Stanborough Park

Saturday 05 June 2021

Stanborough Park South Car Park , Welwyn Garden City AL8 6XF

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This is the event that has now been postponed twice in various lockdowns. 3rd time lucky!
We have had to amend some of the courses due to construction works. You must keep out of areas marked as out of bounds.

Update 1 Jun: New car parking machines, same price.

Update 24 May: Cafe and toilets should be open, note on car parking.

Update 20 May: Entries now open

Update 16 May: Added warning on uncrossable water, timed-out crossings and need for full leg cover.

This event will be very limited, in line with British Orienteering’s guidance. In particular:

  • Numbers are limited to 200.
  • You must pre-enter and pay in advance. The event is for members of HH and other clubs only.
  • We are now offering hire dibbers on an event-by-event basis for £1 each. Those who have a long-term hire dibber, in recognition of the lack of events, we have extended the hire period to our December 2021 event.
  • You should not come if you have symptoms of COVID-19, are living 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.
  • You should only come if you believe travelling to this event is within the letter and the spirit of the Government rules about travel in force at the time. Travel to orienteering events is allowed – and sharing cars is also within the British Orienteering guidelines.
TERRAIN Open parkland with small areas of woodland. Large uncrossable water features.
PARKING Stanborough Park South Car Park, Stanborough Road, Welwyn Garden City. Nearest postcode AL6 8XF. OS Grid Ref. TL227110.Vehicle access is only available travelling South West on Stanborough Road. From Hatfield and A1(M), continue 700m NE on A6129 to the Gosling Sports Centre roundabout and loop back to the car park entrance. Height Restriction 2.1m.

Car park charge now £6 for 3 hours  (£1.50 all day with a ResidentPass).  The car park now operates with an automatic number plate recognition system.

From 1st June 2021 the car parks at Stanborough will be run by a new company, Gemini. New payment machines have been installed and will now allow payment by card or by phone. Please see the new signage in the car parks for details of the pay by app option.

If you have a local resident parking permit for Stanborough the ANPR will recognise your number plate upon arrival as applicable for the reduced fees, £1.50 for the whole day.

The event start is 200m E across the river from the N end of the car park, past the cafe. If you walk, cycle or use the limited on-street parking nearby, enter the S side of the park by the cafe and head E.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT Stanborough Park is 1.5 miles from Welwyn Garden City train station, following Parkway and Stanborough Road.
COURSES Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.

Course Straight line Distance Difficulty
Yellow 2.0 km, 25m Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams. Some turns with no control flags.
Orange 2.5 km, 25m Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features.
Light Green 4.7 km, 40m Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature.
Short Blue 5.5 km, 70m As hard as we can make it on the area.

 
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
Follow red tapes and signs from the car park around the N of the lake to get to the Start and Download area.
FEES BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.

Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £30.
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 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof paper. For a previous event on the area see RouteGadget
FACILITIES Toilets are open. Cafe and covered outdoor seating area is open and Terranova are serving pizzas for takeaway. These are all between the (S) car park and event centre.

There are toilets and a kiosk selling hot drinks and snacks by the north lake if you parked there.
DOGS Keep on lead and clear up behind you.
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 distance from other runners and other park users.
  • You should not need to touch anything except the one map you pick up and your splits printout. When punching at a control, you don’t need to touch the control. Hand sanitiser is available – please use it.

Only cross Stanborough Road at the underpass marked on the map.  As this area has been very busy in lockdown and there are some works limiting the width of the path, we have timed out the section between controls N and S of the underpass.

Keep out of Out of Bounds areas. Some contain works with potentially dangerous machinery.

Take care near lakes, the water is deep. You must not cross any water marked with a black line (almost all of it!)

Full leg cover is required for all courses, because the nettles are growing quickly.
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 Matthew Dixon
Organiser David Hodson
Controlling Mike Bennett
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 78683.

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 the event is cancelled 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.