As you might have seen, we’ve had to change the South London Orienteers programme for November and December due to the current situation. Unfortunately, the November Street-O as well as the forest races in Winterfold (day) and Wimbledon Common (Night) have had to be cancelled.
However, we are pleased to bring you two MapRun opportunities to orienteer before the end of the year:
In NOVEMBER, we’ll have a score event on Wimbledon Common that you can do anytime, courtesy of Don McKerrow – information is now available here.
And then in DECEMBER, we’ll have a Street-O score race based at the Richmond Canoe Club, courtesy of Tom Sharpe. Again, this will be available to do anytime over a few weeks, but we will offer a (socially distanced) bag storage service if you race on the usual date of Tuesday 8th December (evening). More details to follow, but you may want to hold the date.
Both races will count towards this year’s Street-O series, along with the September and October races in Kings Cross and Fitzrovia and races still to come in January to April.
If you’d like to do even more orienteering, there are many other options available on our Permanent Courses page as well as those offered by other clubs such as MVOC and SN.
Our Annual OK Nuts Trophy event is on Sunday November 22nd.
Update: 2pm November 11th
Our plan is to put on the event if and when the COVID rules allow, giving reasonable notice but not opening entries until near the date.
We will co-ordinate with other south-east clubs, as we’re all in pretty much the same position of needing to know what rules apply when. We’re currently looking at the last weekend in January as a possibility.
Update: 10:30pm November 1st
Our understanding from yesterday’s statements is that government regulations to reduce the spread of COVID will mean it is not possible to hold the OK Nuts on November 22nd, as was intended as recently as two days ago. Sorry. We will write more later in the week.
Update: 9:30am October 31st
Entries will not open on Sunday 1st November as previously announced.
Overnight there have been government leaks of a full lockdown in England for a month starting next week. The reports say the Prime Minister is to give a speech on Monday to make the announcement.
Given that this has been the common way policy is tested prior to official announcement it makes sense to hold off opening entries until Wednesday to save us all a lot of trouble.
If entries do open on Wednesday it will be at 9am.
Update: 11pm October 30th
Entries will open at 9am, Sunday 1st November, when the event will appear on SiEntries.
Limit on Entries
The event may sell out as we do not have as much car parking as we originally hoped.
The overall number of entries we can accept is 430.
If the event sells out we will operate a waiting list through SiEntries. This will be used if people withdraw, as they might for COVID related reasons.
Possible Increase in Entry Numbers
We have added a question to the entry form to get information about the number of cars as this is what is limiting entries. (Please email the entries secretary if you plan to bring a camper van or minibus.)
If, when the numbers limit is reached we have space for more cars, then we will invite from the waiting list. Government guidance on car sharing is reproduced below.
If you choose an early start block
In accordance with the COVID protocols and pressure on car parking, it will be very helpful that if you choose an early start block then you leave as soon as you can after finishing and downloading, and, optionally, buying refreshments.
The official guidance taken from Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer travel guidance for passengers
Car sharing
It is difficult to socially distance during car journeys. You should avoid sharing a car with someone from outside your household or your support bubble unless you can practise social distancing. You can reduce the risk of transmission by:
opening windows for ventilation
travelling side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow
facing away from each other
considering seating arrangements to maximise distance between people in the vehicle
cleaning your car between journeys using standard cleaning products – make sure you clean door handles and other areas that people may touch
We are fortunate to have a great base for the competition at the Bentley Copse Scout Campsite. Parking, facilities, start and finish are close, but not too close, together.
It is an excellent opportunity to enjoy individual start, classic distance age-class competition should you wish, with the British Orienteering age classes each mapped to a colour-coded course for the OK Nuts, and this year also for the South Central Association (SCOA) Long Distance Champs and the South-East Association (SEOA) Long Champs.
The OK Nuts
The OK Nuts is SLOW’s annual premier forest orienteering race. It is named after an orienteering club – OK Nutfielders – from the early days of the sport in England. The event was first held in 1977 at the Devil’s Punch Bowl, and has been held nearly every year since.
