Highfield Park

Saturday 01 September 2018

Welcome to our Saturday Series event. Beginners are very welcome and there are courses for all standards.

Highfield Park, St Albans , St Albans AL4 0RA

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This event is great for anyone who wants to try orienteering, or committed orienteers who want something less full-on than the British Sprint Championships.

TERRAIN Parkland with some areas of woodland of varying runnability. Note: because of the presence of brambles and nettles, long trousers should be worn, definitely no shorts. Metal-studded shoes not recommended.
Longer courses visit the surrounding streets.
PARKING Highfield Park Centre Car Park, off Russet Drive (AL4 0DB)

Please be tolerant. Several youth football teams train here on a Saturday morning starting at 1000 so it will be busy just before then, mostly with parents dropping children off. If you cannot park in the nearest car park there is another slightly NW and on-street parking is possible if done sensitively.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT 2.2km from St Albans City Station (SAC).
15 minutes from station on bus S1 to 200m away.
COURSES Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.

Course  Distance, Climb Difficulty Roads
White 1.1 km, 10m Easy – all along paths, control flags whenever you need to decide to turn. No road crossings
Yellow 2.0 km, 15m Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams. Some turns with no control flags. No road crossings
Orange 2.5 km, 15m Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. No road crossings
Light Green 3.4 km, 30m Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. Cross quiet roads, suitable for under 16s
Blue 5.6 km, 40m As hard as we can make it on the area. Cross some faster roads, no under 16s

You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to.
STARTS Register from 09:45 to 11:15 or visit http://sat.maptypes.org to reserve map/dibber.
Starts from 10:00 – 11:30. Courses close at 12:30.

Start 120m from assembly, finish 75m.
FEES Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3
BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £1
Adults accompanying juniors are free, but £1 for an extra map.
PUNCHING Sportident punching will be used.
Dibber hire £1.00. Charge for lost dibbers £30
MAP 1:5,000 pre-marked maps for all courses, 2.5m contours.  Note that the map is not oriented exactly NS and the north lines are not parallel with the sides of the map.

Control descriptions on map only. For Blue course they obscure the legend.
FACILITIES Toilets will be available. SPAR nearby sells coffee and snacks.
DOGS Please keep dogs on leads and clear up behind you
SAFETY Longer courses visit the surrounding streets. Please take care crossing roads – many are low-speed residential roads with speed bumps but Highfield Park Drive in the SW of the map and Highfield Lane across the centre of the map carry through traffic.

Please be courteous to other users of the park. There is football training in the 3 open grass areas. Courses have been planned so that the best route skirts these areas rather than crossing the middle of them.

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.
OFFICIALS
Planner Mike Bennett
Organiser Máire Convery (beforehand) / Penny Parkes (on the day)
Controlling Adam Bennett (beforehand) / Rory Percival (on the day)