Lees Wood, 7th March 2026
Welcome to Lees Wood, one of our monthly Saturday Series events. Beginners are very welcome and there are courses for all standards.
Beginners
First timers are very welcome. Look for our greeters in hi-vis jackets.
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
Lees Wood Scout Activity Centre, Fir Tree Hill, Chandler’s Cross, Rickmansworth WD3 4LY
What 3 words. ///hill.works.swing
Parking
Using Scout Camp site parking. There is enough parking but any sharing if you can would be helpful. Competitors will be running across the car parking also and crossing the access track. On the campsite you must proceed dead slow, be observant and give way.
Public Transport
Bus services (322) run from Watford Junction Station station to Grove Mill lane and then 40-50 min walk up across The Grove Golf course and then last few 100m down Fir Tree Hiill to the Scout Camp (take care). A taxi or Uber maybe better.
Terrain
A very pleasant mixture of mature pine and birch forest, contoured and with some small mine workings. Open area with recently planted areas of small trees. Clearings and path network as befits a scout camp.
Map
New map – scale 1:5,000 . By Alex Fielding
Course Timing
Sportident punching will be used. SIAC will be enabled for those with ‘contactless’ dibbers, but you must punch start and finish.
Facilities
We have the use of the Beeches hut with toilets and cover if wet for our Event Centre, or porch and clearing for gathering afterwards, if spring sunshine, at the finish / download.
Dogs
No Dogs, even in vehicles.
Lees Wood is used for Police Dog training (not on the day of our event..) and any dog scent of any sort will linger and confuse them we are told
Safety
By participating in this event, you acknowledge that you do so at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety.
Members of British Orienteering—which includes those who have joined an affiliated club such as HH—are covered by the organisation’s public liability insurance. Please note: If you are not a BOF member, if you accidentally injure someone or damage property during the event, you are not covered by this insurance.
A full risk assessment has been carried out.
Officials
| Planner | Mark Adams |
| Organiser | Jacob Sharpe |
| Controlling | Neil Gostick |
Courses
Courses for everybody from beginners of any age to experienced orienteers. Due to the area’s size the event does not have the usual separation between competitors and slow moving cars in car park and access track. On the shorter courses this is managed by manned track crossing. Competitors on Light Green and Blue will have plausible route choices along and across the car parking and access track. M/W 14 and 16s on these courses will need road sense and should only be entered on these courses if this can be relied upon. Please note that unaccompanied M/W12s and below are restricted to the White, Yellow and Orange.
| Course | Straight line Distance | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| White | 1.7 km | Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. |
| Yellow | 2.2 km | Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams. Some turns with no control flags. |
| Orange | 2.8km | Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. |
| Light Green | 3.6 km | Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. |
| Short Blue | 5.0 km | As hard as we can make it on the area. |
You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to.
Course Notes
Light Green and Short Blue have a two-sided map.
Starts
When you enter, you can choose a 15 minute start block between 10:00 and 11:30.
Courses close 12:45. Please choose a start block to allow yourself plenty of time to finish before then.
Entry & Fees
Entries are now open via 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 March 1st:
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Entries from Monday March 2nd :
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Dibber hire £1. Charge for lost dibbers £35.
Dibber Collection: from the Event Centre which is about 200m from the parking and will be signed . Please collect before going to the start.
If you cancel more than 7 days before the event we will refund your fees less an amount for admin and transaction costs. There is no refund for cancellations less than 7 days in advance.
If we have to cancel the event we will try to reschedule it. We will transfer your entry to the rescheduled event unless you ask for a refund.
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.
The small print
This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 87435.
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.
