Fairlands Valley, Stevenage

Saturday 02 December 2023

Fairlands Valley , Stevenage SG2 0BL

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Nov 8 update:  Please note that this event is operating 30 minutes later than usual, to avoid a clash with parkrun.

Welcome to one of our Saturday series events which is also part of the club Youth League. Beginners are very welcome and there are courses for all standards.

TERRAIN Open parkland around uncrossable lakes in the north, mostly woodland of varying runnability in the south.
PARKING Car park N of Six Hills Way, nearest postcode SG2 0BL, grid reference TL254236.

Access only from Six Hills Way.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT Stevenage railway station is 2.2km away, on the East Coast main line. There are several bus services bringing you most of the way.
COURSES Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.

Course Straight line Distance & Climb Difficulty School Years*
White 0.9 km 20m Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. Up to Y4
Y5
Yellow 1.5 km 20m Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.		 Y6
Orange 2.5 km 40m Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. Y7-8
Y9-10
Light Green 3.4 km 80m Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. Y11-13
Short Blue 4.1 km, 75m As hard as we can make it on the area. n/a

*These are the recommended courses for people in these school years who enter the Youth League, however some will be invited to ‘run up’.

You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to.
BEGINNERS First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets who will give you socially-distanced help.
STARTS You can choose a 15 minute start block between 10:30 and 12:00.
Start is 100m from the event centre and car parking, finish 400m.
Courses close 13:15 – please allow yourself sufficient time to complete your course before the cut-off.
ENTRY & FEES Entry only via SI Entries. You must enter on line. Online entry will remain open until 11:15 on the day, while maps and start slots are available.

Entries up to midnight on November 26th:

  • BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
  • Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
 Entries from November 27th:

    • BOF members: Adults £6, Juniors £4, HH juniors £2.
    • Non-members: Adults £8, Juniors £5.

Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £30.
PUNCHING Sportident punching will be used. SIAC (contactless) punching is enabled but you must punch start and finish.
CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS Control descriptions will be on the map
MAP Pre-marked maps for all courses. For a map of a previous event see https://www.happyherts.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#386.
FACILITIES Café  and toilets near start and finish.
DOGS Please keep under control at all times and deposit waste in a poo bin.
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.

Take care near lakes, the water is deep.

Only cross Six Hills Way by the marked underpasses. There are no other road crossings.

Please take care near other park users.
RESULTS Interim results will be published direct to the club website every few minutes during the event. Look for the QR code on the bottom of your splits printout.

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 Mick Smith
Organiser Jacob Sharpe
Controlling Hedley Calderbank
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 83911

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.