Sherrardspark Wood

Saturday 04 January 2025

Sherrardspark Wood, Templewood School , Pentley Park, Welwyn Garden City AL8 7SD

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Welcome. This event is part of the HH Saturday Series

Beginners First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets who will give you socially-distanced help.

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!
Location Sherrardspark Wood, Welwyn Garden City.  The event centre is in Templewood School, Welwyn Garden City.
Parking Most competitors will have to park on local streets, being aware of parking restrictions – roads north of Templewood are generally unrestricted but there is no parking before 11:00 on most of the roads to the south.

NB Because of difficulties with the access-track, we cannot use the car park to the rear of the school as we have previously.
Public Transport Welwyn Garden City station 1.3km. Many bus services.
Terrain Deciduous managed woodland with intricate path network and some interesting ground features with steeper slopes to north.
Map 1:7500 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof A4 paper. The Short Blue map is double-sided.

White and yellow course maps are available to review before you start.

Control descriptions will be on the map.

For a previous event on the area see RouteGadget.
Courses Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers.

Course Straight-line Distance / Climb Difficulty
White 1.6 km / 20m Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn.
Yellow 1.9 km / 40m Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.
Orange 2.4 km / 50m Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features.
Light Green 3.7 km / 90m Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature.
Short Blue 5.5 km / 110m As hard as we can make it on the area.
Course Notes A couple of places on the White course will use tapes where the path is indistinct to indicate the correct route that should be taken.

Some sections on the paths may be quite muddy and there will be some recent minor paths that are not on the map.

The brambles have done well over recent years. On the longer courses, you may find a few patches more than are mapped but these should not affect navigation.

Courses close 12:45.
Starts The start and finish are within 200m of the event centre.  You may choose a start time between 10.00-11.30.

Courses will close promptly at 12:45.  Please choose a start time that will give you ample time to complete your run by then.
Entry & Fees Entries are now open.

All entries are made online through SI Entries. You can enter up to 11:00 on the day (subject to map availability).

Entries up to midnight on 29 Dec 2024:

  • BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
  • Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
 Late entries from 30 Dec:

  • BOF members: Adults £6, Juniors £4, HH juniors £2.
  • Non-members: Adults £8, Juniors £5.

If you don’t have your own dibber (timing chip) you’ll need to hire one.  SIAC (contactless) dibber hire £2. Charge for lost dibbers £65.
Timing Sportident punching will be used. SIAC will be enabled for those with ‘contactless’ dibbers, but you must punch start and finish.
Facilities Toilet facilities will be available.
Results Interim results will be published direct to the club website https://www.herts-orienteering.club every few minutes during the event.

Full results will be published on the same page and on Routegadget as soon as possible after the event. We aim to put provisional results up that evening.
Event cancellation Extreme weather conditions could result in late cancellation of the event. If cancellation is needed a message will be posted on the www.herts-orienteering.club website and an email sent to all those entered as soon as is possible after a decision has been made.

Please check before travelling.
Dogs Keep under control and clear up behind you in the woods, but please note that dogs are not allowed on the school grounds where the Event Centre will be located.
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.

You must go to Download even if you don’t finish your course. We need to confirm you’re back safely.
Officials
Planner Dave Tookey
Organiser Roger Moulding
Controller Hedley Calderbank

The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 85338

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.