The OK Nuts Trophy is named for Mike Wells-Cole, a British Champion and a member of Nutfielders OK, who died in 1976. The trophy is awarded to the winner of the senior men’s course.
The Heather Monro Trophy is awarded to the winner of the senior women’s course. Heather grew up orienteering with SLOW and had an illustrious international orienteering career topped by a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships. (Also in 2005, Winterfold hosted a race in the Orienteering World Cup – see link to some photos in Terrain below.)
The event is prepared and will run in accordance with government approved guidelines published by British Orienteering. If we all observe the protocols, which should not be difficult, the sport is almost perfect for maintaining social distancing and having no contact with shared equipment.
A key part of the protocols is the need for everyone to read and keep to a code of conduct. Please be seen to do this, before during and after racing. The COVID-19 Code of Conduct
Please act as an ambassador for our sport at all times and consider how your actions may appear in the eyes of landowners and members of the public.
Please maintain social distancing at all times, keeping 2m from other runners, volunteers and members of the public.
Please use your own hand sanitizer at intervals, and that provided by the event when visiting toilets, at the start and at download.
The protocols mean there will no on-the-day prize-giving.
Possible Cancellation
We recognise the event may need to be cancelled because of COVID developments, even possibly at the last minute. Because of this we are not opening entries until Sunday 1st November.
Risks
We will carry out a comprehensive risk assessment and take steps to mitigate risk. Nevertheless this is an outdoor sport in forest terrain in what may be wintery conditions. Competitors take part at their own risk.
Newcomers
An event such as this that preserves social distancing is not suitable for complete beginners in the sport.
If you are new to the sport and are not yet a member of British Orienteering, may we suggest our permanent courses? For example you could try a delightful Orange course on the heathland of Esher Common?
Winterfold is lovely on a nice day and great for challenging orienteering whatever the weather. It was used for the British Championships in 2013 and the OK Nuts in December 2015.
It was the venue for an orienteering World Cup race in 2005. Some photos. Our planner this year planned the World Cup Sprint Race in Battersea Park the day after. It was one of the earliest big races in that format. Here Andy is talking to the media.
from Google Streetview
In 2015 we said:
Winterfold is a mix of gentle and steep slopes, with many reentrants, gullies and paths. There are also sections of detailed broken ground and runnability is generally good. It offers a complete physical and technical challenge requiring both route choice and fine navigation skills.
Location
We are delighted that we will be hosted at Bentley Copse.
Dogs are not permitted.
We have the use of permanent toilets (please wear a mask inside the blocks.)
Tom & Julie (British & Continental Catering) are planning to come for the sale of their popular hot food and drinks.
Please note that access roads in the area are narrow, often single track and can be busy, including with cyclists. Because of this we will ask cars to make their approach on Hound House Road from the north and to leave to the south.
from Google Streetview
Unfortunately it is very difficult if not impossible to get close to the event using public transport.
Courses
You are welcome to choose any course, subject to a start time being available.
At entry time please choose an age class (not a colour), unless you wish to “run down” (that is a shorter course than your age class competition.) Please see the “Entries” section.
There is a full set of twelve colour-coded courses from black to white, plus a special “M16 Blue” .
The Black course is planned with the aim that a top runner would take approxinately 67 minutes. It will be about 12km, with significant climb.
M/W16 and under – please do not choose to “run up” at M/W18 or above. This is because the longer courses require unmarshalled road crossings.
M80, M85 – The OK Nuts and SEOA Champs are run on the VSG (Very Short Green) course; the SCOA champs are normally run on the SG (Short Green) course (which is the National Guidelines course for these age groups) but this year are on the VSG course for consistency with the other competitions.
The course/age class relationships are as follows.
Results will be presented in the first case by age class, for the OK Nuts, and also the SCOA and SEOA Long Championships.
If you will run in the age class competition please choose the age class you want, not the colour, and allow the system to pick the course.
You can choose to run your own class or to run up (a longer course, or maybe the same course but in a “higher” class) e.g. W50 can choose W21, W35, W40, W45 or W50. (Or indeed the men’s classes for those age groups.)
Only if you do not want to take part in the main age class racing, choose a colour + “Other” e.g. Orange – Other. Entering that way means you will not count in the OK Nuts or Association Champs.
