Highfield, 30th May 2026
Welcome to Highfield Park, one of our monthly 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.
You can go around individually, in pairs or in a larger family group. From an entries perspective, pairs and groups are treated as a single runner – it’s one entry, you get one map, one timing chip (“dibber”) and one finish time listed in the Results. We charge per “entry” not per person and it’s easiest to enter in advance – see Entering for the first time for more info on how to do this.
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. If you find your course too easy, club policy is to offer you a run on the next course up at no cost, provided there’s enough time and there are maps available.
Don’t forget to download between runs!
Free Taster Runs: If you want to just try it without being in the results, we are now offering that you can just turn up and use a map to find control points on the White or Yellow courses. Suitable if you have just run a Park Run and would like to explore what Orienteering is all about.
Location
The Event Centre will be next to the Gym by the car park
Go to the SW corner of the club (car parking is to N and W) No spiked or muddy shoes in the café.
Parking
At Highfield Park Centre Car Park , off Russet Drive (AL4 0DB). If the car park is full, park responsibly on surrounding streets.
What 3 Words: https://w3w.co/guitar.rocket.olive
Public Transport
2.2km from St Albans City Station (SAC), with frequent fast trains from London. It takes 15 minutes from the station on bus S1 to 200m away.
Terrain
Parkland. Longer courses visit the surrounding streets. Metal-studded shoes are definitely not recommended.
Map
1:5,000 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof paper.
On both map and control descriptions, man made features are:
X bench, picnic table
O post, notice board, sign
Course Timing
Sportident punching will be used.
For those with ‘contactless’ dibbers, SIAC will be enabled for controls, but you must punch the Start; the Finish will be “fly-by”.
Facilities
Café in Gym sells Costa Coffee and other refreshments. Toilets. No muddy or spiked shoes when moving around indoors please.
Dogs
Please keep dogs under control and clear up behind you.
Safety
By participating in this event, you acknowledge that you do so at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety.
Members of British Orienteering—which includes those who have joined an affiliated club such as HH—are covered by the organisation’s public liability insurance. Please note: If you are not a BOF member, if you accidentally injure someone or damage property during the event, you are not covered by this insurance.
A full risk assessment has been carried out.
Officials
| Planner | Alice Soulsby |
| Organiser | Penny Parkes |
| Controlling | Simon Errington |
Courses
Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.
| Course | Straight line Distance | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| White | 1.3 km | Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. |
| Yellow | 2.2 km | Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams. Some turns with no control flags. |
| Orange | 2.8km | Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. |
| Light Green | 3.2 km | Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. |
| Short Blue | 5.8 km | As hard as we can make it on the area. Only for over 16s due to road crossings. |
You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to.
Note that the Light Green course crosses traffic-calmed roads and is appropriate for traffic-savvy juniors. The Short Blue course crosses a busy road so only over 16s are allowed.
Course Notes
Please be considerate to wildlife, the environment and other users of the area.
Starts
When you enter, you can choose a 15 minute start block between 10:00 and 11:30.
Courses close 12:45. Please choose a start block to allow yourself plenty of time to finish before then.
Entry & Fees
Entries are now open at 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 Sunday May 24th:
|
Entries from Monday May 25th:
|
Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £35. Please collect from the Event Centre before going to the start.
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.
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.
The small print
This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 88347.
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.
