The 2023 Florida JROTC Orienteering Championships will be held in Withlacoochee State Forest on March 25th. Over 300 cadets will be participating. This presentation contains helpful information to help all do better.

1. Open woods shown
as white on the map
Orienteering at
Holder Mine,
Citrus Tract,
Withlacoochee
State Forest
It is an area like no
other.

2. LEADERS:
Preparing for the Event: Entries
There are two sheets to complete.
One is the registration sheet
(above). From this we can calculate
the number of start times and the
number of maps that will be
needed for each team.
The other is the master roster. Here
you enter the team members by
name, gender, course and timing
stick number. This information will
follow the orienteer to the Results
and Ranking sheets.
If copying and pasting the entries
from another document remember
to use the Copy/ Paste Special/
Paste values only function.

3. Preparing for the Event: What Your Team Should Know.
As you will have seen from the photos Citrus Tract is a special kind of
area. In the open pine forest area you can see it is pretty wide open for
running. But Direction and Distance are very important. Know that;
practice that.
Know that with six courses plus a public-only Blue course there will be lots
of control points out there. Check the control code. It is frustrating to
punch in at one control only to find out the one you were supposed to
punch was some 50 meters away and as a result you are DQed. (If you later
punch in at the correct control that is okay and negates the DQ.)
Come to the start line with a compass, whistle (for safety only), extra clue
sheet if you want, and THE CORRECT FINGER STICK! Plus a personal supply
of water.
Clue Sheets: will be in English for the Yellow course and symbolic for the
other courses. Clue sheets will be sent to teams on or about Mar 22nd.

4. What is Livelox?
• Livelox is a service that lets you record and compare your orienteering
races with family, friends and fellow competitors.
• You can record your route in real time using a mobile app, or upload it
from a dedicated GPS logger afterwards.
• The Livelox web site has an interface which automatically overlays your
GPS track on your map and course,
• and allows you to play back your run, along with those of your friends
and competitors, synchronized on the screen as if it had been a mass start.
• AND using the Livelox app and the GPS capability of your smartphone you
can log your route and have it displayed in real time. This is a great extra
safety feature for our officials.
• See www.floridaorienteering.org for full set up and operation details.

5. Competition Map Sample:
Map scale for Orange and Green courses: 1:10,000
Map scale for Yellow courses: 1:5,000
Contour interval 2.5 meters
The Red Bar on the map indicates magnetic north.
(Red to red. The red of the compass needle points
to the red on the map.)
Special symbols:
• Green cross-hatching with a black line around it
for palmetto bushes:
• Green dots: Bushes or small distinct trees
• Green Circle: larger distinct trees
• Green X: upturned tree roots, usually at least
1.5 meter in height.

6. Start Area
Check in/ Finish/ Download
The Holder Mine campground is
divided into two areas. The standard
campground is to the north side of
Forest Road 10. We have use of the
shelter area for our competition but
otherwise are to stay out of the
campground area.
To the south of FR 10 is the Hunt Camp
which will be closed but open for our
use.
Park and team set up is to the NW part
of the Hunt Camp.
Arrival and set up at Holder Mine

7. LEADERS:
Check In:
At Check In: The team leader registers with Eric Brown of Citrus High School.
Any last minute roster changes? Report them at check in and have a list for the Chief Timer.
Pick up rental finger sticks.
Pay the host school everything you owe. Receipts will be provided.
Pick up meal tickets
Pick up ordered tee-shirts.
Then you are done. Move on and get your team ready to run.
More Information to Come
1- Clue Sheets/ Control Descriptions (English for Yellow Courses, Symbolic for the
others should come on Wednesday, March 22nd
2- The first draft of the Start list should be posted to the entry sheet also on Mar 22
(that is if we have enough of the entries in to make reasonable allocations
3- Information about Award procedures, meal tickets and tee shirt sales.
+ Anything else any of you would like to know.

8. The Competition Courses
There will be separate Male and Female courses at all three levels
Range of Lengths
Yellow – Novice – 2.5 to 3.5 km
Orange – Intermediate – 3.5 to 4.5 km
Green – Advanced – 4.5 to 6 km
See next page for Start procedures.
Also note: Every orienteering participant must report to the Finish and Download
station so we know they are safely out of the woods.
Additional participants. There will be a number of non-JROTC participants.
Parents and team supporters with the team are welcome to try a course as our
guest. Please provide them with a finger stick if you have extras.

