Directions / Parking

Parking on hard standing in the industrial estate behind the Hit or Miss pub, at SU 923956, HP7 0PX.

Please do not park on the roadside in Penn Street or in the pub car parks.

Terrain Description

Penn Wood is generally flat with a good network of paths. It has a very varied mixture of conifer, beech and oak, and some semi open areas. There are a number of ponds and many pits and depressions, some quite large, as a result of ancient clay and flint workings. There are many small knolls and generally only those more than 1m high have been mapped.

We are grateful to the following for allowing use of these areas:
- The Woodland Trust (Mark Franklin) for Penn Wood.
- Sam Buckles for allowing use of the Commercial Estate and the De Havilland Court offices for car parking.

The Map

The A4 map has been updated using OCAD2018 by Bob and Pattie Beresford during March 2020 and is at 1:10000 scale, with 5m contours, on waterproof paper.

Start Times

Registration is open from 10am to 11.30am. Click on the links below to print off the appropriate entry form, fill it in, and bring it with you.
Starts from 10.15 to 11.45am Courses close at 1pm.

IMPORTANT: All entrants must report to the download tent by 1pm even if you retire or have not finished.
Start is 250m from Registration. Follow the tapes from the industrial estate, across the road at the crossing point, past the cricket field and into Penn Wood. Distance from Finish to Download tent is 500m by same route, passing close to the Start.

Courses

WHITE: 1.8km, 11 controls. Short and suitable for beginners and young children.
YELLOW: 2.6km, 10 controls. Suitable for improving beginners and juniors.
ORANGE: 2.9km, 7 controls. Suitable for adult beginners and experienced juniors.
LIGHT GREEN: 3.3km, 11 controls. More challenging; for improvers and those with a bit of experience. Most controls away from paths and more route choices.
GREEN: 4.5km, 18 controls. Most challenging. Only for those with experience at orienteering. More navigation and longer legs between controls.
There is minimal climb on all courses.

If you're a runner getting into orienteering, the Orange course is ideal, or Light Green if you are confident about your navigation. For family groups, we recommend the Orange course, or Yellow if you want something shorter. For juniors, White and Yellow are good courses.

No courses cross any public roads. But there is a road crossing to get to the start. Under 16s need to be supervised.

Course lengths are straight line distances between the control points. You can expect to run around 20% more than the stated distances!

How To Enter

Entry on the day only. Turn up, fill in an entry form (or, better still, print off the form using the links (under Registration above) and fill in before the event), select your course (advice available on the day), collect timing chip and map of your course, and go.

Entry Cost

£7 Adults / family groups
£5 TVOC / British Orienteering members
£3 Juniors / students (juniors on their own, or shadowed by an adult)
£2 Helpers (open to anyone)

Your entry fee includes up to two special waterproof orienteering maps, with your course printed on it, to keep as a souvenir, hire of a timing chip (SI) to register at each control point around your course, and a print out of your result and splits at the finish.

Facilities

There will be a toilet in assembly.

Further Information

Safety issues
• COVID-19. As per the recent announcement from British Orienteering, please do not attend this event if you fall into one of the following categories:
– If you have a high temperature
– If you have a new continuous cough
– If you have been in Wuhan city or Hubei Province (China), Daegu or Cheongdo (Republic of Korea), Iran, or the containment areas in northern Italy on or after Saturday 7 March
– If you have been anywhere in Italy on or after Monday 9 March
– If you have been advised to stay at home by a health professional.

• Routes to both Starts and from the Finish. The route involves a marshalled road crossing. All competitors must follow marshals’ instructions.
• Penn Wood is used by the public for walking, running, dog walking and cycling. Please be courteous towards other users – our future use of these areas depends on this.
• All maps will be overprinted with an emergency phone number which can be used on the day to contact the Organiser in the event of an emergency.
• There are a number of ponds in the competition area. More importantly, there is a large pond on Penn Street Common; parents should ensure children do not play around this area.
• Penn Wood has some fenced areas (with access gates) which maybe being used for cattle grazing. Competitors should take particular care when passing by any cattle. Do not climb over any fences, please use the gates ONLY. The courses have been planned accordingly. Our future use of the area might depend on this.
• Waterproof jacket may be compulsory if weather is bad – come prepared. There will be signs advising such leaving the car park.

Please check TVOC website www.tvoc.org.uk in case of bad weather.

Officials

Organiser: Mark Thompson    email organiser

Helping

Please help if you can on the day. If you can help for an hour then all helpers can get a run. Please enter your name on the Helpers list. Helpers pay £2 total for their run. We need volunteers to man the road crossing and to supervise car parking.
Thank you, Mark (Organiser)

Helpers