Ellenbrook

Saturday 06 November 2021

Welcome to our Saturday Series and Youth League event. Beginners are very welcome and there are courses for all standards.

Ellenbrook Sports Village , Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield AL10 9EU

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Welcome to this event, especially if you are a newcomer of any age. And if you are a newcomer, try our Orienteering 101 session on 27 November at Highfield Park.

There are a few precautions we must all take:

  • Numbers are limited.
  • You must pre-enter and pay in advance.
  • You should not come if you have symptoms of COVID-19, are in a household with someone who has a possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection, have been asked to isolate by NHS Test and Trace, or are serving a quarantine period after travel. You’ll get a full refund.
  • When at the event, use appropriate social distancing for an outdoor setting.
TERRAIN Open land with some woodland and contour detail. Little remains of the old airfield.

The open areas are becoming overgrown with grass and scattered trees. In the southern part of the area, there are sections of very long grass with some occasional patches of nettles and brambles. Courses have been planned to avoid the worst of these but in places the going will nonetheless be relatively slow and leg cover is mandatory.

Cattle may be grazing in some areas.
PARKING Parking will be in the main car park of the de Havilland site of the University of Hertfordshire. Enter Mosquito Way from the roundabout / traffic lights on the A1057, turn left at the first roundabout and follow the signs. You want to be parked as near to the western end (by the Sports Village) as you can.

Leave to the west, walk 300m north on Albatross Way and enter the area by the gate on the left where the road bends.

Starts, Finish and Download are all close to the entrance gate.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT Hatfield railway station ~2km away, bus station 900m, several buses between Hatfield and St Albans pass within 300m of assembly: search on http://www.intalink.org.uk/timetables/ for Ellenbrook, either stop S or T.
COURSES Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers. Provisional course lengths are given below.

Course Straight line Distance Difficulty School Years*
White 1.8km Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. Up to Y4
Y5
Yellow 2.3km Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.		 Y6
Orange 3.1 km Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. Y7-8
Y9-10
Light Green 3.8 km Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. Y11-13
Short Blue 5.5 km As hard as we can make it on the area. n/a
BEGINNERS First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets who will give you socially-distanced help.
STARTS Entry only via SI Entries.  No entry on the day. If you have a voucher from a previous HH event, don’t forget to claim it!
You can choose a 15 minute start block between 10:00 and 11:30. Courses close 12:45
FEES BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £30.
Entries are now open at SI Entries. Last date for hire dibbers Thursday 4th November 2359.
If you have your own dibber you may enter online even on the day (subject to map availability).
PUNCHING Sportident punching will be used. SIAC will be enabled but the Start and Finish controls will not be contactless and must be punched.
CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS Control descriptions will be on the map
MAP 1:7500 with 5m contours, courses preprinted on waterproof paper. For map of a previous event see Routegadget.
FACILITIES tbd
DOGS Please keep dogs on leads in the restricted areas and clear up behind you. Beware of cattle!
SAFETY Orienteering is an adventure sport. You take part at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety. A full risk assessment will have been carried out.

You should abide by the British orienteering Covid-19 Code of Conduct. In particular:

  • If you have symptoms of COVID-19, are living in a household with someone who has a possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection, or have been asked to isolate by NHS Test and Trace, you should not come. You’ll get a full refund.
  • Before, during and after your run, maintain appropriate distance from other runners and other park users.
  • Hand sanitiser is available – please use it.
RESULTS Interim results will be published direct to the club website every few minutes during the event. There will be no printed results (apart from your own splits) or WiFi available, so there is no need to hang around.

Full results will be published to the same location and to Routegadget; we aim to do so on the day of the event.
OFFICIALS
Planner Ben Bardsley
Organiser Tim Bywater-Lees
Controlling Roger Moulding
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 78685.

Orienteering is a great sport for youngsters. If you bring children, please help us to keep to our safeguarding policy and British Orienteering’s photography policy.

Your personal data is used for results and insurance, see our privacy policy.

If you have to cancel for a COVID-related reason, write to entries@herts-orienteering.club and we will give a full refund. If we have to cancel the event we will offer a choice of a full refund or a voucher for use at a future HH event. That choice will be sent to the email address used for the original entry. If you do not reply by the deadline, the default is a voucher.