Orienteering Run at "The Valley of Desolation", Bolton Abbey, Sunday, March 16

1:22pm Monday 10th March 2008

The Bolton Abbey Orienteering Run this Sunday is one of the larger orienteering events of the year put on by Airienteers, a club based in the Airedale, Bradford and Leeds area, and one of the strongest in the north of England.

Orienteering is basically a cross-country navigational race run on a time-trial basis, finding your own way from checkpoint to checkpoint on a map provided to you at the start. There are 16 different lengths of course in total on the day.

The beauty of orienteering is that it is a perfect day out for a family or group of friends and everyone can participate at whatever level they fancy - so, no pressure, just good wholesome fun.

Introductory courses for adult beginners:

Airienteers have arranged two courses suitable for adult runners (trail, off-road or fell-runners) who might like to give orienteering a try. The distances are approximately 8k (Purple, Course 11) and 5k (Red, Course 12). The times you are likely to take will be almost double what you would take over the same distances on the road or even off-road.

Introductory courses for juniors:

There is a course (Orange) for Juniors at the same navigational standard as above, of 2.6k, and easier courses for juniors, which are not cross-country and follow only paths and tracks, of 2.1k (Yellow) and 1.7k (White - the easiest of all). The junior courses are all graded on ability rather than by age.

What to wear:

Shoes with a good grip would be an advantage. It is not advisable to wear shorts if you are taking short cuts through woodland, which you may. In other words, fell-shoes and full body-cover are recommended.

Navigating from checkpoint to checkpoint:

On these introductory courses the navigation is simple. All the controls (checkpoints), which you have to visit in order, are either on line features (paths, walls, fences, streams, or within sight of them). If you can use a compass it might be helpful, but it is far from essential on these courses. There will be maps of the area with example courses for you to look at before you run. These will be available at "Enquiries" (Aireport).

Start-times:

Unlike a running race, with orienteering there is no mass start; you undertake the course as an individual time-trial with your individual start- and finish-times recorded. So, you register first and then make your own way to the start and choose when to start.

Registration starts around 9.45 and will go on until 12.00. There is a 25-minute walk to the start, and the last start is usually at 12.30.

Entry fees, parking etc.:

The registration fee is £6.50 or £4 for juniors (you can run as a pair if you wish for the same fee - but with one map between you).

Parking is at Bolton Abbey Riverside. The parking charge is £5.50, which gives you access to all the Bolton Abbey car parks for the day, so it is best to come with a car full.

Advance information to the organisers:

Please notify the organisers a week before the race, leaving a message on (01274) 583853, stating the likely numbers in your group, to ensure that there are enough maps.

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