No, you can't have my map!

Location and Schedule

On Saturday, 30 July 2011, two event durations will be offered: 3 hours and 90 minutes. You can do either on foot or on bike. The headquarters will be at the Old Mill Park, Redwood Grove site.

This is the inaugural Mill Valley Street Scramble. Check out the description and our calendar of Street Scramble events.

This event is the first of six in the 2011/2012 Urban Adventure Hunt series. Collect points and win a trip to the series Final, the San Francisco Night & Day Challenge!

08:30  Registration and check-in

       open, Old Mill Park

09:00  Maps are available for

       route planning

09:40  Briefing and instructions

10:00  Start, all divisions,

       foot and bike

11:30  Finish, 90 minute division

12:00  Light lunch service starts

13:00  Finish, 3 hour division

13:30  Awards

You will score checkpoint visits by texting us the answer to the question on your scorecard. Checkpoint visits will be instantly tabulated, and scores available upon the teams' return. If you'd rather not use the cellphone for any reason, you can instead circle answers on the paper scorecard. More details are here...

This an example map that was used for this year's Millbrae Street Scramble. The map for the Mill Valley event will feature different symbols and colors:

	Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Qstarz International Co., Ltd. brings GPS & Bluetooth technology to the consumer mainstream. The mission of Qstarz is to accelerate widespread consumer application of GPS & Bluetooth technology by delivering high-performance, leading-edge solutions that power GPS-enabled devices.
The mission of Road ID is twofold: One, to educate outdoor enthusiasts about the importance of wearing ID. Two, to provide these athletes with innovative identification products that they will want to include as part of their gear. The dream of Road ID is to see the day where wearing ID is as common among athletes as wearing a seatbelt is among motorists.
	o21e makes a line of clothing for the map sport in Los Angeles, California.
Seattle's Meridian Geographics is an active outdoor lifestyle company. It produces the Street Scramble, Northwest Trail Runs, and BEAST Adventure Race series. Its showcase events are the annual Seattle and San Francisco Night and Day challenges, and the Three15er and Big Tahoma rogaines.
	Oakland's terraloco organizes urban and wild map trek adventures!
Scarborough Orienteering, aka Orienteer.com, is a leading vendor of equipment. They carry compasses, SPORTident cards, Inov-8™ shoes, and other gear and produce their own line of o21e suits, club uniforms, and gaiters. Orienteer.com also offers map and compass instruction and group outings, including orienteering and team-building training, as corporate offsites.
	The best deal on SPORTident equipment!

The Street Scramble Experience

Street Scramble races can be enjoyed by anyone who (a) can travel under their own power for 90 minutes—walking, running, biking, or moving in a wheelchair; (b) can follow a street map; and (c) likes to explore.

(Strollers and power wheelchairs are OK for those who need them. If you can't read a map, you can be on a team with someone who can.)

When you arrive at a Street Scramble event, you will check in (some events don't sell out and allow onsite registration). Then, a half hour before the start time, you will receive a map with thirty-one checkpoint locations circled. Each circle has a number between 10 and 99. The point value of the checkpoint is equal to its number rounded down to the tens; for example, Checkpoint 35 is worth 30 points; Checkpoint 12 is worth 10 points. You will also receive a scorecard with a description of a feature to be found at each checkpoint, such as "Statue of woman" or "Public pier".

You (together with your team, if you have a team) will then plan which checkpoints you will try to visit, and in what order. You can visit as many or as few checkpoints as you want, and in any order. Your team will need to stay together at all times. You can change your plan as you go along, but it's very helpful to at least start with some kind of plan.

A few minutes before the start there will be a pre-Scramble-race briefing, at which the event director will review rules and safety. There will be a countdown to the start, after which you will head out to visit checkpoints. Again, your team must stay together at all times. Checkpoints are found at the precise centers of the circles on the map. When you arrive at a checkpoint location, look for the feature described on the scorecard.

At most locations, you will need to answer a simple multiple-choice question, found on your scorecard, to prove you were there. Example:

35   Statue of woman: What is the last word on the plaque next to the statue?
(a) Arts   (b) Commission   (c) Space

If you are not using the electronic scoring system, circle the correct answer on the scorecard and proceed to another checkpoint. Also write down the time of your checkpoint visit.

