Sherrardspark Wood

STOP PRESS: Access to car park 1 is affected by the recent weather and is unlikely to be accessible on the day. Please use the suggested on-street parking or one of the pay & display car parks in the centre of town.

TERRAIN Deciduous managed woodland with intricate path network and some interesting ground features with steeper slopes to north.
PARKING Templewood School, AL8 7SD, Welwyn Garden City, O signs off Digswell Road.
We should be able to accommodate all competitors in the school car parks. If we fill up, the parking will be on street – as follows:
1. Parking at rear of school, postcode: AL8 7LJ w3w: list.super.parent THIS MAY NOT BE ACCESSIBLE ON THE DAY.
2. Parking at front of school, postcode AL8 7SD
3. On-street parking before 11am, eg postcode AL8 7SG – orange roads on map
4. On-street parking after 11am, eg postcode AL8 7LJ – red roads on map (the start time window has been extended to 11.30am to allow this).  Parking is restricted immediately around the school entrance.

(c) OpenStreetMap contributors.
[Click for a larger image]
PUBLIC TRANSPORT Welwyn Garden City station 1.3km. Many bus services..
COURSES
Course Straight line Distance Difficulty
White 1.5 km Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn.
Yellow 1.9 km Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.
Orange 2.8 km Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features.
Light Green 3.4 km Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature.
Short Blue 6.4 km 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.

A guide to navigating our entries system is here.

ENTRY & FEES Entries 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 01 January:

  • BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
  • Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
Entries from Monday 02 January:

    • 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 10:00 and 11:30.
The event centre is close to start and finish.
Courses close 12:45
TIMING SportIdent punching will be used.
MAP 1:7,500 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof paper. For a previous event on the area see RouteGadget
FACILITIES Toilet facilities will be available.
DOGS Sorry – no dogs allowed in Templewood School.
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.
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.

OFFICIALS
Planner Ben Gostick
Organiser Laura Parkes
Controlling Mike Bennett
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 82488.

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.