Boxmoor

TERRAIN Open parkland with small areas of woodland. Uncrossable water features.

As the terrain is almost completely open, navigation will be simpler than at many events. Quick decisions and accuracy will be needed.

Many thanks to the Box Moor Trust for agreeing to our use of this area.

PARKING No dedicated parking for the event. Heath Lane is adjacent to the event centre but is often full. There is Pay and Display eg at Park Road 300m away, and numerous car parks around the Riverside and Marlowes shopping centres, 300-500m away.

Event centre is near HP1 1JY or what3words props.unwanted.slug

PUBLIC TRANSPORT Hemel Hempstead station is 700m away with frequent trains from Euston. Many bus services stop at Riverside or Marlowes, both within an easy walk of the event.
COURSES Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.

Course Straight line Distance Difficulty School Years*
White 1.2 km Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. Up to Y4
Y5
Yellow 2.0 km Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.
Y6
Orange 2.6 km Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. Y7-8
Y9-10
Light Green 4.6 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

*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.

Wheelchair suitability:  Unfortunately, none of the courses are suitable for wheelchairs.  They all start (and are situated) at the bottom of a set of stairs leading to the tow path and it would be very difficult for wheelchair users to get down to the moor itself. There are also many small gates which will likely be too narrow for larger wheelchairs.

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 10:00 and 11:30.
Start and finish are within 150m of the event centre. Follow the taped route to the start and back from finish. This route includes a marshalled road crossing.
Courses close 12:45
ENTRY & FEES Entry only via SI Entries. You must enter on line. Entries are now open. Online entry will remain open until 11:15 on the day, while maps and start slots are available.

Entries up to midnight on Sunday 4th December:

  • BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
  • Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
Entries from Monday 5th December:

    • 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) will be enabled but you must punch start and finish.
CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS Control descriptions will be on the map, no separate control descriptions.
MAP 1:5000 pre-marked maps for all courses. For map of a previous event see here.
FACILITIES None on site.

There are plenty of places to get food and drink within an easy walk. The nearest public toilets are on level 1 of Riverside shopping centre, 5 minutes’ walk away, just N of the ‘magic roundabout’. Muddy or spiked shoes should be removed.

DOGS Keep dogs on leads and clear up behind you.

Cattle graze on the common.

SAFETY Orienteering is an adventure sport. You take part at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety. A full risk assessment has been carried out.

Longer courses cross a road at 2 places. One is timed out, for the other cross under the road on the towpath and climb steps on the appropriate side of the road.

Steer clear of cattle on the moor.

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.

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 Maggie Soulsby
Organiser Mike Bennett
Controlling Alan Rosen
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 81763.

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.