GrizO Bitterroot Weekend NRE

A weekend of spectacular orienteering at some of our nicest venues.

Saturday: Middle Distance National Ranking Event at Soft Rock Recreation Area (Corvallis, MT)

Sunday: Classic Distance Regional Event at Larry Creek Recreation Area (Florence, MT)

Update 9/8/2025: course details and notes added; dinner information added

Update 9/13/2025: busing information added

Update 9/14/2025: bus schedule and assignment and start procedure added

Update 9/20/2025: Results and Livelox from Day 1

Update 9/21/2025: Results and Livelox from Day 2

Day 2 Results

Split times by course: https://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_58812

LIvelox: https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/169219/Bitterroot-Weekend-Larry-Creek

Pictures (and results by class): https://photos.app.goo.gl/FD9FfBardAz3mLJs8

Day 1 Results

Split times by course: https://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_58812

Livelox: https://www.livelox.com/Events/Show/169119/Bitterroot-Weekend-Soft-Rock-NRE

Pictures (and the results by class): https://photos.app.goo.gl/FD9FfBardAz3mLJs8

What?

Two days of high-quality orienteering in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, south of Missoula.

Saturday will be a middle distance NRE at Soft Rock Recreation Area.

Sunday will be a classic distance regional event at Larry Creek Recreation Area.

Both maps were last used for the 2024 Pacific Northwest Orienteering Festival.

Schedule

The start windows are as follows:

Saturday/Soft Rock: 11am-1pm

Sunday/Larry Creek: 10am-12pm

Busing Information for both days

Due to very limited parking, competitors will be bused to the arena each day. Each participant is assigned to a specific bus on each day.

On Saturday (9/20), the buses will run from Corvallis High School (The shuttle stop location is here. ) to Soft Rock Recreation Area and back every hour, starting at 9:00am and ending at 4:00pm. The bus assignments for Saturday are here.

On Sunday (9/21), the buses will run from the Super 1 Foods supermarket in Stevensville to the Larry Creek Group Campground and back every hour, starting at 8:00am and ending at 4:00pm. The shuttle stop location is here. Please park in the southern part of the parking lot to stay out of the way of customers. The bus assignments for Sunday are here.

Note: If you are camping at Larry Creek, you do not need to take the shuttle, even if you have been assigned to a bus, and can just walk directly to the start after checking in with the registrar in the arena.

Note: If taking the shuttle bus presents an undue hardship for you and/or your family (e.g., small children, folks with hindered mobility, etc.), please email us at grizorienteering@gmail.com, and we will make appropriate accommodations.

Start Times

To maximize participant flexibility within the constraints of busing, start times will not be assigned ahead of time for either day of competition. Each day, you can choose an available start time when you get to the arena and check in with registrar Allison Brown. You will get a card with your start time that you will bring to the start and hand to a start official when your time is called up (3 minutes before the time listed on your card.)

Start times cannot be assigned or changed at the start: this has to happen at the arena.

White and Yellow runners will not have assigned start times at all and can just show up at their starts each day during the start window. 

Terrain Descriptions and Mapping / Course Notes

Terrain description Soft Rock:

Welcome to the beautiful Soft Rock Recreation Area! Nestled in the foothills of the Sapphire Mountains, this is a true hidden gem, popular with local hikers and mountain bikers. You can check out some terrain photos here and Livelox of a previous event here. The mapped area consists of two distinct parts: a prairie-like section covered in sagebrush and a forested section covered in ponderosa pine and featuring steep, rock-covered hillsides and reentrants. All courses spend the majority of their time in the latter section.

Course details and notes for Soft Rock are available here.

Terrain description Larry Creek:

Welcome to Larry Creek! The woods are tremendously open with little to poke, stab, scrape, or otherwise maim, making it a speedway for the orienteer. Elite orienteers will be able to run uninhibited by the terrain and quickly identify strong plans for every leg. With paces on the order of 5:30/km for M21, every minor error will have a proportionally much larger effect on your result. Can you truly go at maximum running speed without any mistakes? This map will give you the answer, and the challenge will lie in finding that threshold. You can check out some terrain photos here and Livelox from PNWOF 2024 here.

Course details and notes for Larry Creek are available here.

Accommodations

The group campground at Larry Creek is booked from September 19-21. You can sign up for camping when registering for the event. The price is $10 per person per night.

Plenty of hotels are available in Missoula and a few more in Hamilton / Stevensville.

Dinner

Dinner will be at American Legion Post 94 in Stevensville on Saturday night at 530pm.

Menu:

• Cafe Rio-style sweet pork salads

  • Tortilla (gluten free tortillas available)

  • Meat

  • Black beans

  • Cilantro lime rice

  • Lettuce

  • Pico de gallo

  • Guacamole

  • Cheese

  • Tortilla chip strips

  • Creamy cilantro lime dressing

• Watermelon

• Brownies with vanilla or huckleberry ice cream (gluten free brownies available)

Vegetarian options will be provided. You can sign up for the dinner when registering for the event ($25 for adults / $15 for kids).

Awards

NRE Awards for all competitive age classes will be handed out at the event dinner on Saturday night.

Registration

Registration is open through Orienteering USA's Event Register system: https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/register/start/bitterroot

Regular registration deadline: August 29

Late registration deadline: September 12

See who is coming: https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/reglist/home/bitterroot

Event Officials

Event Director + Dinner: Emily Johnson

NRE Course Setter: Siri Christopherson

Larry Creek Course Setter: Chris Caldwell

Vetter: Boris Granovskiy, Kate deBlonk

OUSA Course Consultant: Linda Kohn

Registrar: Allison Brown

Start Crew Chief: Margy Gentile

Finish Crew Chief: Loy Koch

Water Crew Chief: Kathleen Dent

Awards: Maribeth Rothwell