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West Anglian Orienteering Club

EA League and WAGALHigh AshSun 28 October, 2018

Near: Mundford
Level of event: Regional
Type of event: Race

Results

Report

Organiser's Comments

I hope you all enjoyed your runs at High Ash today. This event was originally scheduled for February this year, and was postponed due to land access issues. The seasonal vegetation is no doubt more troublesome in October than it would have been in February, but the event organisation is always easier when the days are longer and the sun is shining and the temperature is well above zero (so we were lucky not to have had yesterday's weather let alone February conditions) and having an extra hour was a real bonus!

I am not aware of any problems and this is certainly down to the excellent team of volunteers who made everything run like clockwork on the day. There are too many to mention all by name, but I would like to give special thanks to those who had lonely stints as road crossing marshalls and those who were prepared to help and not have a run.

We look forward to seeing you again at our next event- at Rowney Warren on 25th November. Pre-entries are open now.

Peter Woods (WAOC)


Planner's Comments

This event was originally booked for the southern end of High Ash – before much of it disappeared to the timber harvester. After a change of planner, we identified a new parking/assembly area and started planning using the central part of the area, only to find that a significant part of the wood was to be fenced off for experimental underplanting. A revised set of courses was ready for February, only for the FC to refuse permission for conservation reasons. Having rearranged for October, the hot summer encouraged bramble and nettle growth, and some bracken cutting was required for the white and yellow courses. After all that, having forestry contractors move in with a fortnight to go could have been the last straw, but we weathered the storm and hopefully you enjoyed your runs after the early rain had ceased.

Driving home, how many saw the roadside board at Mundford saying – ‘Clairvoyant Evening – cancelled’? Predicting what will happen next is evidently not just a problem for orienteers.

Thanks to my controller, Sarah, for keeping me on the straight and narrow and to members of CUOC who provided essential help in retrieving controls at the end of the day. The Brecks in Autumn will always always present challenges of a vegetative nature, and the subtle clearings which are often our only control sites may sometimes be less than clear, but the seasonal colours hopefully offer compensation.

Peter Duthie (WAOC)


Controller's Comments

It was a pleasure to work with the two Peters in the preparation for this event. It was a shame that it had to be postponed from February; with the long warm summer the undergrowth was certainly
higher than expected in October. Peter Duthie’s courses seemed to make good use of the area, given its limitations, and most people seemed happy following their run. The weather helped, and Peter Woods’ organisation went smoothly. The maps were prepared for the event to be held in February and it was overlooked that the ISOM 2017 should have been used from September 2018. I hope that this did not spoil your run.

Sarah Mansel (SUFFOC)



Pre Event Info

Location Info

* Postcodes are not very precise in some areas, so don't rely on them for an exact location.

Final Details now available.

British Summer Time Ends on the night before this event. In other words....THE CLOCKS GO BACK. Please bear this in mind on the morning of the event.

This East Anglian League Event will be our first event at High Ash for over 10 years!

A full range of colour-coded courses is on offer, along with BO ranking points.

Entry on the day is available for all courses.

Directions / Parking

Parking will be in the campsite field adjacent to the forest, courtesy of Everetts Campsite. You will need to bring £2 per vehicle for car parking fee, which will be collected as you arrive.

Registration will be along forest track 154 (TL 784994).  Please note this is NOT accessible via the FE car park near the A1065 used at previous events.

Parking on the forest track will be reserved for helpers and officials.  

Directions:

Nearest PostCode for SATNAV:  IP26 5AR (Everett's Farm Campsite). This postcode is not an exact destination - please follow instructions below to reach the parking area.

From the South (Mundford): Head North on the A1065 from the roundabout at Mundford and after approx 1km take the turning to the left (Foulden Road) signposted Iceni Brewery and Didlington.
Follow this road for approx 6km until you reach a junction signposted R to Hilborough (shortly after having passed Everetts Farm Campsite).  
Take the (sharp) R  at the junction and then turn R after about 150m into the parking field (The entrance to Forest Road 154 is a further 100m on the right).

From the north, driving South on the 1065, turn Right toward Didlington at the junction where A1605 meets the B1108.   
PLEASE TAKE CARE on this road, as some orienteering courses cross this road.  
After approx 3.5 km, turn Right where this road joins the road on which cars will be arriving from the south.  
Continue N until the junction, where you take the (sharp) Right turn to Hilsborough, and then turn Right into the parking area as directed.

Course Information

A full set of colour-coded courses is available, from White to Brown:

Course Difficulty Controls Length Climb
White Very easy 7 1.5 km 10 m
Yellow Easy 9 2.2 km 15 m
Orange Moderate 10 2.8 km 20 m
Light Green Harder 11 3.5 km 25 m
Short Green Difficult 11 3.7 km 35 m
Green Difficult 15 4.9 km 35 m
Blue Difficult 16 6.3 km 40 m
Brown Difficult 27 8.7 km 70 m

If you want your run to count for the East Anglian League, make sure you run the right course for your age class.  The rules have been revised for 2018 and can be found here, on the EAOA website.

Entry Details

Entry on the day is be available for all courses and we do not expect to be limited by map numbers.

Pre-entries are closed. Those who have pre-entered can view their start block allocations on the Fabian4 website: Click here to view the start list. We will not be enforcing start times, or pre-allocating starts to entries on the day.

On-line pre-entry
up to 14 Oct
15 Oct onwards
and On the day
Seniors (BOF members) £8.00 £10.00
Seniors (non-BOF) £10.00 £12.00
Juniors (under 21) £2.00 £2.00
Students £2.00 £2.00

SI Card hire £1.00

Registration and Start Times

Registration will be open from 10:00 am to 12.00 noon for entry on the day and hired dibber collection.

Starts will be from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. Punching start.

Courses will close at 2:30pm

All times are GMT - Remember that the Clocks go back 1 hour on the night before this event.

Terrain and map details

The forest in High Ash is largely coniferous with some deciduous, split into blocks at various stages of maturity.  See final details for more specific information on current condition of the terrain.

Map scale 1:10,000.  Maps will be pre-printed with courses, and printed on waterproof paper.   Map revised and updated 2017-2018 by Peter Leverington (NOR) and Peter Duthie (WAOC) for an original event date of February, with limited updates subsequently by Peter Duthie.

Dog restrictions

Dogs are allowed in High Ash but owners MUST comply with conditions stated below:

Dogs must be on leads in the parking areas and around registration. The camping field must be kept clear of dog mess and dogs MUST be kept on leads in the camping field. Dogs must be under control at all times and not allowed to distract other runners. Dogs must be on leads near roads - remember that longer courses cross a road.

Portable toilets will be provided close to registration. (Do not try to use the campsite facilities - it is a condition of our use of the field for parking that we keep clear of these).

This event was originally scheduled for February 2018, but was postponed to comply with conditions imposed by the landowner, Forest Enterprise.


Contacts / Officials

Organiser: Peter Woods (WAOC) entries@waoc.org.uk

Planner: Peter Duthie (WAOC)

Controller: Sarah Mansel (SUFFOC)