Hope everyone enjoyed the spring day at Forge Dam today.  Looks like the cafe were doing a roaring trade in ice creams.

Thank you to all our helpers without whom these events couldn't happen.

Just a few stats: 321 runs, 481km run, 4473 controls visited (ish)

Preliminary results are available above.  Very early school team results are below.  We will spend a bit of time tomorrow going through the results if you see any errors then let me know This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

Pete

Information

A Saturday Afternoon Series event aimed at introducing newcomers to orienteering and includes the 6th event in the SFSS primary and secondary schools orienteering league.

Registration will open at 1pm next to the cafe at Forge Dam map.  You can start any time from 1pm – 3pm but the courses close at 3:30pm.

The event is also part of The Outdoor City Weekender
Playing in Sheffield; The Outdoor City 11-13 March? Make a date with The Outdoor City Weekender.
Another big part of the Weekender is the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF) .

Schools Event

Running alongside the public event is an event in the SFSS Orienteering League for both Primary and Secondary pupils.  Entry to the schools event is free if your school has entered and you are in Y3 or above. Information about the SFSS Orienteering League is here

Costs

Adults £4, SYO members £3
Children £2 (Free for the first run if you are in Y3 or above and your schools is in the SFSS)
Any additional courses will cost an additional £1
If you would like to go around in a group you would just pay for one entry, plus £1 for each extra map.

Travel and parking

There is very little parking at Forge Dam itself so parking will be on nearby residential roads. Please park considerately.  You should find plenty of space on Whitely Lane, Brookhouse Hill and Brooklands Cresent.  See the link to the map above

Please don't try and drive down Ivy Cottage Lane to park by the stream, given the numbers of people running in these event recently it is very unlikely there will be a space.  Turning round will be hard and most importantly there will be lots of people running around.

The nearest bus stop is on Brookhouse Hill, 5 minutes walk from Registration.  Plan your journey

Facilities

Toilets and café next to registration.  Plus playground and a looong slide...

Entries

All courses are entry on the day.  You just have to turn up, pick a course and fill in an entry form.  There will be people on hand to help you if you have any questions.

If you ran one of the previous schools events in the series then you should have completed an entry form an been given a number. With the number we are able to add you into the results system much quicker.  You can download an entry form with your details on from the registration page using the registration number and email address.

If this will be the first event you have attended this year then please go the the registration page and enter your details.  If you don't get chance to do this before the event then you can still register at the event.  REGISTRATION PAGE

For those who would like to do a second run you will need to complete another entry slip with the same details as before.  You are welcome to fill this out in advance and bring it with you when you download (with the £1 entry fee for the second course) and we can give you a map to save queuing again.

Courses

If you complete a course and there is still time you are welcome to try another.

See below for details on the courses on offer.

Course	School Years	Distance	Technical Level	Who is it for?
White	Y4,5	1.1km	1	The easiest course and a great place for children to start.  The course is entirely on paths and each time you have to make a decision - which path to take, there will be a control point. Year 3 pupils can compete with Y4s. The course stays within Forge Dam park
Yellow	Y6,7	1.4km	2	The next step up and a good place for teenagers etc. to start.  The course will use paths but also other line features - Fences, streams etc. It will also no longer have a control everytime you need to decide where you are going. For example you may need to make a couple of turns on paths between controls. This course is in Forge Dam Park but ventures briefly into the Porter Valley
Orange	Y8,9	2.1km	3	Harder still, the Orange course introduces: Choosing routes - e.g. should I go round the paths to the left or right Using 'Point Features' as control sites Those doing either of the Orange courses need to be able to judge distances, orientate the map using surrounding features and a compass, use attack points and be bold enough to venture off paths for up to 30 metres
Long Orange	Y10+	3.5km	3	Similar difficulty to an orange course, but quite a bit further! The course crosses Whiteley Wood Road twice. Whiteley Wood Road will have traffic on it so children need to cross with care.
Map Memory		1.9km	4	Experienced orienteers or someone up for a challenge! Rather than carrying a map each control has a map extract that shows the location of the next control.  You have to figure out the route and then run to the next control.  If you lose your way you have no option but to retrace your steps back to the last control and try again.
Light Green		3.9km	4	Ideal for improvers  The navigation difficulty increases and you start to use simple contours and point features.