The 2024 club champs will be held on the morning of Saturday 14th December in Holmesfield Woods. Excitingly this is a brand new area. It will be followed by lunch, the AGM and our annual award presentations at Abbeydale Sports Club.  This is a fun, informal event for members of SYO and their family and friends. It is suitable for everyone from beginners and young juniors to our elite athletes. You are also welcome to join us just for the orienteering, just for lunch or just for the AGM and awards.

Location

The orienteering will be held at Holmesfield Woods. Parking will be at the Holmesfield Village Hall, Vicarage Cl, Holmesfield, S18 7WZ. What3words: improving.inner.pepper (entrance to the car park).

The lunch, AGM and awards will be held in the Abbey Suite at the Abbeydale Sports Club on Abbeydale Rd. Nearest postcode S17 3LJ. What3words: dinner.employ.trash. There is a large car park.

Entries

Entries will open on Thursday 21st November on the SYO Entry System. All food orders must be made by Wednesday 4th December. Entries for the orienteering must be made by Tuesday 10th December - this is to allow time to calculate the handicapping!

Timings

Orienteering - Mass start at 11am prompt. Yellow course at 1 minute intervals after the mass start.

We will gather at Abbeydale Sports Club from 12.30pm with lunch served at 1pm. The (very brief) AGM will be held at 2pm followed by our annual award presentations.

Costs

Orienteering - £2 adults, £1 juniors / students

Lunch - £12 per person. Choice of...

Steak & ale pie, chips and mushy peas
Cheese & Onion pie, chips and mushy peas (Vegetarian)
Meatless Chicken & mushroom pie, chips and musy peas (Vegan)

All pies can be made gluten free. Order the version you want and then specify gluten free in the dietary requirements.
Other dietary requirements / allergies can be catered to - please specify when ordering.

Orienteering Format

The event will be run as a 45 minute score event. In a score event, the aim is to visit as many controls as possible in the time allowed.  To get the most out of the area, it will be run using an ‘odds and evens’ format. The map will be double sided with odd numbered controls on one side and even numbered controls on the other. You must either:

• Collect odd controls first, then flip over the map and collect even controls, or
• Collect even controls first, then flip over the map and collect odd controls

You may collect as many or as few of each type as you wish, but you should flip the map only once.  Controls on each side of the map will be evenly distributed over the area so flipping the map at any point should mean you do not have to run too far to get to the next nearest control.

Every control has the same value of 10 points.

The event starts at 11.00am.   If you are late back after 11.45am, you will lose 10 points per minute or part of a minute.

The score event will be suitable for all those confident on orange / light green courses. There is a separate yellow course for our younger juniors.

Participants on the yellow course will start at 1 minute intervals after the mass start. Juniors on the yellow can be accompanied by an adult.

Prizes are awarded to 1st male & female in the junior, senior and vet classes but your results are based on a handicapping system! There are also prizes for the first male & female on the yellow course.

Assembly

Enquiries, download, dibber collection and toilets are at Holmesfield Village Hall. The village hall will be open from 10am. It is approximately 5-10 minutes walk from assembly to the village hall. Please make sure you are at the start by 10.50am at the very latest for the briefing prior to the mass start at 11am. The route to the start is shown on the map below. It will also be taped.

Terrain

Holmesfield Park woods is a small private woodland located on a sloping area just north of the village of Holmesfield. It comprises a varied mix of mostly deciduous woodland varying from highly runnable beechwoods to denser areas of younger trees with some areas of undergrowth and holly. It has a good path network and is dissected by two small valleys and a number of other streams. This is a new area for orienteering with the map created in 2024.

Map

1:5000, 5m contours. Mapped Autumn 2024 by Colin Smith

Mapping Notes

There are numerous ditches in the area. Only ditches of significant size are mapped.

Vegetation runnability should be taken as indicative and not to be depended on for fine navigation.  There are many holly bushes in some parts of the area. Where distinct, these have been mapped. Where there are significant numbers, the below symbol has been used to indicate generally good runnability, but low visibility due to the scattered holly bushes.

There is one ruined fence in the middle of the area, running along a vegetation boundary. This has been mapped, but the fence is low/collapsed and may not be seen, though could potentially form a trip hazard.

There are many ‘Private Woodland’ signs within the area which may be ignored (as long as you stay on the map!). However there is one out of bounds area in the middle of the map. This is marked with purple out of bounds overprint.  An outdoor/bushcraft centre operates facilities there including a Marquee/tent like structure. Please keep out of this area.  There are also various small ‘bushcraft’ structures dotted around the wood itself. These have not been mapped.

There is a very minor road (accessing a few properties at a dead end) at the north west end of the area. This is marked out of bounds.Parents, please make sure young juniors on the score course know not to go on the road.  For juniors competing on the yellow course, this course does not go near the road.

In the event of heavy rainfall prior to the event, the stream running along the east edge of the area may be uncrossable in places. Courses will be adjusted in this event.

Fields around the area are out of bounds. Some are arable, some contain livestock. Some fences are not in good condition, therefore, sorry, no dogs. There is a public footpath that runs through the middle of the wood (on which dogs are welcome). Please be courteous to users of this footpath. There may be people walking their dogs on this path, but there should not be any horses or cycles.

Dogs

No dogs permitted on the courses. If you are not competing you can walk dogs along the public footpath running through the area.

Other important orienteering info

Control descriptions will be printed on the map. There will be no loose descriptions.

Please wear full leg cover and grippy shoes.

SI timing will be used and controls will be SIAC anabled. Dibber hire is free.

Please be courteous to members of the public.

Remember a watch if you are doing the score course so you know how long you have been out!

Volunteers

We would really welcome offers of help to collect controls - the more the merrier and the quicker we can go to lunch! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lunch, AGM & Awards

Please join us for lunch, AGM and awards if you possibly can. The awards celebrate the orienteering and volunteering contributions made by our members over the past year. The prizes from the club champs will also be presented based on Peter Gorvett's handicapping system! 

As usual we seek nominations for the wooden spoon award! Please send your navigational tales of woe to Pauline.

Food Bank Collections

We will be collecting on behalf of the Grace Foodbank at the social. Please bring along a packet or tin to Abbeydale Sports Club if you can.

Officials

Organisers - Susan Guy and Jenny Johnson
Planner - Colin Smith (score), Alex Johnson (yellow)
Handicap calculator & SI - Peter Gorvett
Overall co-ordinator - Pauline Tryner. Any queries This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..