Mountain Bike Virtual Orienteering Courses

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SLOW has set up a number of virtual orienteering courses (VOCs) for you to practice and try out for fun. You’ll need to download the MapRun app to your phone and print out the A4 1:25,000 maps and descriptions from the links below. It’s handy to mount the map on your handlebars but not essential. Cardboard, bulldog clips and cable ties or velcro straps can help. Your phone can remain in your pocket or bag while you ride. The courses are set using MBO Score format where your goal is to score as many points as possible in the time limit selecting your own route as you go.

Courses

Using MapRun, these are timed courses with penalties of 3 points per minute over the time limit. No code is required to open them. Start/Finish location is fixed. It is recommended that you preload the course where you are certain of having a network connection.

Select Event from folder: UK / South London / MTBO / !Virtual. Press “Go to Start” when you are at the start and the timer will start immediately. Don’t ride past the finish mid course. Courses will work in MapRun6 or MapRun (version 7).

  • All Virtual Course Results
  • 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. Time limit 3 hours. Start/Finish point, Royal Oak, RH5 6PF. Map to print. Control Descriptions. Load course.
  • Hurtmore: This course covers the area from Hurtmore to Tilford taking in Crooksbury Common and Puttenham Common. Time limit 2.5 hours. Start/Finish point Shackleford Heath Car Park, GU8 6AY. Map to print. Control Descriptions. Load course.
  • 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. Time limit 2 hours. Start/Finish Velolife, Warren Row, RG10 8QS. Velolife has kindly given permission to use their car park on the proviso that you buy something in the cafe before or after your ride. Map to print. Control Descriptions. Load Course.
  • 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. Time limit 3 hours. Start/Finish point Mogador Lane, KT20 7ES. Map to print. Control Descriptions. Load course.
  • Thursley: Event from Feb 2020 based around Thursley Common, Hankley Common and the Devil’s Punchbowl. Time limit 3 hours. Start/Finish point Recreation Ground car park, Dyehouse Road, GU8 6QA. Map to print. Control Descriptions. Load course.
  • Fancy a different course? It’s quite straight forward to create your own MapRun course for your own practice, family and friends or SLOW events.
  • Previous courses from our regular events from 2022, 2023 are still available to ride and can be loaded from the MapRun app. These use A3 waterproof maps, any spares we have left over can be picked up for free at forthcoming events.


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.

MapRun Instructions

See Instructions. Download MapRun (latest version) and complete the User Profile. Press “Select Event” and navigate to the folder UK/South London/MTBO/!Virtual then select your chosen course which will download to the phone.

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.
To finish you must go back to where you started to end the recording. Don’t ride past the finish mid course.

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 may take slightly longer to catch up in such places.

Tips for running the MapRun App

It’s recommended that you select and download events on a reliable network before arriving at the start point.

The default Alert Sound should be audible and clear but you can check and change it if required in “Options and Settings”. There are usually multiple sound settings on Android and iOS phones and only one of these affects the beep. They are accessible from the phone’s sound settings or often a small icon such as 3 dots, filter or speaker that appears when the volume button is pressed.

Once the app has detected the GPS satellites, the bar at the bottom of the app will turn green. If the app doesn’t register CPs and the bar at the bottom 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 and Virtual Orienteering Course for SLOW’s foot orienting courses.

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