Photos from the night event, taken by Richard Baxter, can be seen here

Controller’s Comments

Saturday night was glorious weather and almost everyone came back with favourable comments. I had one comment on the length. This was my first night event as an official, so I am unsure on the protocol in terms of length of courses. I think the winning time were fair but Blacka is unforgiving for those who are at the back end of the results. However, it’s extremely important that all competitors return to the finish by the course closing time (8pm for Blacka). Otherwise, we may need to send out search parties. The safety of competitors and officials (ie manning the finish on a very cold night) is very important especially for night events. Also, two competitors quietly rightly questioned why 1:7500 map wasn’t available for the short course – pointed granted. Thanks to Lucy (Planner), Chris (organiser) and Team SYO for making the running of the event so smooth.

Mark Chapman (SYO)

Planners comments

I hope that the courses enabled you to run in the best bits of Blacka. I tried to get the longer courses to have some route choice with fast paths or straight terrain and some with the temptation to avoid the climb by contouring around the stream valleys. I think the winning times were about right, knowing that the quality of the entries was likely to be high on the long. Perhaps I should have put on an extra long course to enable the top of the field to have a desent run as well as a more green shorter long? The walk to the start was to get the short easy and short to have a feeling of remoteness and I think that the younger competitors rose to the challenge of being in the middle of the area, and the older ones enjoyed the route choice options? It was great to see all the lights moving across the terrain, with the moon out and Sheffield sparkling in the distance. Thank you to Mark and Chris for making the event work and our small band of helpers for being so efficient and mainly foregoing a run to be there. Thanks to Ian for sorting out last minute map updates. Thanks to Pete for taking in the few controls not used in the day event from the remoter parts of the course. If you have any views on the photgrapher at the last control please get in touch, photos should appear here soon if they came out!

Lucy Wiegand SYO

 

Are you up for the challenge of night orienteering? Explore Blacka and Totley Moor by torchlight! Courses available for experienced orienteers and newcomers to night orienteering. This event is part of the YHOA night league.

 

 

Regional Night Event at Blacka Moor
Part of the YHOA Night League

Saturday 15th January 2022

 

Directions Parking: Off Moss Road, Totley, S17 3BD. What3words: liver.faded.awake.

The access roads from the A621 are narrow – please drive with extra care. There is a small car park and other parking will be on the roadside. Please follow the instructions of the parking team. Where possible, please share lifts as there is very limited parking available.
Public Transport: Dore & Totley Railway Station is 2 miles away and has hourly services to Sheffield.

We are useing Totley AC's pavilion for Assembly and Download. Toilets and changing rooms are available here. Please no muddy shoes in the building. This is a 5 minute walk from parking. 

Starts & Finish

The start is a 1.3 km, 130m ascent walk on a narrow road from the car park. Please supervise children, wear reflective clothing and take care. The finish route is 700m downhill to the car park and shares the route to the start.
You MUST report to Download in the Totley AC Pavilion before you leave otherwise a search may be enacted to look for you. The organiser's phone number is on the map.

Registration: Pre-entry on Fabian4 only: 

Entries now subject to map availability and £1 extra per entry (£3 extra per family), finally closing at 23:59 on 14th.

Adult                £10 (£8 British Orienteering members)
Junior/student £4
Family              £24 (£20 British Orienteering members)

Family charge applies when family members are running different courses. If you are going round as a family group, just pay for 1 entry.

Helpers using code SYOHELPER get 50% discount. Email offers of help to Chris Williamson.

Times: Starts: 17.30-18.30
Courses close: 20.00

If you think you are going to be out for a long time please start early.

Courses:
Course              Length  Climb                          Technical Difficulty
Short Easy        2km      100m      8 controls       Easy (Yellow)
Short                 2.8km   135m      7 controls      Medium (Orange)
Medium             3.7km   165m     10 controls     Difficult (Green )
Long                  5.4km    265m    12 controls     Difficult ( Brown)

Juniors are very welcome but those who are not confident on all types of orange course in the daylight should be accompanied by an adult.

 

Terrain: The map is half woodland slopes and half open moorland. Blackamoor is cut by two streams with steep sided valleys. The northern and eastern parts of this area are a mixture of deciduous woodland, with some bramble and bracken and open moorland with bracken, bilberry and heather, but with a good track network. The southern part of this area is mostly open moorland but with some open pasture, making for faster running. Totley Moor to the south of the area, is not used by the night event but can be enjoyed on the Sunday event, mostly wild open moorland with heather or moor grass, but with many pits towards the eastern edge of the area.
There are steep slopes, particularly on stream sides which will be slippery, you may want to consider other route choices. There are some fallen trees from recent high winds that are not all mapped and can be a hazard so please avoid them. The rough open vegetation is variably run-able, some of the heather is high and will impede rapid progress. Most of the bracken has flattened down and there are numerous deer tracks.

Map:
1:10,000 5 m contours, based on a previous Peel land surveys map most recently updated 2021 by Ian Cooper. A4 size, printed on waterproof paper with control descriptions, these will also be available loose at the start.
The Legend is NOT on the map but is available in the final details document to download. Please note that a thick purple line over a boundary means do not cross, used marked crossing points only. Many course legs will have a choice of crossing points to use. There are a number of out of bounds areas to preserve the ecology of this SSSI, please take care not to enter them.

Dogs: Welcome in the car park but not on courses.

Safety: Much of Blacka Moor is above 1000ft and very exposed, you must carry a waterproof jacket, and we advise hat and gloves and a spare torch. Full leg cover is required. There is a real possibility of snow cover in January and hypothermia is a real risk.
Whistles should be carried.

You MUST report to Download after your run.

First Aid: At Registration. The nearest hospital/A&E department is at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Calow, Chesterfield S44 5BL. Tel. 01246 277271.

YHOA Night League Information can be found here: YHOA Night League.

Cancellation: In the event of possible cancellation see: www.southyorkshireorienteers.org.uk

 

We would like to thank Totley AC for use of their pavilion, the Territorial Army for use of the car park and Sheffield Wildlife trust for permission to use Blackamoor for orienteering.

 

 

       

       

 

COVID Guidance for competitors & volunteers

You must not take part in any form of orienteering if you have tested positive for covid, have Covid symptoms or have been asked to self-isolate. Please be super courteous to any members of the public that you come across before, during or after the event and try to maintain social distancing.

Officials

Organiser - Chris Williamson SYO.  email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Planner - Lucy Wiegand SYO
Controller - Mark Chapman SYO