As an option, we will offer two electronic ways to record your checkpoint visits. One option will only be available at select checkpoints that are at locations of participating businesses, and only to those entrants who have a smartphone capable of recognizing QR codes, and the necessary phone app. Simply snap a picture of the code and get on your way!
If you don't have the hardware or the app, just answer the multiple-choice question.

The other electronic option is available at all checkpoints, and involves sending us, the organizers, a text message with your answer to the question on the scorecard. For example, suppose you are Team 191 and the correct answer to the question at Checkpoint 35 is (a), "Arts". You will send, to the phone number we provide at registration, a message with the text

35 A

—or—

35A

—or—

a35

and you will get back a confirmation message that says

Team 191 Checkpoint 35 Answer A at 10:31:23.

To participate in the 90 minute division, you must return to the event center within 90 minutes. To participate in the 3 hour option, return within 3 hours. You can decide which option you want while you're out there. Returning on time requires planning!

The map is usually an improved USGS topographic map; we also use information from other sources. The map will have only a few street names on it, so it will be important for you to keep track of where you are on the map.

It is perfectly fine to utilize other maps you may bring, or to look at a map on your smartphone. You can also use the phone's GPS; any GPS units, altimeters, and pedometers are all fair game—but please don't get so distracted by the gadgets as to lose track of vehicle traffic!

When you return, you will turn in your scorecard; if you used electronic scoring, your score will be ready and waiting for you. (In case your phone turns out to be less sweat-resistant than you thought, we can handle answers that are partially submitted electronically and partially handwritten.) It is important to be on time because you will lose points for each minute you are late. We will keep your scorecard, but you get to take your map home with you. If your answers are handwritten, we will tally your score while you enjoy refreshments, included in your entry fee. After refreshments, awards will be given out for those with the highest scores in different divisions and categories.

As a minimum, we will award the best men, women, and mixed teams in the following categories: Juniors (each team member must be 20 years of age or younger on 01 January 2011), Masters (40 or older on 31 December 2011), and Open. Awards will also be given to the best family teams; a family team is one that has anyone 20 years of age or younger, and also someone 21 years of age or older.

If you have further questions, you may be able to find answers to them on the Equipment and Detailed Rules pages.

Entry and Registration

The first 50 teams to enter get technical-fabric T shirts with the Street Scramble design. That's right, a complimentary shirt for each and every team member! Please select the shirt size during the registration process. These shirts can be obtained at the event only if we do not sell out, or if there are cancellations. If you would rather not have another shirt—even as cool as this—we offer a discount.

Pre-registration is open. Team members may enter together (be entered by the same person), or separately. If you would like to go with a team, but don't know your teammates' names yet, you can enter yourself and other members can join the team at a later time.

As with all events by Get Lost!!, fees for teams, including families, are capped. Three, four, or five people enter at the team price; each team member gets a map. The fees are:

90 minute event	Individual	Team	Cal-ARA Team
Enter and pay on or before Monday 18 July	$25.00	$45.00	$40.50
Enter and pay on or before Tuesday 26 July	$35.00	$65.00	$58.50
Enter and pay on or after Wednesday 27 July	$45.00	$85.00	$76.50
3 hour event	Individual	Team	Cal-ARA Team
Enter and pay on or before Monday 18 July	$25.00	$45.00	$40.50
Enter and pay on or before Tuesday 26 July	$35.00	$65.00	$58.50
Enter and pay on or after Wednesday 27 July	$45.00	$85.00	$76.50

Discounts!!

On top of these prices, we offer the following discounts:

Bay Area OC member registering her/himself	–	$5.00
No shirt(s)	–	$5.00 individual,	$10.00 team
Family (at least one participant age 20 or under)	–	$10.00 per team
Scoring by text message	–	$3.00 per team
Use of safety vests	–	$2.00 per team

The BAOC discount only applies to individuals, not teams. That is, a registration for two people who are both BAOC members will cost less than the team price. A three-person team is always best off taking the team deal.

Examples:

• BAOC member going solo, early registration, no shirt, uses a cell phone and a safety vest: $10.00
• California ARA team of 4, standard registration including shirts, uses a cell phone and safety vests: $13.38 per person
• Family of 3, day-of-event registration, no shirts, uses a cell phone and safety vests: $20.00 per person

These discounts are taken and combined automatically by the registration system. Make sure to indicate the team association, individual participant's club membership, and the correct (or at least approximately correct) ages for the team members.