The races will use contactless SI Timing.
The entry system will offer a choice of 15 minute start blocks within the three hour start window 10am – 1pm. Courses will close at 14:45. Please bear this in mind, especially if entering the black and brown courses which have the longest expected winning times.
The race could sell out
There is a limit on the number of runners we can manage. We will be able to accommodate the sort of numbers we have seen at the busier OK Nuts in recent years, but not more.
So it is possible, if perhaps unlikely, that some (or most, or all) courses will sell out. We will operate a waiting list if the race proves more popular than usual, so that a place booked by someone who cannot come at the last minute can be offered to someone who could not otherwise run.
To have a full choice of start time and to secure your entry it may be best to enter early.
Standard entry closes Midnight Sunday 15th November, or when courses are full. Late entries will be possible in the final week to 6pm Friday 20th, where we have availability.
There is no Entry on the Day.
We hope to allocate and publish individual start times and publish final details on Tuesday 17th.
Fees
Seniors
Juniors
Standard (British Orienteering member with their own timing card)
£14
£5
Late, if available
£16
£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.
Entries and results will be processed by computer, your entry will be taken as agreement to this. The competition is run under the rules and guidelines of, and sanctioned by, British Orienteering.
Results will be published on the SLOW website, and then on the British Orienteering website, after the race.
We will make 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.
The event will be based at the Royal Oak pub. Registration will be in the rear garden and the start at the front. Instructions on maintaining social distance will be emailed to all riders before the event.
Getting there
Nearest train station is 4 miles away at Gomshall. If driving please do not park around the village green or anywhere that will cause local congestion.
There are nearby public car parks. Hurtwood Car Park 9 (Felbury House), B2126, RH5 6NJ – coming from the North, on your right at a left-hand bend just before you come into the village. Holmbury St Mary Village Hall, Felday Glade, Holmbury St Mary, RH5 6PG – pass the Royal Oak pub and drive to the top of Felday Glade to park.
Event Details
Maps will be landscape A4 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey. The event will use Sport Ident electronic punching at all controls. 2 and 3 hour options are available, the 3 hour course will be Small Area Format (SAF).
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 19th Oct then £12
BMBO / SLOW Members
£7 until 19th Oct then £11
Under 21 (on 31st Dec)
£4 until 19th Oct 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. For entry using the form, payment may be made on the day by contactless card payment. No cash will be accepted. The closing date for entries is midnight Thursday 22nd Oct.
START TIMES
Riders will be pre-allocated a 20 minute window between 9:20 & 11:00
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.
Congratulations to Ed Catmur for winning our first Street-O race of the season, based around the mix of old and new that is King’s Cross. Ed showed once again why he is the undisputed King of Street-O by being over 200 points ahead of his nearest rival, and covering over 14kmto find all but two controls. You can see the full results here.
This, our first Virtual Street-O attracted just over 20 runners, a far cry from the 60-100 usual attendees crowded in a bustling pub. I’m guessing the low numbers were due to a combination of the location (a long way for many of you with no reason to be in Central London) and the absence of post race socialising – but please do let me know any feedback or ideas (whether you took part or not) on
On the plus side, the MapRun app worked very well and stores a GPS track and ‘controls visited’ list of all runners, which are well worth having a look – you can either access them via ‘Show Results’ in the App if you took part, or search for “Kings Cross” on the MapRun Console. Here is Ed’s route:
Ed’s route around the King’s Cross Street-O
The next Street-O race is being planned by LOK around Fitzrovia and details will be published on their site shortly.
We are preparing for the OK Nuts event at Winterfold on November 22nd. Of course the COVID situation and necessary protocols are to the fore in our preparations.
We will fill out this event invitation over the next few weeks but we will not open entries until a few weeks beforehand.
There will be a strict limit on numbers. We expect however that by using allocated start times we will be able to accommodate the numbers we have seen at the OK Nuts in recent years.
COVID Protocols
The event will be prepared and will run in accordance with government approved guidelines published by British Orienteering.
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.