9. The Suncoast Start Method:
We will have a start grid with six lines, separate male and female courses at the Yellow, Orange and Green levels
Each team will be assigned start slots equal to their number of registered participants.
It is up to the team to assign a person to each slot.
Orienteers Clear and Check and then wait for their assigned start time.
There are two ‘hard and fast’ rules:
• Two minutes between orienteers on the same course.
• At least four minutes between orienteers from the same school on the same course.
Where possible we give longer intervals on the Green courses.
Other than that we can compress the start list if blank spots appear.
A Start Clock with beeper will signal start times.
Sample of Start List section:
09 00 MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE
WAVE YELLOW YELLOW ORANGE ORANGE GREEN GREEN
9 14 VENC VENC
9 15 VENC VENC VENC
9 16 CENT CENT CENT
9 17 CENT CENT
9 18 KING KING KING
9 19 KING KING
9 20 CENT CENT CENT
9 21 CENT CENT
9 22 TBTE SPTO
9 23 TBTE SPTO
9 24 CENT CENT CENT
9 25 CENT CENT
When clock indicates . . ..
Start time minus 3 minutes: Call up
Start time minus two minutes: go to next line
Start time minus one minute: Pick up map, study it and
move to start line
Start time: Punch in at Start box and GO!

11. Safety Bearing will be printed on the map
The weather will likely be Hot and Dry: Carry water
Emergency help needed? 3 long blasts on your whistle, wait and repeat.
Tracking by Livelox will be monitored at Event Center.
+++
W3W Address: ///casino.radical.unwritten
Caesar weed is found in the area. We are all concerned about the possible
spread of this invasive plant. If seeds get attached to your clothing do not shed
them. Let them ‘hitchhike’ back to the finish then dispose of them in a waste
receptacle. DO NOT DISCARD THE SEEDS ON THE GROUND.
How To Get There:
Park Address: 4399 TRAIL 10 INVERNESS FL. 34452
Trail 10 intersects with Pleasant Grove Road (CR 581)
south of Inverness. Orienteering signs will point the
way from Pleasant Grove

12. Still Thinking about Camping at Holder?
We have made arrangements for schools to use the ‘primitive’ Hunt Camp campground at Holder
Mine.
The cost is $10 per site plus a $6 one-time administration fee.
The Event is set up in Reserve America!
This from the State Forest Office: “Interested participants may call 877-879-3859 for reservations
for 2023 Suncoast Orienteering at Holder Mine Hunt Camp March 24-26 referencing Event ID
60639181.”
Note: This campground is on the competition map. But any sighting of control markers is purely
coincidental.

13. More open woods shown as
white on the map. Palmetto
thicket typical of those marked
on the map.
Some Slides about the Terrain

14. Thicket, S side
Typical Marker Placement

15. Open woods in low areas
tend to have oak instead of
pine trees and are often at
least partially ringed with
thicker woods.
Due to the sandy soil there
is almost no water on the
map. Water helps identify
the low areas so to
compensate there are more
tag lines than usual, The tag
lines point to the down side
of the contour line.

16. Distinct trees could be large
oaks, broad oaks, palms or
some outstanding example of
pine. In this case it is an oak
that seems to have survived
several fires.

17. The area is not very steep but the
openness allows us to read the
contours and use them for
navigation

18. Area identified as rough
open with scattered trees.

19. Sample of a Green course
Livelox from 2019.
Notice how important it is to
be on compass, to know
your distance travelled and
know what the contour
detail is telling you. (This is a
different area than we will
be using on March 25th.)
Studying Livelox routes from
past events is a good (and
legal) way to prepare for
your next orienteering race.
Hint: If it is a sunny day you can use the
sun as an extra compass. The sun will
be moving across the sky to your south,
south east in the early morning,
southwest in the later afternoon.

20. NO!!! This is not an
orienteer left behind
after the last
competition

21. More Holder Photos:
The mine area has some
interesting features.

22. Still More Holder Photos:
Some forest is wide-open runnable (below)
Some forest has some growth to slow you
down and scratch unprotected legs
You may even come
across some ATV-
created ‘donuts’!

23. 2019
Orienteers on course
These are orienteers on course at the
2019 JROTC State Orienteering
Championships also at Holder Mine

24. 2019
The Awards
This could be you!