Saturday Local and WRNL8 - Coldharbour
2025-01-11
Wareham Forest South -a range of courses for all tastes in daylight followed by a 60 minute night orienteering score event
Entries open until 21:00 on 10th Jan if maps still available
Orange 3.0km
Novice course. All controls are on linear features
Light Green 4.2km
Suitable for improvers who are confident going cross country. Controls are on a mixture of linear and point features
Blue 6.1km
Orienteering experience required.
Daytime Score
60 minutes to collect as many of the 20 controls as possible. All controls are worth 10 points. Penalties of 10 points per minute or part minute over the hour will be applied.
Wessex Region Night League Score
Head torch definitely required for this one. You have 60 minutes to collect as many points as possible from the available controls (point scores variable) within the time limit. Penalties of 10 points per muinute or part minute over the hour will be applied. Bomus points of 10 points per complete minute under the hour are available BUT only if you have visited every control on the map.
At night there will be a few controls on or near a circular path route, but most are not; so an ability to keep close contact with your map will be required for those heading into the mixed terrain of heath and pine forest. There is a large uncrossable marsh (Morden Bog) running N/S on the map with only one crossing point. All areas marked as uncrossable marsh are out of bounds.
Senior: £8.00
Senior Chip hire: £1.00
Junior: £2.00
Junior Chip hire: £0.00
Night
Senior: £8.00/£9.00
Senior Chip hire: £1.00
Junior: £2.00
Junior Chip hire: £0.00
Juniors are under 21 on 31st December.
When darkness falls registration and download will move down the road to the Silent Woman Inn for the 8th event of the 2024/25 series of Wessex Region Night League score events. All welcome and help will be available.
Afternoon courses
Starts are from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Course closes (controls start being collected in) at 3:30 p.m.
Night score
Starts are from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Course closes at 7:30 p.m. Please try to be back by then or you may find controls have been collected in.
You may enter both an afternoon event and the night one, however as a number of the same controls are being used on both events, anybody doing an afternoon event will be deemed non competitive in the night event and so will score no points in the night league.
The start and finish are close to the Forestry England Wareham office. Competitors are advised to wear hi-viz or wear a torch when walking to the pub. From the Silent Woman, please walk initially on the SW side of the road and cross over to the path (gap in the hedge) on the NE side when you reach the Forest Lodge entrance.
SI (Sport Ident) timing control boxes (apart from Start and Finish) are SIAC enabled, on stakes with full size O kites.
Dibber (SI Card 5) hire is available for £1.
Printed download showing your splits (and score if relevant) will be provided at download.
Results will be available on-line later on the same night.
As at the Dorset Delight one year ago, the event will be using the southern area of Wareham Forest, which is almost all wooded. The runnability should be good, and hopefully the bracken will have died back by January. The landscape has good topography with many re entrants so there will be climb. The two main blocks of woodland are separated by a central valley mire (Morden bog) must only be crossed using the bridge.. The courses will have several areas of OOB as we are not allowed to cross any mires nor areas of open heathland. This will add to the routechoice on most courses.
In view of the physical terrain and the absence of any natural light on this occasion, we will be operating a "no whistle - no run" policy. You will also be required to show some form of backup light at the start.
Safety bearing is W until you find either a clearly defined gravel track or the edge of the forest. Hopefully you will remember whether or not you have crossed Morden Bog. If you did then make sure you use the marked bridge crossing. Alternatively, if you are east of Moreden bog, use the well defined forestry gravel tracks to make your way back to download.
If the weather forecast looks bad the organiser may also insist that cagoules are either carried or worn by all competitors, so please bring a suitable one along.
Afternoon
At the event centre by the Forestry England Wareham office. Please only park on the areas of hard standing and not on any grass verges.
Night-O
There is limited parking (10 cars) in front of the pub but room for 20 more next door toward Bere Regis here 40m NW. If that too is full you should use the Sika Trail Car park, which is 450m to the SW toward Wareham. Please read the advice above about walking to start and finish as it can be a fast road.
1:10000 scale A3 map overprinted with control codes and their points value.
The road on the South West side of the competition area is out of bounds, as are any properties and anywhere else off the map.
Toilets
At the pub ( Silent Woman Inn)
Food & Drink
Silent Woman Inn will serve food on Saturday until 8 p.m. If you're eating, The landlord would appreciate a heads up (via question on our entry form). Also, it might be a good idea to check at the bar if they would prefer an order before you go out. Here's a link to the menu.
Daytime Planner: Roger Crickmore
Night-O Planner: Jon Brooke
Organiser: Julie Astin
