. And then they went off — for 5 km, for 10 km, or for 10 miles. The course was planned so that in the beginning, all participants would share the same initial challenges. And that happened on the way to the first checkpoint — everybody shortcut the trail and went up the hillside! You can see photos and video of this on the BAOC Facebook page. The second checkpoint was at the edge of the cemetery. Some participants took the path to get there, and it looked like they would then follow the fence around, but once they saw others shortcutting, they soon changed their minds! This is also documented with photos and video.
The Split
Then the 10-milers broke off and did a loop to the southeast, while the 5k and 10k participants continued on together to Checkpoint 3. The 10-milers would come back to 3 after their loop. So everybody had this tricky leg from 3 to the mine entrance at Checkpoint 4, which confused the newcomers and the experienced alike. If the many minor trails were mapped in more detail, and the map scale was larger, perhaps 1:15000 instead of 1:20000, this could have been avoided. Another possibility would have been to change the leg. We apologize for the confusion, and want to assure you that future TrailCross events will improve on this aspect.
The Crossroads
Soon after the mid-course challenge came the relief of an aid station. Here the 5k participants split off towards the Finish, and the 10k folks and 10-milers continued on together higher in the hills. On the way back, there was a pretty mean fence to cross on the shortcut, off-trail route, and we wish this had been put on the map, or the course setters Kevin and Terri had a chance to speak of it before the start. The map, loaned for use to the club by Get Lost!!, a fellow nonprofit, was advertised to be good for contours and trails but in development for the other details.
The Finish
We could see them descend to the Finish on the large, broad hillside — this was fun to watch! At the Finish, people hung around and enjoyed the refreshments and talked much about their experiences. We also received lots of valuable feedback about how it went, to apply to future events. Participants came from Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Stockton, Manteca, Antioch, Marin County, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and Seattle. Many were able to outwit the courses and shortcut a bit of the on-trail distance — some of the 10k participants ended up going about 8 km. We invite you to share GPS tracks on our Facebook page — and RouteGadget, to which you can also upload your GPS track, will be offered. And if you'd rather post your track on Strava or Garmin Connect, simply send us an email with the link!
The Checkpoint not Taken
For the results, we put participants who visited some, but not all of their course checkpoints, in a "Choose Your Own Adventure" category. Sometimes people choose to leave off a checkpoint or two, but we realize many of you wanted to get them all. The next few series events — at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, Northstar Resort at Tahoe, Joaquin Miller in Oakland, and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco — are all on finished and up-to-date maps. And Black Diamond is definitely the steepest of the TrailCross venues. So, we hope you will come try another event in the series.
A Parade of Thanks!
Thank you to our volunteers, and those who stepped up to help when we realized that we were lacking a registration kit. Expect a smoother check-in process next time!
Terri Hunt and Kevin Hinkley designed interesting courses. The steepness of Black Diamond and the somewhat limited trail network made this a challenge. They successfully figured out a remote-start solution to add some better terrain to the course, particularly for the 5k participants. Terri and Kevin also helped throughout the event with setup, takedown, and the aid stations, and they recruited several buddies to help us.
Vladimir Gusiatnikov directed the event and negotiated the permit with the East Bay Regional Parks District, updated the map, set up online registration, printed the maps, helped his wife Lani Schreibstein produce the event series T-shirts, ran the results system, and coordinated the aid station supplies.
Rex Winterbottom recruited volunteers, did event and series publicity with flyers and online calendars, and helped with setup, registration, shuttling runners, takedown, and throughout the event.
Gavin Wyatt-Mair shared many supplies, helped transport them to the park the day before, and shuttled runners to the Start.
Nick Giori came out early to help with greeting participants and event registration. All the way from Palo Alto. And he didn't run a course! Joan Roos and Jennifer Kerr also helped with setup and registration.
Greg Ehrensing didn't run a course, although he planned to, but he still showed up at the end to help with control pickup and event takedown. Also helping with control pickup: Peter Graube, Jonathan Owens, Daniel Sebo, and Lubomir Sebo.
Our aid stations were staffed by Nancy Lindeman (who also shuttled runners to the Start), Adriana Ospina, and Lisa Tracy, as well as Terri and Kevin.
Back at the Finish, Emma Jansson and Teresa Jansson helped with serving refreshments.
Additionally, we would like to thank the rangers of Black Diamond, Supervisor Rex Caulfield and his support staff, for taking the time to meet with us about the event planning and helping with aid station logistics — trucking supplies into and out of the remote aid station.