Event Reports

Glover’s Wood Results

Organiser’s Comments – Charlie Turner

The decision to hold this event happened in early July when Teresa and I were on a lockdown walk through Glovers Wood.  It looked fantastic and was crying out to be a replacement for the London City Race, which at that time was very much looking as it was going to be cancelled.   The bonus was discovering that Lidar data was available and amazingly land access permission was granted in an incredibly short time.   When a club request went out for a planner this was answered within 24 hours by Richard  who soon added  Ginny and son Ed to make up a family team.   In mid July we had a five person zoom meeting to work out how we would structure the event around the Covid19 restrictions. Things were more complicated than I had initially imagined and our meeting ran to just under two hours.  The new map survey was largely completed by the end of July and things were now well under way.  Gordon handled all the SI matters with amazing ability and introduced lots of innovative functions, which included being able to pre enter from the field up to 12.30 yesterday! 

Specific thanks must go to our controller, Paul Todd who offered lots of valuable suggestions and made sure we were all doing the right things.

Lastly we must thank the weather  for being so brilliant for the whole day and you all for adhering to social distancing etc.  Yesterday the farmer met up with me at about 4.30 in the field and as for all orienteering events it was litter free.  Thank you!

Planner’s Comments – Richard Catmur

Thank you for all the (mostly kind!) feedback on my courses. Certainly they may have seemed a little long after the recent “shutdown” but I see that the winning times are all close to the target times. One competitor even said that he wished he had done a longer course!

I would like to say sorry to those competitors stung by the hornets. Obviously we were aware of the nest and had planned for the warning signs; however on our previous visits the hornets were nowhere near as active as they were on the race day. We suspect that the sunshine and the presence of many runners going past made them much more active and it seems that at this time of year they are very protective of their young and object to being disturbed. Obviously we should all learn a lesson from this and take note to keep courses further away from such nests in the future.

Results

NEW: With this race we are presenting results in an improved way.

  • Find results by course (with/without splits) OR
  • Search for all results for a club (or for a name or part name)
FULL RESULTS

Routegadget – please add your route!

Winsplits

Course Video – Short Blue

Thanks to Steed 171 for a Headcam video of one of the courses:

Event Bulletins

EFFINGHAM MBO SCORE EVENT SUNDAY 23RD AUGUST 2020

The SLOW MBO Score 2020 Series will resume with our event at Effingham on Sunday 23rd August.

ONLINE ENTRY

News, updates and discussion may be posted on the SLOW Facebook event and London & SouthEast Adventure Racers Facebook group.

Event Centre

LocationEffingham
AddressKing George V Hall & Playing Fields, Browns Lane, Effingham, Leatherhead KT24 5ND
Latitude/longitude51.2698, -0.396
OS grid referenceTQ120535
MapsGoogle Maps, OpenStreetMap

The HQ will be outside with access only to the hall toilets. There is plenty of open space around the event centre.  Please respect social distancing guidelines at all times. There is a permanent catering van on site, which will be open after the event (Loolabells Outdoor Kitchen).

Getting there

Please cycle or use the train to get to the event if you can.

  • By car, the hall is 15 mins from the M25.
  • Please observe any parking restrictions in the pre-event information.
  • By train, Effingham Junction is <2 miles away.

Event Details

Maps will be A3 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps. The event will use Sport Ident electronic punching at all controls.  2 and 3 hour options are available.  Both events will be standard format (i.e. not Small Area Format).

General information about entering is available on the  MBO Score 2020 page.

This is a public event – all are welcome.

Adult Day Rider£8 until 17th Aug then £12
BMBO / SLOW Members£7 until 17th Aug then £11
Under 21 (on 31st Dec)£4 until 17th Aug then £6

Only contactless SIAC dibbers may be used & will be provided if you don’t have your own. Lost SIAC dibbers will be charged at £63.

All participants are asked to pre-enter.  If possible please use the BMBO entry system but there is an option to send an entry form via email. Payment may be made in advance or by contactless card payment on the day. No cash will be accepted. The closing date for entries is shown in the BMBO event details. The number of entries will be limited to 60.

START TIMES Riders will be pre-allocated a 20 minute window between 9:00 & 11:00

The event will be run under British Mountain Bike Orienteering rules, which competitors are advised to read in advance. The BMBO also has some helpful MBO Score tips.

