Sherrardspark Wood

Saturday 03 February 2024

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

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Welcome to one of our Saturday series events which is also part of the club Youth League. 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 who will give you socially-distanced help.

You can around individually, in pairs or in a larger family group. From an entries perspective,  pairs / group 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.
Location Sherrardspark Wood, Welwyn Garden City.  The event centre is in Templewood School, Welwyn Garden City.
Parking We are not able to use the school rear playground (1) as a car park. Very limited parking is available at the front of the school (2), but most competitors will have to park elsewhere.  If you are late for your start block due to parking issues we will fit you in, but please do get there for 11:30 last start.

Access to the event centre and start will now be via the front entrance to Templewood School just north of the junction of Mandeville Rise and Pentley Park. Postcode AL8 7SD; What3Words location ///Trials.Curry.Maker

On street parking is restricted south of Templewood School between 09h00 and 11h00, but is generally available unrestricted north of the school. (See map below). Please check parking notices! Car parking is also available (at cost) in public car parks in the town centre.

  • 3.  On-street parking before 11am, e.g. postcode AL8 7SG – orange roads on map.
  • 4.  On-street parking after 11 am, e.g. postcode AL8 7LJ – red roads on map.


(c) OpenStreetMap contributors.  [Click for a larger image]
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 1:7,500 pre-marked maps for all courses on waterproof paper. 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 Difficulty School Years*
White 1.3 km Easy – all along paths. Control flags when you need to decide whether to turn. Up to Y4
Y5
Yellow 2.2 km Fairly easy – navigate along line features such as paths, walls, streams.
Some turns with no control flags.		 Y6
Orange 2.8 km Moderate – start cutting across country, some controls a bit away from line features. Y7-8
Y9-10
Light Green 3.7 km Harder – a range of navigational skills needed to find controls on any mapped feature. Y11-13
Short Blue 5.4 km As hard as we can make it on the area. n/a

*These are the recommended courses for people in these school years who enter the Youth League, however some will be invited to ‘run up’.

You may enter any course and will automatically be entered in the club’s Saturday League unless you ask not to.
Entry & Fees Entry only 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 28 January:

  • BOF members: Adults £4, Juniors £2, HH juniors free.
  • Non-members: Adults £6, Juniors £3.
 Entries from Monday 29 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.
Facilities Toilet facilities will be available.
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.
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, so there is no need to hang around.

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 Elizabeth Disney
Organiser Roger Moulding
Controlling Emese Svab
The small print

This event is registered with British Orienteering, number 84014.

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.