A later start time can be arranged if you contact the organizers well in advance and are prepared to help with control pick up :-)

• Some trails can be very faint on the ground, and in general smaller trails should not be relied on for navigation.
• There has been some blow-down in areas of the map. Some areas of blow-down are marked with vertical green lines, but unfortunately we have not been able to update the map to show all the new blow-down areas.
• Outhouses at the parking, close to the finish. None at the start.
• The longer maps are printed on legal-size paper, but we have only letter-size map bags. You may need to fold your map to make it fit in the bag :-(

Directions to the parking:
From the intersection of the 1A and 1X highways (close to Seebee) travel north on the 1A for approximately 1km. Turn into the Yamnuska parking lot. Allow 30 minutes from Canmore, 60 minutes from Calgary city limits.

Start 1: Super Junior (9 & under), Junior (10 - 12), Recreational
Start 1 is about 500m from the Assembly area, along a marked trail.

Start 2: all other categories
In order to get the older age groups into the best parts of the Mt Laurie map while being restricted to our parking area we had to make two rather drastic maneuvers. First we had to have a very remote start - there will be a bus service running approximately every 25 minutes starting at 4:15 to take you to the start. There is no option to walk because the highway is too narrow & dangerous. Secondly we had to use two finishes. Most people will finish at "Finish 1" which is right at the Parking. The Expert & Elite categories however will finish (confusingly perhaps) at Start 1 and then follow the 500m trail back to the download / parking.

• Toilets close to the start/finish.
• There is no water on the course, despite what it might say on the control descriptions.

This event takes place at the Event Center - the Rocky Mountain YMCA. The start/finish are just beyond Hector Lodge. There is a 1.5 km (approx) walk from the event center parking to the start/finish.

If you are coming for the day, please drive past Bowfort Lodge and park at the 'outfitting parking lot' - easily identified by the large number of canoes.

• Sunset is about 8:30pm
• Beginner courses stay on major trails.
• Control sites are marked as usual with a flag on a stand as well as by one or two pin flags with light-reflecting tape.
• All other courses (except "Elite") are bounded by paved road (i.e. do not cross any paved roads!).
• Note the scale - 1:5,000
• And don't forget your headlamp!

• most trails on the ground are very distinct, but there are a couple of trails that are quite hard to see on the ground. The biggest danger is to the "D" runners who might use one of the 'hard to see' trails as a catching feature on their long section. Beware that the trail might be easy to miss even though it looks obvious on the map - so stay in contact with the map.

• we are trying out some new relay concepts that are not well supported in the timing software. Therefore we are expecting some serious problems with giving people their proper splits and printing results. Our main focus is to use the timing software to verify that runners went to the correct controls - if we also manage to get the proper times we'll be astonished! But of course we'll be able to tell who won the race just by keeping track of who crosses the finish line in which order.
• Immediately before the race we will give the instructions about how the change-over area is to work. Please be present for this and listen closely.

You should make teams if possible from your club (or your region, or your country). We will help you fill teams. You must submit your team lists to Richard before Sunday afternoon.

Team Composition

Each team will have four runners, named A, B, C, D. Leg difficulty is as follows:

• Runner A - easy (suitable for juniors) - all controls on obvious handrails. No forking for Runner A.
• Runner B - intermediate, shortish - suitable for advanced juniors or super-venerable
• Runner C - technical, shortish - suitable for "Expert" category runner
• Runner D - technical, long - suitable for "Elite" category runner

Each team member will have a certain handicap point value. There will be three categories: 4-7 point teams, 8-11 point teams, and 12+ point teams. Points values are based on your age as of 31st December this year as follows:

Leg Descriptions

Each team member will run twice - one sprint and one middle distance leg.

As you can tell, the mass start will include almost everyone. To prepare for this you must do lots of mental preparation so that you are able to focus on your own navigation and not be distracted by others. To help with this mental preparation, here are two video clips from the last relay that our club had a team in... Video One and Video Two (warning: these take a while to download, but they are worth it).

Following: While following is generally frowned upon in orienteering (actually it is quite against the rules), an exception is made for relays. In fact a lot of the fun of running in a relay is being in a "train" - moving together with other runners much faster than you would if you were alone. But beware - the course planner has some tools to break up trains - most importantly beware of "forking"...

Forking: There will be forking on all legs for runners B,C,D - this means that you will not necessarily have the same course as other runners on your same leg. For example, you might see something like this:

Team 1: Leg 1-A: 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 38 - 40 - Finish
Team 1: Leg 1-B: 31 - 36 - 37 - 34 - 35 - 39 - 40 - Finish

Team 2: Leg 1-A: 31 - 36 - 37 - 34 - 35 - 38 - 40 - Finish
Team 2: Leg 1-B: 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 39 - 40 - Finish

From this example you can see that all four runners (1-A and 1-B for both teams) run different courses from each other, but that the two teams do exactly the same legs, just in a different order. So, some of the time following is helpful, and other times it is not. To master the relay is to know when to follow and when to go it alone.

Second Mass Start

A second mass start, for all runners not yet started, will be held at the organizer's discretion. It will likely be just after the winning team finishes. We expect the following fastest times:

Leg 1: 10 minutes
Leg 2: 30 minutes
Leg 3: 12 minutes
Leg 4: 20 minutes
Leg 5: 10 minutes

This event takes place at the Event Center - the Rocky Mountain YMCA. The assembly area is in the fields just north of Bowfort Lodge.