All riders must wear a helmet and carry a whistle and first aid kit (a minimum of plasters & dressings). The following equipment is also recommended:

  • Mobile phone for use in an emergency
  • Waterproof top
  • Compass and map board or cardboard to support the map on your handlebars

There will be series prizes for top senior male/female, veteran male/female and youth categories, based on the best 3 results over the course of the year.

Social distancing guidelines should be followed between people from different households wherever possible. This means a distance of 2m between people from different households or 1m plus mitigation (such as face coverings or avoiding face-to-face contact) where 2m is not possible.

Anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19, who is living in a household with someone who has a possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection, or who has been asked to isolate by NHS Test and Trace should remain at home.

Two participants who are looking after children may start early and both ride 2 hour events one after the other.

All competitors take part at their own risk.

Results will be available on the SLOW and BMBO websites shortly after the event.

Planner/Organiser: Jane Robinson

Event Bulletins

Glover’s Wood

SLOW will hold an event at Glover’s Wood, ten miles south of Dorking and just west of Gatwick Airport, on Sunday September 13th. It’s a replacement for the annual London City Race that we planned to hold this weekend.

UPDATE MONDAY 7th SEPTEMBER

Standard entries have closed, but late entries are possible.

After the update of the COVID-19 Secure guidelines last week we changed the entry system for more starters per quarter hour. Not all these extra slots have been taken, and we are pleased to say that we intend pre-entry via SIEntries to remain open until 12:30 on Sunday 13 September (the race day.) Subject of course to slot/map availability.

Currently there are entries available on all courses.

UPDATE SUNDAY 6th SEPTEMBER
Control descriptions are now available for download.

Glover’s Wood Control Descriptions (pdf)

UPDATE: SATURDAY 5th SEPTEMBER
To make more start times available, starts have been extended to 13:59.

UPDATE: THURSDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER
Final details are now available for download

FINAL DETAILS (pdf)

UPDATE: MONDAY 31st AUGUST
As you may have noticed on some courses all possible start times have been taken. The National Guidelines that limit the numbers of starters may be relaxed later this week, in time for us to make some more start slots for Glover’s Wood.

COVID Secure Protocols

The event will be held to COVID-19 Secure protocols. It’s really important that we all are seen to take the protocols seriously, before during and after racing so please read and abide by
the COVID-19 Code of Conduct.

Some key considerations for participants:

  • Acting as an ambassador for the sport of orienteering at all times and considering how their actions may appear in the eyes of landowners or members of the public.
  • Observing social distancing at all times, including keeping their distance from other participants, volunteers and members of the public.
  • Using hand sanitizer on arrival and departure.

Additionally please note that an event such as this that preserves social distancing is not suitable for complete beginners in the sport.

Invitation

Glover’s Wood_Event Invitation (pdf)

Terrain

Glover’s Wood is a delightful compact area, and one of the few forest maps in the South-East that provides a low undergrowth enjoyable challenge in September. Runnability is generally good with little bracken or brambles.

A long steeply sided valley containing Welland Gill winds through the area. The valley has small offshoots, and there are thus many contour features. Most of the area is natural woodland, and in the valleys trees are generally widely spaced.

Part of the map

The map is at 1:7500 with 5m contours. It was surveyed Summer 2020 by Charlie Turner, using LIDAR data.

The event will use SI timing.

Courses

Yellow,
Orange,
Light Green,
Short Green,
Green,
Short Blue,
Blue,
Brown.

Brown and Blue courses will have more than 30 controls. Runners on these courses need a timer card with sufficient capacity.

Entries

Enter via SiEntries.

We have a strict limit on numbers as in line with the protocols we can only have 10 starters every 15 minutes at each of the two starts. In the three hours between 10.00am and 1.00pm this is 120 runners per start. Please enter early.

There is no Entry on the Day.

Standard entry closes Midnight Sunday 6th September, subject to numbers. If the event is not full by then late entries will be possible in the final week, where we have spare maps.

FeesSeniorsJuniors
Standard£9£4
Late, if available£11£5
SportIdent Timer hire (SIAC)
(fee for loss £63)		£2

Personal Data

The personal data you give will be used by SLOW and their agents only for the purpose of processing and publishing the event entries and results, for conducting safety checks and to validate insurance cover.

The club’s data privacy policy is available on our website.

