Ellenbrook
Welcome to one of our Saturday series events. Beginners are very welcome and there are courses for all standards.
Beginners | First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets who will help.
If you’ve not orienteered before, we suggest most people start with the yellow course. Young juniors, say primary school age, and family groups are better on white. People confident with a map and compass may start on orange. |
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Location | Ellenbrook Fields is on the site of the old de Havilland aerodrome at Hatfield. | ||||||||||||||||||
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.
Parking is free at weekends. We have been asked not to park at the very western end (by the Sports Village) because it gets busy, but a bay or so further east doesn’t add much to your walk. Leave to the west, walk 300m north on Albatross Way and enter the area by the gate on the left where the road bends. Start, Finish and Download are all close to the entrance gate. |
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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. | ||||||||||||||||||
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. |
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Map | 1:7500 pre-marked A4 maps on waterproof paper for all courses. For map of a previous event see here. Minor updates have been made for this event.
Control descriptions will be on the map. |
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Courses | Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.
You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to. As you might expect from an airfield, climb is negligible – 35m on Short Blue. |
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Course Notes | Due to this spring’s high rain fall the area is quite wet although drying recently. Some paths are muddy and gullies may be flooded.
Cross fences at mapped crossing points (gates). Courses have been designed so that using the gate is the quickest route. The White course runs along a fence for one leg. |
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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.
Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £30. If you cancel more than 7 days before the event we will refund your fees less an amount for admin and transaction costs. There is no refund for cancellations less than 7 days in advance. If we have to cancel the event we will try to reschedule it. We will transfer your entry to the rescheduled event unless you ask for a refund. |
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Starts | When you enter, you can choose a 15 minute start block between 10:00 and 11:30. The event centre is close to start and finish. Courses close 12:45. Please choose a start block to allow yourself plenty of time to finish before then. |
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Timing | Sportident punching will be used. SIAC will be enabled for those with ‘contactless’ dibbers, but you must punch start and finish. | ||||||||||||||||||
Facilities | Toilets in Sports Village, near parking. | ||||||||||||||||||
Dogs | Keep under control 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 has been carried out. | ||||||||||||||||||
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. |
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Officials |
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The small print
This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 84564.
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.