St Albans City Race

Sunday 26 October 2025

St Albans School , Aquis Court, 51 Fishpool St, St Albans AL3 4RF

Zoom map using +- buttons; or Ctl+Scroll on PC; or two fingers on mobile devices. Pan using mouse or two fingers.
To open the venue location in Google Maps, Click here... (opens a new window)

  • 22 Oct These are now final details. Any further changes will be summarised in red here. For critical changes, all entrants will be informed by email.

Welcome

For the second half of the Hertfordshire Urban Weekend, Hertfordshire Orienteering Club are pleased to offer an Urban Event in the historic city of St Albans on Sunday October 26th 2025, incorporating the city centre and surrounding areas. The event is a Regional (level ‘C) event and is part of the UK Urban League and Southern England Urban Orienteering League (SEOUL).

Situated a mere 18 miles North of London, with a population of 92,000, St Albans is an ancient city going back to Iron Age times. Following the Roman invasion of Britain, Verulamium was established and became the second largest city in Roman Britain. Today there are several Roman remains that can be visited and an excellent museum. St Alban lived in the Roman city in the third century and became the first British Christian martyr. A Saxon abbey was founded in his memory and in the eleventh century the present day Norman cathedral was built on the site. St Albans has thrived ever since as a market town and, since 1877, a city.

This event is part of a weekend of urban orienteering in Hertfordshire. The first part of the Hertfordshire Urban Weekend will be in the historic county town of Hertford. Details on the WAOC website.

Key things you need to know…

  • Event website: https://www.herts-orienteering.club/st-albans-city-race/
  • Don’t forget the clocks go back on the morning of the race
  • Event Centre is at St. Albans School, Fishpool St, St Albans AL3 4RF.
  • NO PARKING at the Event Centre – access for pedestrians and cyclists ONLY
  • Use public transport or park in an approved city centre car park
  • Event Centre has Enquiries, Download, Toilets and bag drop / clothing dump
  • Courses 1,2 and 6 have 30+ controls. Ask at download for a loan of a type 9 dibber if needed.
  • Start and Finish will be in the school grounds close to the Event Centre
  • SIAC enabled with punching start, contactless finish.
  • Take care crossing roads and in narrow passageways
  • Don’t forget to Download
  • Nearest hospitals: St. Albans City Hospital, Waverley Rd, St Albans AL3 5PN (Urgent Care Centre) Watford General Hospital, PMOK Block, 1 Vicarage Rd, Watford WD18 0HB (A&E).

Terrain

The school campus and adjacent cathedral grounds comprise a mixture of grass with scattered trees, buildings and a dense path network.

Beyond that, St Albans is a medieval city with more modern districts around it including some areas of modern 20th century buildings. All this provides complex path and road layouts, many of which are pedestrianised, along with more traditional suburban estates and open spaces – making great urban orienteering terrain.

Event Centre

The Event Centre will be at St. Albans School, Fishpool St, St Albans AL3 4RF, inside Aquis Court.

It will have toilets, enquiries, dibber hire, download and an area to meet, prepare for your race and relax afterwards. Follow the signs and tapes from the gate (80m) and respect the ‘Out of Bounds’ signs. You may leave bags and clothing in the event centre at your own risk

Access for pedestrians and cyclists ONLY will be via the Aquis Court gate in Fishpool St.   The gate will be marshalled and you may be asked to provide evidence that you are an orienteer in order to enter – showing your dibber or your SI Entries entry confirmation email will suffice.

Grid Ref.: 51.751568, -0.346834
Google Maps: https://rb.gy/6x57di
Open Street Map: https://tinyurl.com/yc4u3s6z
What3Words: ///vows.sing.lies


Parking

If you are travelling by road, use city centre car parks or on-street parking. See https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/car-parks-and-street-pay-and-display

The following car parks are strongly recommended for competitors as they avoid the competition area as far as possible:

  • Verulamium, 39, St Michaels Street, St Albans, AL3 4SW (1km / 12 minute walk from event centre)
  • Westminster Lodge, Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 2DJ (1.2km / 15 minute walk from event centre)
  • Gombards, Upton Avenue, St Albans, AL3 5EN (0.7km / 10 minute walk from event centre)

Public Transport

St. Albans has 2 railway stations, both of which accept contactless (not Oyster) payment for journeys from London travel zones:

St. Albans Abbey station (15 minutes’ walk from the Event Centre) has a shuttle service to Watford Junction, with connections to / from: London Euston, Rugby (for Birmingham) Manchester and Liverpool, also an express bus link to / from Heathrow Airport.

St. Albans City station (20 minutes’ walk from the Event Centre or regular bus to city centre) is served by Thameslink trains between Brighton, Gatwick Airport, London St. Pancras, Luton Airport & Bedford (for connections to / from the East Midlands and South Yorkshire)

Limited stop bus 724 runs to / from Hertford (for Saturday’s WAOC event) and Harlow (for Stansted Airport); and in the other direction to / from Heathrow Airport via Uxbridge, Rickmansworth and Watford. The closest stop is St. Albans Town Hall (8 mins walk from the Event Centre).

Local buses serve the city and neighbouring towns including Potters Bar, Hatfield, Watford and Luton all stop in the city centre. Details at https://www.intalink.org.uk/plan-your-journey

Facilities

Toilets, clothing dump, tables and chairs in Event Centre. Water will not be provided – please bring your own.

St. Albans has a wide variety of cafes, pubs and restaurants within a short distance of the Event Centre (see https://www.enjoystalbans.com/eat-drink/) and so there will be no separate catering provided at the Event Centre.