Refunds

SLOW offers a full refund to anyone who needs to withdraw their entry because they or a member of their household has COVID-19 symptoms, or because they have been asked to isolate by NHS Test and Trace.

If SLOW cancels the event it will offer a refund of the entry fee, less the admin charge we pay to SIentries.

Race Centre, Car Parking

There is no race centre.

LocationGlovers Wood
AddressRH6 0EL
Latitude/longitude51.155, -0.254
OS grid referenceTQ222410
MapsGoogle Maps, OpenStreetMap

Car parking is in a large level field which is also used by SIAC hire and Download. The parking charge is included in the entry fee.

Starts and Finish are close to the car park.

Dogs are permitted in the car park, on a lead and under control please.

Race Details

These are “preliminary details”, the “event bulletin” and the “event invitation” in the parlance of the sport.

“Final Details” (which competitors need to read before travelling) will be published on the SLOW website in the week before the event.

Orienteering is an Adventure Sport

A comprehensive risk assessment for the event has been prepared and identified risks mitigated.

Participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.

Parents are responsible for their children: advice is available on request about what courses may be suitable.

Results

Results will be available on the SLOW website shortly after the event.

Officials

Organiser: Charlie Turner
Planner: Richard Catmur
Controller: Paul Todd, London OK.

Club News, Street-O

Orienteering Today

In England at the moment, because of the pandemic, none of the events that provide the backbone of the sport can take place.

And indeed, although there is a lot of preparation and thought for a “restart” we don’t know when, where or the details of how that can happen. We all have less opportunity to go and enjoy orienteering, or indeed introduce it to friends to try for the first time. There is no meeting up at a pub to go for a run and then chat through the experience over refreshments.

There are however two ways to get the benefits of our outdoors, fun, mental plus physical, naturally physically distanced, sporting exercise. Assuming you can manage the necessary travel.

Firstly there are three street orienteering maps, five mountain bike courses, and four experimental park courses, set up in the smartphone MapRun software. The summary is your phone beeps when you reach each control point and your time/score is logged with that of other people who have done the course at a different time.

See this earlier post about orienteering courses for individual training.

Neighbouring clubs have also setup MapRun courses: check the websites of Mole Valley, Southdowns, Saxons and Thames Valley for example.

And secondly we have setup several permanent orienteering courses (as have our neighbouring clubs.) They are there now, available every day.

Event Bulletins

City Race

Statement from the Club.

The 2020 London City Race is cancelled.

Given the current situation in England with Covid-19, and the impact of ongoing restrictions when applied to an urban environment, we have reluctantly concluded we are sorry we must cancel the London City Race weekend for this year. 

We are making provisional arrangements for a ‘forest’ event to be held on Holmwood Common, near Dorking on Sunday 13th September as a substitute, should regulations allow. Some of the courses are planned!

Please watch for updates on this website as the date approaches.

2021

Preparations are already underway for a relaunch of the London City Weekend in 2021.

Provisional details:

Friday 3rd September – a prologue race, as yet undecided.

Saturday 4th September

Classic distance urban event in Westminster and the City of London, with Start and Finish close to the Aldwych.

This will make the most of the complex alleys and courts of the Temple.

 Sunday 5th September

A middle distance race in the new development at King’s Cross. This is also fairly described as “complex”. Organised by our friends at London Orienteering Klubb.

Club News

SLOW planning competition winners

This competition required entrants to plan Orange and Blue courses on Charlie Turners’s fine map of Holmwood Common, which featured much ‘green stripe’ to add to the challenge! We had 10 entries, although none in the Junior category, which were judged anonymously by Alan Leakey and Matthias Mahr.

After much deliberation we decided to award joint 1st place to Jim Mallinson and Steve Clelland, with 3rd place going to Barbara Griessner.

Both winners produced excellent Blue courses taking full advantage of the nicest bits of Holmwood, while at the same time offering much variation and as a bonus, a really good long route choice. As expected, providing Orange courses at the appropriate technical difficulty proved much harder for everyone! Congratulations to our winners, who will receive prizes of SLOW kit, and thank you to all the entrants for giving it a go.

COMMENTARY ON WINNING ROUTES

OVERALL

Both Jim and Steve produced excellent blue courses with good variety and a good route choice leg. We felt that Steve’s blue course was marginally the better one, particularly around the start and finish areas but also because it took in more of the area and had a nicer ‘shape’. On the other hand, Steve’s orange course was a little too hard in the second half especially in an area as detailed as Holmwood, while Jim’s course was of more appropriate difficulty. Hence, we felt the fairest thing to do was to award joint 1st place.