Additionally please note that an event such as this that preserves social distancing is not suitable for complete beginners in the sport.
If you are new to the sport and want to have practice and gain confidence to tackle a course at an event such as this may be suggest our permanent courses? For example you could run a delightful Orange course on the heathland of Esher Common?
Terrain
Winterfold is a top class area for our sport. It was used for the British Championships in 2013 and the OK Nuts in December 2015.
from Google Streetview
In 2015 we said:
Winterfold is a mix of gentle and steep slopes, with many reentrants, gullies and paths. There are also sections of detailed broken ground and runnability is generally good. It offers a complete physical and technical challenge requiring both route choice and fine navigation skills.
We expect to provide a full set of twelve colour-coded courses from Black to White, via four Greens.
Facilities
Finding car parking for orienteering can be difficult for this area. Thanks to the efforts of the 2015 organising team we think this is solved this time round. We should have a great event centre that will support the COVID protocols (as used by SLOW at Glover’s Wood earlier this month) to be smoothly deployed.
And as a bonus the starts and finish will be close by.
from Google Streetview
But note access roads in the area are narrow, often single track and can be busy, including with cyclists.
Members can choose to receive a weekly (each Thursday) email from the club. The list is opt-in: see club email mailing list.
Here is the main part of the email for 17th September.
Glover’s Wood
A friendly welcome back to orienteering
The club held a forest orienteering race on Sunday. It was organised by Charlie Turner, and it went very well. A lot of people were very pleased to have their sport back. Charlie got many positive comments and thanks, both in the field and by email afterwards.
Thanks very much to the officials: Charlie Turner (organiser), Gordon Parker (entries and SI), Richard Catmur (planner) and Paul Todd of London OK (controller).
There were nearly four hundred runners including 62 from our club. Olin Davies (green), Mike Murray (short green) and Krum Yanev (yellow) were fastest on their courses. (Krum was a mere 4 seconds ahead of his sister Anna Maria.)
There were big winning margins (over 15%) on the brown course for Jonathan Crickmore (SouthDowns) and on the blue for “Talent Squad Tier 1” athlete Euan Trynor (South Yorkshire).
Thankyou to those who volunteered help for the day so that we could all have such a nice run out in the Surrey Weald. As we often say to landowners we are a community amateur sports club, and are dependent on volunteering from within our community for everything we do. That includes providing substantial volunteer help on the day for races to take place, almost all helpers also taking part in the racing. As you will have read beforehand in this weekly email, we were quite tight on help this time. The COVID protocols made a difference – I am not sure we have had “sanitiser” as a role before.
Glover’sWood: The Planner and Assistants
Club Kit
A reminder that the club has kit available for members, including the brilliant new O-top. Club Kit Webpage.
Street-O
Website Post about this month’s Street-O in King’s Cross
‘Streetspace’ Orienteering
In conjunction with Transport for London (TfL), British Orienteering has launched five ‘Streetspace’ orienteering challenges around London. Each of th e challenges takes the form of a ‘photo-O’ where you need to visit 12 locations using a Street-O map and decide which of the 12 photos provided is the correct one for each location.
While the challenges are primarily intended to engage a non-orienteering audience (using TfL’s communication channels, including this press release)…
You might enjoy doing some of them! Each challenge is intended to take around 2 hours to complete at walking speed an d while there is no timekeeping, each correctly submitted set of answers is entered into a draw to win one of eight London Transport Museum picnic sets
The five locations are Battersea, Clapham/Brixton, Westminster, Camden and Dalston, the first three of which were compiled by SLOW members Ed Catmur, Vinh Phuong Hoang and Rebecca Slack, so thank you to them!
Matthias Mahr, Street-O coordinator ()
CompassSport Cup
Long ago, at the last race before Lockdown on Hampstead Heath SLOW won the South-East heat of the CompassSport Cup. This qualified us for the final which would have been in Sutton Park in the West Midlands on 18th October. It’s “postponed/cancelled tbc.”
I was perhaps not the only one reminded of this last Saturday night as I put my control descriptions for Glover’s Wood – provided in advance for the COVID protocol – in the control holder… taking out the Hampstead Heath ones dated 15 March.