Courses

Course Classes Length Climb Controls Map
1 Men Open, Other C1 11.1 km 135 m 35 1:4,000 SRA3, double sided
2 Women Open, Men Veteran (M40+), Other C2 9.5 km 115 m 32 1:4,000 SRA3
3 Women Veteran (W40+), Men Super-Veteran (M55+), Other C3 8.1 km 100 m 28 1:4,000 SRA3
4 Women Super-Veteran (W55+), Men Ultra-Veteran (M65+), Other C4 6.5 km 80 m 29 1:4,000 SRA3
5 Women Ultra-Veteran (W65+), Hyper-Veteran (M/W75+), Other C5 4.6 km 65 m 25 1:3,000 A3
6 Junior (M/W16-), Other C6 4.0 km 60 m 30 1:3,000 A3, double sided
7 Young Junior (M/W12-), Other C7 2.1 km 40 m 20 1:3,000, A3
  • Lengths for the optimum running distance on each course are shown above.
  • Courses 1-5: only for those over 16 on the day of the event, as they will involve crossing roads, some of which are likely to be busy.
  • Courses 6 and 7 will be mainly within the school and cathedral grounds.
  • Course 6 will include a timed out road crossing into a pedestrianised area of the city centre.
  • Courses 1,2 and 6: please check that your dibber can handle more than 30 control punches.

Starts

Starts from 10.30 to 12.30 GMT. Start and finish are within 100m of the Event Centre.  Please follow the taped route and avoid straying into the competition area. Courses 1-6 maps will be available at the start line; course 7 maps will be available at the pre-start.

Please keep to the start time block you selected when entering to avoid queues building up. Call up will be at -3 minutes and it will be a punching start.

Map

1:4,000 or 3,000 pre-marked maps to ISSprOM 2019-2 Rev 6. Contour interval 5m. Fully revised in Summer 2025 by Simon Errington.

  • Main roads which are expected to have the most traffic are marked using a darker shade of brown than other roads and paved areas. Pavement edges are only shown for main roads and significant paved areas, where they serve a navigational purpose – for clarity the small pavements on most roads are not shown.
  • Walls and fences mapped using the uncrossable symbol (thick black line) must not be crossed.
  • Areas mapped with the green/yellow (olive green) private area colour must not be entered. These include several areas of lawn within the school. There will be red and white tapes around some of these areas. Do not cross these tapes.

Failure to observe these rules will not only risk your disqualification, but will jeopardise your safety and our future use of the city.

Full details of ISSprOM symbols are available from the Maprunner website.

The event will use an updated version of the previous map https://www.happyherts.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#205

Control Descriptions

Control descriptions will be printed on the map and loose copies will be available in the start lanes. All courses have IOF pictorial descriptions. Course 7 will also have text descriptions.

Punching

Sportident punching will be used. Everybody must punch at the start. SIAC will be enabled for all controls and the finish for those with ‘contactless’ dibbers.

Hire dibbers will be available from enquiries in the Event Centre.

Version 5 SI card (numbers 1 – 499,999) and Version 8 SI Card (numbers 2,000,001 – 2,999,999) will not handle more than 30 controls. If you are running Course 1, 2 or 6 we can provide you with a Version 9 dibber if you go to enquiries on the day.

Clothing

Shorts and vests are allowed, weather conditions permitting. In the event of compulsory arm / leg cover or cagoules, competitors will be notified by email and a notice will appear on the event page.

Flat running shoes or light trail shoes are advised – no spikes under any circumstances. Please remove muddy shoes before entering the event centre.

Beginners

First timers are very welcome. Ask at the Event Centre for help.

Entries and Fees

Entries will remain open until 12.00 on the day of the event, subject to map availability. All entries must be online via SI entries.

Entries from Monday 20th October

BOF members: Adults £15, Young Adults £11, Juniors/Students £6

Non-members: Adults £17, Young Adults £13, Juniors/Students £7

Plus £2 for contactless timing chip hire (if you have no SI card)

  • Juniors: under 21; full time students get junior rates.
  • We are using the British Orienteering definition of Young Adults as 21-25.
  • If you are running as a pair or group you only need to enter once. You’ll get one timing card. Please give all names in the free text “additional runners” box. If you want extra map(s) so that you don’t have to share they are £1 each.

Dogs

Please keep dogs under control and clear up behind you. Dogs on courses would be a nuisance unless you are walking with them on a short lead. They are not allowed in the Event Centre.

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.

All competitors should be aware of traffic and use pavements except when crossing roads. When crossing major roads use refuges and traffic lights as safe crossing points where possible.

The city centre may be quite busy with pedestrians: please take care and be courteous, particularly in the narrow passageways and on blind corners.

Courses 1 to 5 have a minimum age limit of 16 owing to there being unsupervised road crossings on these courses.

Courses 6 and 7 meet the British Orienteering Federation guidance for courses suitable for those aged under 16. They are mainly within the grounds of St Albans School and St Albans Cathedral. There is a minor road with very little traffic to get between the two areas. This crossing will be marshalled. Course 6 also includes a timed out road crossing (60 seconds each way) into and out of the city centre.

Keep out of all bodies of water, they may be deep.

If you are unable to finish the course and return to the Event Centre by 14.00, you should contact the Event Centre using the emergency telephone number printed on your map.

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 Simon Errington
Organiser Adam Leaf
Controller David Saunders

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to St Albans School for permission to use their campus, to St Albans Cathedral for use of their grounds and to SADC for permission to use the city.

The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 85644.
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.