JIM MALLINSON – here is Jim’s Orange course and his Blue course

Orange. A good course, with many controls just off paths to increase the challenge, although #9 was bordering on the too hard. In common with most entries it lacked any significant route choice legs, which is something that the Orange course should aim to introduce. However, the route from the last control to the Finish is too complex at this level; it would be better with a last control on the path to the north of the Finish.

Blue. A varied course which good use of the limited ‘white’ terrain in the forest. A big range in leg lengths and types which therefore require a variety of skills from the competitor. A really long good route choice leg. However, the route from the last control to the Finish doesn’t meet BOF guidelines and opens up the probability of competitors approaching the last control from several directions and mixing with people heading to the Start; it would be better with a last control on the path to the north of the Finish. Also, the ‘shape’ of the course is a little squished due to the course sticking to a relatively small (but very runnable) part of the forest.

STEVE CLELLAND – here is Steve’s Orange course and his Blue course

Orange. A nicely shaped course, although #4 represents a dogleg. Many controls just off of paths to increase the challenge, but the second half of the course (from #6) is probably too hard for an Orange course on an area as complex as Holmwood. While Steve managed to introduce some route choice, as is requested for Orange, the leg from 6 to 7 requires very fine navigation, and the approach to #10 requires a bearing with no catching feature behind.

Blue. A really good and varied course which makes the most of the limited ‘white’ terrain in the forest and requires a variety of skills from the competitor. #2 is a good, really long leg that adds to that variety. We really couldn’t find anything to improve on this course.

Club News

Permanent MBO SCORE Courses

Available Mountain Bike Courses

We have four MapRun courses currently.

  1. Mogador: The start is just north of the village of Mogador, at the south end of Banstead Heath and covers the area west of here across to Headley.
  2. Hurtmore: This course covers the area from Hurtmore to Tilford taking in Crooksbury Common and Puttenham Common.
  3. Knowl Hill: The course is centred around Knowl Hill and covers the area from Warren Row and Bowsey Hill to the north down to Waltham St Lawrence to the south.
  4. Holmbury St Mary: The event from 2017 based at Holmbury St. Mary and covering the heart of the Surrey Hills around Winterfold, Hurtwood and Pitch Hill.

The aim is to practice route choice and navigation, finding the shortest route for however many checkpoints you visit but ignoring timing and penalties.

RISK ASSESSMENT / INSURANCE
Please manage these courses as you would any other ride for individual exercise / training. Make your own assessment of risks, and consider how to mitigate including arranging any personal insurance.

COVID-19
These courses should only be ridden while adhering to government guidelines.

You will need two files: the map and the control descriptions.
To get the map and control descriptions please email

Instructions

Download MapRunF v4.8.8 or higher and sign up. Press “Select Event” and navigate to the folder UK/South London/MTBO then select your chosen course which will download to the phone. You will need a 4 digit code to open the course. You will find the code in the control description file.

Once you’re ready, select “Go to start” and start riding. When you get to the first control the App will beep and the recording will start. You can start at the Start/Finish point or at any control – which will then be considered as the Start/Finish (with no score).

To finish you must go back to where you started to end the recording. The Start/Finish will become a normal control which you visit as you go round the course and it will be assigned a points value automatically.

You are likely to need to slow down or stop at a control point and make sure that the App beeps. The GPS signal may vary slightly or be affected by tree cover so in some cases you may need to move around the location where the control is located.

Tips for running the App

It’s recommended that you select and download events on a reliable network such as a home wi-fi rather than relying on a mobile signal.

When you first set up the app and it requests permission to use the phones location services make sure the permission is “All of the time”. This is likely to be the setting in the majority of cases without any need to do anything. A couple of people have found it set to “When using the App” which results in the phone taking a long time to detect checkpoints and showing straight lines on the GPS track.

If the app doesn’t register CPs and the bar at the bottom of the map showing GPS remains red, you may not have given the app full location permissions. This can be fixed in Settings – Apps (Android) or Setting – Privacy – Location Services (Apple).

See Permanent Orienteering Course page for further information.

Orienteering in London and Surrey. British Orienteering's Club of the Year 2013. Community Amateur Sports Club accredited.