General Information

This section applies to both sprints.

​

Check-In is located in the Burchfield Penney Art Center. You must check in to receive your bib and confirm your SI-card. Registration for walk-ups is also located here. A notice board with any last minute changes will also be here. Check-In opens at 10 AM. At 11:30 AM Check-In moves to the Admin tent in the Finish area.

​

Bag Drop. Bags and clothing may be left at a designated area near the Finish (which is convenient to both start areas). There is no clothing transport from the start areas to the finish area. We will supervise the bag drop but ultimately, items are left at your own risk. There are also free lockers in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum main building near the restrooms.

​

Restrooms are located in the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Rockwell Hall on the Buffalo State campus, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the “Casino” in Delaware Park.

​

Important Restriction: “Dobb” spikes and spikes of any sort are not allowed on either the Campus Sprint or the Park Sprint.

​

Starts: Follow the marked route from the Check-In to the start of the Campus Sprint. Distance = 250 meters.

The start of the Park Sprint is marked from the east entrance of the AKG. Distance = 250 meters.

The start procedure is the familiar “three box” arrangement. You will be called up and then will enter the first box at 3 minutes before your start. This box will contain loose control description sheets. At 2 minutes before your start you will enter the second box. At one minute before your start you will enter the last box where you can pick up your map without looking at it. At the start signal manually punch a start control and turn over your map. There is an approximate 50 meter run to the flag identifying the start triangle on the map and signifying the start of navigation. The marked corridor to the start triangle is a mandatory route.

Controls will be enabled for SI AIR+ functionality. Rental SI-cards will be standard cards, not SIAC.

Note to recreational participants: You will not be assigned a start time, but you must report to the call up person in the start area before it closes. Start area closing times will be posted on the notice board.

​

Road crossings: Each sprint has an untimed road crossing. There will be a control on each side of the road. As you punch the control before the crossing your running time will pause for 2 minutes. This will give you enough time to safely cross the street under the guidance of the control marshal. You may use up to the full 2 minutes before resuming your course but any time over 2 minutes will count in your elapsed time. Both crossings have “zebra” markings. The campus sprint crossing is controlled by a traffic light. The park sprint crossing is controlled by stop signs for the cars. Follow the guidance of the control marshal but also observe caution. Be careful if you use an SIAC to not get too close to the restart control until you intend to restart. Two meters should be sufficient.

​

Finish: The download unit is located just after the finish control. The finish control is AIR+ enabled. Maps will not be collected. Please do not share any information about your course with competitors who haven’t started yet. Only water will be available at the finish.

​

Spectating: You are invited to become a spectator after your run. You may spectate at any location along the course but do not impede or assist the competitors who are still on the course. (Cheering is allowed.) It is possible that either of the warm-up areas could be a reasonable route choice. The same admonitions apply there.

​

Buffalo AKG Art Museum (AKG): In your spare time, consider taking time to explore the public areas of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. The main collection is accessed by paying a fee, but the “Town Square”, the Cornelia Restaurant, the M&T Bank Gallery and the Creative Commons (Legos!) are all open to the public for free. To get to the start area for the Park Sprint, go through the Town Square to the east side of the building.

​

Lunch: Whether you eat between runs or after your second run, you will find many options available to you. The Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the casino in the park all have restaurants. The ones in the AKG (the Cornelia) and the one in the casino (the Terrace, serving brunch until 2:45) have more of an upscale feel. All can provide take-out. We make no guarantees of how busy they might be. If you are brown-bagging you may use the Town Square area of the AKG. The cafe in the Burchfield Penney is called Roux and features 5 daily soup specials, paninis, soup, and soup and panini specials. There is also a Wegmans supermarket one mile away and there will be food trucks at the History Museum on the other side of the expressway, but they may be crowded due to the Cherry Blossom Festival. In the first mile south on Elmwood Avenue you will find many eateries. Search on Yelp or Google or ask for recommendations at the Admin tent.

 

Campus Sprint Information

​

Map Notes: This is the debut event for the map of Buffalo State University. The map was drawn according to ISSprOM 2019-2 Rev.6. at a scale of 1:4000 with a contour interval of 2.5 meters. Special symbols include black “x” for man-made objects such as large signs and large HVAC units. Many smaller signs are not shown at all. Small monuments which look mostly like boulders are shown as boulders. These are typically a rock with a plaque on it. Some of these objects may be less than 1 meter in size. Symbol 526, black circle with a dot in the center, is used for sculptures and other art works. There are a lot of these. Stairways with railings are shown bounded with the uncrossable wall symbol rather than the uncrossable fence symbol. Benches are not shown on the map. The map is printed on Synaps synthetic paper. It is waterproof and durable. Map cases are not needed and will not be provided.

​

Course Notes: From Linda Kohn, course setter: Welcome to the Buffalo State University campus.  The courses are slightly shorter than usual since most runners have an afternoon race as well as a long race on Sunday. As usual, be sure to check control codes since there are many controls that are close together.  Levels are rather subtle and, although not pronounced, may affect your route choice. There will be some car traffic on campus but I have tried to minimize the need to run between parked cars and through parking lots.

From Dave Cady, organizer: This university is primarily a commuter school so it won’t be overly crowded with students on the Saturday of the event. Still, stay sharp and pay attention, especially around corners, to avoid contact with other runners. The Red/Blue course will have a map flip in the middle.

​

Control description (CD) considerations: IOF now allows pillars supporting a roof to be shown in the CDs using the building symbol (black square). This may be confusing because pillars are usually adjacent to an actual building. No distinction between types of trees is shown in the CDs. Hint: before coming to the event, review the CD symbols for canopy, garden, beneath, stairway, and monument or sculpture. CDs will be printed on the map only as symbols. Loose CDs with translations will only be available for the White/Yellow and Orange courses. Loose CDs will be available for all courses.

 

Park Sprint Information

​

Map Notes: The map is an update of a map which has been in use annually for many years. A previous version of the map will be posted. The scale is 1:4000 with 2.5 meter contours. Special symbols: symbol 531, black “x”, is used for man-made objects such as picnic tables, signs, soccer goals, and electrical equipment. Symbol 530, black circle, is used for benches. In one area where there are a lot of benches, the number of circles has been generalized. Green “x” is used for rootstocks, of which there are only a couple of large ones. Some features, such as knolls and rocks, may be less than one meter in size. Symbol 526, black circle with a dot in the center, is used for sculptures and other works of art. A work of art may be symbolized as something else if it looks like the something else. An example of this is a group of boulders which in actuality is a work of art but which we show as a boulder cluster. We found a use for the new symbol 533 “Area with obstacles.” We will update the map close to the event, but keep in mind that paths in the woods may be less distinct at this time of year and the character of water features will depend on how wet the spring is. The map is printed on Synaps synthetic paper. It is waterproof and durable. Map cases are not needed and will not be provided.

​

Course Notes: From David Cady, organizer. The courses were designed by Jackie Novkov with input from unknown Bulgarian friends. They all take place in a concentrated area so be prepared for frequent changes of direction, many controls close together, and a high potential of interaction with other orienteers. Route choice will often be the straight line so hesitation figuring that out will be costly. The terrain is hillier than on the campus, but is very runnable. There is only one narrow strip of woods to accompany the widespread open land and open land with scattered trees.

​

Control Descriptions: There shouldn’t be any surprises here. Loose descriptions will be available. CDs on the map will be symbols only. Translations will be available for the White/Yellow course and the Orange course.