We accept credit cards online through Google Checkout, and cash, checks, and credit cards on site.

Go register!!

Event-Day Information

1. Parking

Please use street parking, or one of the public lots. Neither is free.

2. Safety

Safety is our first priority. All cyclists must wear a helmet and stop at all stop signs and red lights. Highway 101 is a freeway, and can be crossed in three places. Two of them are interchanges that are obvious on the map, and the third one is a pedestrian/bike bridge in-between, shown on the map.

Cyclists are actually allowed on the shoulder of Highway 101 between the Shoreline Highway (Highway 1) and Seminary Drive interchanges. We strongly discourage utilizing this privilege. There is a much less stressful way to get to and from the checkpoints, and it uses the pedestrian/bike bridge.

We strongly encourage you to wear a Street Scramble safety vest to enhance your visibility.

3. Cellphone scoring

We regret that we will not be able to offer cellphone scoring at Mill Valley Street Scramble. Coverage is decent but not 100%; however, we have not been able to secure an event center with a reliable internet connection, and unfortunately at this stage of the game we need to be connected in order to be able to generate timely results on our end.

4. Pen-and-paper scoring

When you mark your answer, please also make sure to write down the time you visited each checkpoint. Doing this is not mandatory, but allows for some entertaining post-event route analysis. Your finish time will be taken when you hand in your score sheet.

5. The map

We produced a brand new map for this event using about six different sources. The main source of the data was Marin County GIS (public domain). The street and trail network on the map has been extensively verified against all of these sources, and most of the staircases have been checked by Rex in the terrain.

The map is 1:15,000 with 10 m contour interval, and uses orienteering/rogaining symbols for the streets, roads, and trails. You will have up to one hour to study the legend and learn these symbols. On this edition of the map, we are not going to provide any information about what's there in-between these roads and trails. The only exception is city parks, shown in green. When planning your route, you should assume that you can only move along marked streets, roads, trails, and stairways; inside the marked parks, you can move on and off trail, on foot, in any direction, but it's usually wisest to stick to the trails anyway.

Even if it looks tantalizingly close and you think you'll be able to shortcut in-between trails and streets, assume you can't! You can usually only go where the streets and trails connect. In-between, it can be private (usually), fences, cliffs, impassable vegetation, marsh, or dragons. Sometimes (very rarely) it's nice, public open woods, or a shopping center; it's better to be pleasantly surprised than to be shot or drown. Also, some of the streets and roads shown are private. We didn't use a special symbol for these. The course will not lead you along private roads. If it says NO TRESPASSING, that's what it is—turn around!

A reminder—you are welcome to use any other map of the area. Whatever map you can pull up on your smartphone is most likely less accurate and less complete than what we have made for you. Also, GPS signal is not great in the canyons.

5. Bikes

The map shows which trails are bike-legal, according to the best of our knowledge. Several checkpoints are only reachable on foot. These checkpoints are always not too far from a street; the maximum is about 130 meters. So, a street bike is preferred, with an appropriate choice of footwear.

6. The terrain

The highlight is Mill Valley's famous steps, lanes, and paths. They are narrow public right-of-ways developed before the car as a quick way to get to the valley's lower part. They are usually in excellent or good condition, but some are getting overgrown. Most of them are signposted from the streets they connect to—but not all, and some are easier to find than others. Within Mill Valley city limits, look for the (mostly) green Steps, Lanes, and Paths sign just over waist high on a wooden post, and/or for a blue arrow with the letter E on the pavement pointing towards the path or stairs. For some, it almost looks like you're going into someone's yard, and then it branches off to the right or left and goes off their property onto an easement.

7. Course notes

The optimum straight-line route to get all checkpoints is 26.3 km; the actual distance to travel on bike at least twice as far. The course has 37 checkpoints worth 1000 total points. The late penalty is 10 points for each minute, or fraction thereof. Remember, you can switch from the 90 minute division to the 3 hour division at any time, even while you are on the course.

8. Registration

Each team should have at least one member. If your team's entry shows a team with no members, please sign on and add yourself to the team by using the Join Team!! or Add a Member button.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday morning!!

Event staff:
Lani, Rex, and Vladimir

We maintain a discussion board for all our events on Attackpoint. Popular among map and adventure-sports athletes in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, the site is the one to go to for the latest navigation-sport news, schedules, discussion, and gossip.

Forum for the Mill Valley Street Scramble.