01/01/2024 – New Year’s Day Score – Edge

The area is quite compact and consists of two separate parts divided by a road. Both are mostly runnable. Edge Common (also known as Rudge Hill) is part of the National Nature Reserve and managed by Natural England. This is largely rough open grassland with plenty of features, many left by quarrying. Across the road is National Trust deciduous woodland, a long thin piece of woodland with a flattish top, but a very steep side – this is the Cotswold escarpment. Again, there is plenty of evidence of quarrying from days gone by.

We are grateful to Natural England and the National Trust for giving us permission to run in their respective areas.

This is a LiDAR-based map created during Lockdown. Due to the compact size of the area, be aware that the map is at 1:4000 with 2m contours. It is printed on A3 waterproof paper. Control descriptions will be printed on the front of the map and will also be available loose at the Start.

The Start and Finish are next to Assembly, 700 metres from the car park.

This is a standard 60 minute Score race, with a near-mass start. You will dib the start box, be issued with a map, and set off, and we will process people through this sequence as fast as we can.

There are 36 controls and these will have varying points value – either 10, 20 or 30. The points are shown on the map and in the control descriptions, with higher points for higher numbered controls. The penalty for late return is 10 points per minute or part minute.

However, as the area is relatively small, the odds and evens format will be used to make it harder for the fast runners to visit all of the controls! Half of the controls are odd numbered and shown in Red on the map and the other half are evens and shown in Blue on the map. You may start your run with either colour, and you may switch to the other colour at any point you wish. However, you can only switch once – you cannot go back again. Once you have switched and punched a control of the other colour, any controls you subsequently punch of the first colour will be disallowed.

The course includes a number of easy controls, of Yellow standard, for young runners and those looking for an easy morning perhaps after a heavy New Year's Eve.

We will use SI Timing. Note that touch free punching will not be operational for this event. This is to prevent the issue of people inadvertently punching a wrong control when passing close by.

The area is divided by a fairly busy road. There are 2 marshalled crossing points, which are clearly marked on the map. Juniors MUST only cross at these points. All others should try to cross at these points where possible.

There will be a mass start at 11:00, consistent with a punching start and map issue. Allow plenty of time to get to Assembly/Start and do not be late.

FeesPre-entryEntry on the DayNon-member Supplement

SI dibber hire: Standard dibber £1 Adults, Juniors free

Entries are now open on Fabian4.co.uk: enter by midnight on Saturday 30th December.

Entry on the day is possible only while maps last, but note the premium price to discourage this. We should by then be able to accept credit/debit card payments, but this is not guaranteed so bring cash just in case.

As the Government has removed all restrictions on events and activities, COVID related refunds are no longer available. The standard Fabian4 terms and conditions offer an automatic refund up to 2 months before the event date, and we do not normally vary this specification. That means that in most cases no refunds are possible, as we do not publish details until less than 2 months before the date of the event.

However, for all except large events we hold entries open until only a day or so before the event, so you can delay entry if unsure whether you can run, until very close to event day.

Allowed, under control.

The NGOC cafe will not be present, but you can bring your own warm drinks etc if you wish, and leave them in the clothing tent. We feel that given the uncertain weather and the distance from parking, people will not want to hang around after downloading, and parking to unload kit somewhere reasonably close to assembly is very limited, so transporting all the cafe stuff when people may not stick around to support it is unfair on the cafe team!

There will be a clothing dump at Assembly.

• Orienteering is an adventure sport. All runners take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
• Take care crossing the road, particularly where not marshalled.
• Some controls are above a line of dangerous crags. These will be taped with yellow hazard tape. Do not take risks here.
• There is a large quarry area. Note that this is occasionally used by loud, off-road motorbikes. Hopefully, they will not be about on the day of the event, but if so, it is easy to avoid them by keeping towards the edge of the quarry, at little or no time-loss. The course has been planned with this in mind.
• Docile cows roam freely on the common. Give them space.