JK2021 is cancelled
International Orienteering
With the cancellation of the European Junior and Youth Orienteering Championships which were to be in Hungary there is only one meeting left in the 2020 calendar. That is Euromeeting, in the north of the Czech Republic at the end of October. This is the warm-up event for next year’s World Championships.
There are currently 33 British entries for Euromeeting, the largest entry from any nation, but with the Czech Republic now on the redlist we’ll have to see what happens. Finland has said it is not sending any teams abroad this year.
By the way, entries for the spectator races for the World Champs have recently opened and may sell out quickly (if they have not done so already.) See this discussion on Nopesport.
So it has been domestic championships that have been the story, with the big orienteering countries having just held them (Switzerland, Norway, Finland) or being about to hold them (Sweden).
But rather than any links in those directions here’s a few pictures from a wedding in Austria. Would you guess the bride is an orienteer?
Mole Valley Winter Street O Series – on MapRun
From Justin Farhall:
This year the events are ‘virtual events’ meaning that they are available for participants to try at a time of their choosing (day or night). Maps will be printed at home and the results logged using the MapRunF app that will give you your score and time straight away. There is a seven-day window for participants to have their score included in the results for the event and series.
I am hosting the first event from Tuesday 22 to Monday 28 September. It’s around the streets of Stoneleigh. To enter please email me (link redactedfor website post) and I will send you what you need.
Whilst the course is designed to be run at a time of your choosing, I am offering the opportunity for individuals or small groups (five or fewer, for a reason you might guess) to meet me at the start/finish in a socially distanced manner, at a mutually agreed time, to issue maps and replicate a normal event and to increase the competitive edge. Let me know if you are interested in this option.
The course is free for all to try so even if you are not sure whether you will give it a go there is no harm in contacting me for more details.
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
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Welcome one and all to the 2020-21 Street Orienteering Series, offering a 60-minute ‘score’ race around a different area of London once a month.
Given the current situation, we have decided to hold the first (September) race as a Virtual Event – meaning you can do it anytime between now and the end of September, when we’ll generate the final results. As before we’ll be using the MapRun app to help with this.
The start and finish for the race is outside The Somers Town Coffee House, which is a few minutes’ walk from Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras stations. The race takes you around some really fun parts of London including the new Kings Cross development, Camden, Regent’s Park and Bloomsbury.
Location
Kings Cross
Address
The Somers Town Coffee House, 60 Chalton Street, London NW1 1HS
2. If you haven’t already, install MapRunF on your phone and find the event under UK > South London > StreetO > KingsCross. If you have a Garmin watch, you don’t need to take your phone on the run if you install MapRunG.
3. When ready, press ‘Go To Start’ and the App will automatically detect when you’re at the start and start your time. Get as many points as you can within 60 minutes and return to base, where the App will automatically Finish and upload your score. Done!
A few other important points: 1. The area has a number of busy roads, not least the Euston Road cutting E-W near the bottom of the map. Please cross all roads carefully! 2. There is no official facility to drop your kit during your run (including at the pub, which won’t know about the orienteering). Please come dressed ready to go, or you can find bag storage companies nearby online. 3. We recommend you run during daylight hours for better visibility and to ensure Regent’s Park is open. 4. Unlike some of our other virtual events, you do not need a PIN code
Scoring: As usual, points will be awarded according to the first number of each control (so controls 10, 11 etc. are worth 10 points; 20, 21 etc. are worth 20 points and so on.) There is a stiff 30 point per minute penalty for lateness so it pays to be back on time! There are no ‘clues’ to write down, you only need to be in the right place for the App to register the control. However, we have put together this answer sheet, which you can carry along to double-check you’re in the right place, if you like.
GPS accuracy: We have tested all the controls for GPS-worthiness and implemented a generous 25-metre ‘tolerance’, so they should register fine (although you may have to wait a few seconds for your GPS track to catch up.) If, despite being in the right place, a control refuses to register, please get in touch afterwards and I’ll see what I can do:
Like all our Street-Os, this a public race – all are welcome, although all competitors take part at their own risk, and any under-16s must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
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