Panshanger West

30/3/23 update: The Short Blue course is now almost full, very few places remaining

Note: to prevent a clash with Parkrun, this event is running one hour later than usual for a Saturday Series.

Competitors: Please don’t arrive before 10:15 at the very earliest and preferably after 10:30, by which time, the Parkrun people will be gone.

TERRAIN	Wooded ridges with contour detail running EW above the wide river valley which contains lakes and open parkland. This is the first time the Western part of the park has been available for orienteering! Our thanks to Tarmac for giving us access to use the area.
PARKING	On one of the estate roads off Panshanger Lane.  The entrance to the event can be found at what3words ///cult.term.bake. The event will be signed from both the A414 and the B1000 and the entrance gate is on Panshanger Lane midway between these roads.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT	Panshanger Lane is serviced by the Arriva 401 bus service. The nearest stops are Leys Down or Russett Wood. From the bus stops, walk through Moneyhole Park and through the woods to arrive at the Panshanger Lane parking entrance (around 1km). By rail: Hertford North Station 3km Hertford East Station 4.6km Welwyn Garden City Station 5km
COURSES	Course Straight-line Distance Climb Difficulty White 1.8 km 25m Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. Yellow 2.5 km 45m Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams. Some turns with no control flags. Orange 3.7 km 75m Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. Light Green 4.3 km 105m Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. Short Blue 5.7 km 140m As hard as we can make it on the area.
BEGINNERS	First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets who will give you socially-distanced help. If you’ve not orienteered before, we suggest most people start with yellow. Young juniors, say primary school age, and family groups are better on white. People confident with a map and compass may start on orange.
ENTRY & FEES	Entry only via SI Entries. You must enter on line. Online entry will remain open until 12:15 on the day, while maps and start slots are available. Entries up to midnight on Sunday 26 March: BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free. Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3. Entries from Monday 27 March: BOF members: Adults £6, Juniors £4, HH juniors £2. Non-members: Adults £8, Juniors £5. Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £30.
STARTS	When you enter, you can choose a 15 minute start block between 11:00 and 12:30. The Start is around 400m from the event centre. Courses close 13:45. Please make sure you choose a start block to allow plenty of time to finish by then, especially if you are less experienced.
TIMING	SportIdent punching will be used. SIAC will be enabled but you must punch Start and Finish.
MAP	1:7,500 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof paper. This is a new map – we haven’t used this area before.
FACILITIES	There are no toilets. Please bring your own drinks; there are no refreshment facilities currently on site. The nearest cafe is at Tewinbury Farm Hotel.
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 will have been carried out. You should abide by the British orienteering Covid-19 Code of Conduct. In particular: You should not come if you have symptoms of COVID-19, are required to isolate, are awaiting the results of a non-routine COVID-19 test or are serving a quarantine period after travel. 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, subject to mobile phone signal. 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 Tom Cochrane Organiser Dave Tookey Controlling Hedley Calderbank

The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 82491.

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.