- This event has passed.
“O” Christmas Lights! (FORT MYERS, FL)
December 19, 2020 - January 3, 2021
$20.00
WHO – Fort Myers and Southwest Florida area runners, walkers, friends, and families. No experience necessary!
WHAT – Nighttime Holiday Orienteering Race, RIOYO (“Run It On Your Own”)
WHERE – Fort Myers, FL (Start/Finish is in the parking lot of the Fort Myers Country Club)
WHEN – Course opens Friday, December 19, and closes Sunday night, January 3, 2021
WHY – Why not?
HOW – Locate as many of the holiday light displays as you can, in any order, using just a map and/or compass… AT NIGHT! Checkpoints are located at houses and establishments with AWESOME CHRISTMAS LIGHT DISPLAYS. A smartphone app running silently in your pocket tracks your score and keeps time and results. This is a navigation race — no GPS navigating allowed! While this race is timed, there is no cut-off time — you can take as long as you like.
HOW MUCH – Adults are $20, accompanied kids are free. The course map will be emailed to pre-registered runners as a PDF for self-printing the night before the event window opens. Registrants after December 19 will have an immediate download link.
OVERVIEW
Northline Navigation is proud to present the Fort Myers “O” Christmas Lights! Nighttime Orienteering Race, which will take place for TWO WEEKS beginning Friday night, December 19, and closing Sunday night, January 3, 2021. The race must be run AT NIGHT!
This is a unique event that respects everyone’s personal space in the era of COVID-19 social distancing, allows us to all run (or walk, hike, shimmy, Prancercize, etc) the same course, and then compare results (and routes)… except, not all at once.
How it works — You will receive a PDF course map to print at home (ideally in COLOR), and instructions on how to download and install the scoring app, UsynligO. You can go ANY TIME during the TWO WEEK Event Window to RIOYO (“run it on your own.”)
When you’re at the start location and launch the UsynligO app to begin the activity, the clock is ticking and you’ll travel to as many checkpoints marked on the map as fast as you can. The triangle symbol is the Start, and the double circle symbol is the Finish, and they’re in the same place near where you parked. Checkpoints are marked as circles at specific light displays. When you arrive at a checkpoint, the app (running silently in your pocket) senses your position via GPS and marks your visit with a snazzy little tune to indicate that you’ve FOUND IT. High five yourself, and carry on to the next one!
Can you find them ALL? If so, who can do it the FASTEST?
All along the way, UsynligO records your track (just like Strava-type apps) and keeps score of how many (and which) points you have collected. Once you get all the checkpoints (or not… you don’t HAVE to get them all… and failing to get them all is NOT a DNF,) and return to the Finish, your score is displayed on the leader board, visible inside the app. You can also share your GPX route to yourself for uploading to Strava, or whatever social training platform you use.
As a bonus, you can re-run the race any time during the event window to REPLACE your previous score… as many times as you like!
Waiver of Liability (initials required)
I have never done one of these orienteering events, but it sounds fun. We’d like to walk it on Christmas Eve Can one do this staying on sidewalks/roads or is it hiking terrain? About how many miles of walking would there be if we reach most of the locations?
Hi Karen! To reach all points in an efficient order is about 13 miles in length. You do not have to find them all in a single go, though, though. You can bite off smaller chunks and revisit the course more than once. All of them can be found on sidewalks – no off trial hiking required.