NGOC and BOK are delighted to invite you to the 2021 British Night Orienteering Championships Weekend.
On Saturday 27th November, North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club is hosting the British Nights on Cleeve Hill, an area used for the 2016 Harvester, and much praised then for its night orienteering challenges. It was comments following that event which lead us to the 2021 Championships.
We are grateful to The Cleeve Hill Conservators, Cleeve Hill Golf Club and Flynns on the Hill Restaurant, and Mr Richard Andrews, for permission to run on the Hill, and for use of their facilities.
News
21/11/21: Correction to the Cleeve Hill Golf Club postcode; it should be GL52 3PW, and not GL53 3PW as previously published.
16/11/21: Final details published. Please note in particular the following changes:
- A waterproof jacket is mandatory. Although Cleeve Hill is not particularly high even by English standards, it can be very bleak, and so for the avoidance of any doubt as to whether a waterproof is required or not, we have decided to require that one be carried, along with backup torch and whistle.
- O shoes are not permitted in the bar/restaurant part of the golf club. You can leave other shoes and clothing the changing rooms, or on the front verandah of the club, at the far end above the bib line.
Start times will be published on Tuesday 23 November following the final closing date. Almost all will be within the requested start block. However, anyone entering between now and the final closing date on 22 November may not get a start time in their requested block, as these are full on some courses.
An abridged version of these details is can be viewed or downloaded here.
The British Nights will be based at Cleeve Hill Golf Club, with start and finish close to the clubhouse. Courses and class allocations are as set out in the Competition Rule for the Night Championships, with starts from 18:30 through to 20:00 or 20:30, dependent on entry numbers. Parking for cars is in the area around the clubhouse, and for campervans in a field about 800m from the clubhouse. This field is available for overnight camping, both vans and tents, with basic but adequate facilities, at a cost of £10 per vehicle. Bookings can be made with your entry.
The Golf club has recently changed hands, and the new owners have great plans for developing the site, but are happy to welcome us to the club, and will provide food at discounted prices by pre-order – again with your entry – or just ordered on the night at full price, as well as a cash bar and takeaway coffee shop.
Entries for the weekend are now open open at Fabian4.co.uk, and further details will be published here as they become available, so keep an eye out here on ngoc.org.uk and on Facebook for more information.
On Sunday 28th November Bristol Orienteering Klubb host a regional (level C) event at Cannop Ponds, with a base at Speech House Hotel. You can find out more about that event at https://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/events/sw-regional-league-cannop-ponds-sunday-28th-november-2021.
This information applies only to the British Night Championships, although you can enter for both Saturday and Sunday events via the same entry form at Fabian4.co.uk. For further information on the Sunday event, see: https://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/events/sw-regional-league-cannop-ponds-sunday-28th-november-2021.
Eligibility
Entry to BNOC 2021 is open only to members of the British Orienteering Federation, and to members of overseas IOF affiliated Federations.
To be eligible to be a British Champion, an individual competitor must on the day immediately preceding the event be a member of British Orienteering, must either
- be a British citizen;
- or have been a member of British Orienteering in each of the three membership years preceding the year of the competition.
and must compete in his/her correct age class, or ‘run up’ in a lower age class (or higher age class for Juniors).
All courses are planned to TD5 standard. You must satisfy yourself that M/W14s and below (and all junior entrants) are competent night orienteers capable of completing their courses. You may be asked to provide evidence of the competency of M/W14s and below in completing TD5 and night orienteering courses. The Organiser reserves the right to refuse entry to such competitors who cannot demonstrate the necessary experience. Please contact the Organiser for further information if necessary.
Class/Course Allocation
The class/course allocation is as specified in the BO Competition Rule for the event, which you can view HERE .
Parking, Assembly, and Timings
The event centre is Cleeve Hill Golf Club, with parking for cars in the vicinity of the clubhouse. Parking for all campervans, and cars staying overnight, is in a camping field 800m walk from the clubhouse. The start and finish are within 300m of the clubhouse.
Starts will be from 18:30 to 20:30, with course close at 22:00. You will be able to select a preferred 30 minute start block on entry, but start times will be allocated. We will try to accommodate start preferences whilst conforming to the seeding rules for level A events.
Prizegiving will be in the clubhouse as early as possible, but unlikely before 21:30.
Punching
We will use Sportident punching, in standard and touch free modes. A SIAC battery test station will be available next to the bib lines for those wishing to check the status of their SIAC batteries.
Facilities
Flynns on the Hill is providing hot food, a takeaway coffee bar/cafe, and a cash bar. You can pre-order food with your event entry at around a 20% discount from the standard club prices, or can order on the night at full price. Food will be served from the Cotswold Way cafe, where you will need to queue outside the building, but can be taken into the golf club bar/restaurant to be eaten.
Overnight camping is available in a field about 800m walk from the clubhouse, at a cost of £10 per pitch, which can only be booked with your entry. The camping field has a water supply and a single toilet, which will be supplemented with additional portaloos if demand requires it. It has no cassette disposal point. Those of you who came to Harvester 2016 will be familiar with the field and its facilities.
Entry Fees
Standard entries have now closed.
Late entries, up to 23:59, Monday 22 November: Seniors £23, Juniors £10. Dibber hire: Seniors £1, Touch Free £2. Juniors Free, Touch free £1
Overnight camping: £10 per pitch
Pre-ordered food: £4-8 depending on choice, this being typically a 20% discount on orders on the night.
Click here
for details
Due to lack of space at the Golf Club, whilst we hope to accommodate all cars nearby, all campervans are required to park in the camping field, so please pay close attention to the travel directions below.
Car Drivers
Cleeve Hill Golf Club is signed off the B4632 Cheltenham to Winchcombe Road, right on the summit of the hill. We aim to park all cars in the Golf Club and nearby public car park, though space is limited, and you may be parked at the junction of the B road and the golf club lane, or on the far side of the B4632, on a wide gravel track. As a last resort, you will be directed to the camping field, which doubles as overflow parking. The nearest postcode is GL52 3PW, and What 3 Words is https://w3w.co/snappy.march.fatigued.
If approaching from Cheltenham/the West, take care turning into the Golf Club lane in daylight, as visibility is limited.
If approaching from Winchcombe/the East, you need to go straight on when you see the signs for camping and campervan parking. The Golf club turning is about 900m further up the hill, on the brow.
Please try not to arrive before 16:00, as there will still be golfers and the public in the car parks, and it will be difficult to manage parking.
Camping and Campervan Drivers
The camping field is at Dryfield farm, GL54 5AG, What 3 Words total.clasping.registers. Follow the signs through the farmyard and up a track to cross over the Cotswold Way into the camping field. All campervans are required to park there, in order to leave enough space for cars at the golf club.
If approaching from Cheltenham/the West, go straight on at the signs turning into the Golf Club, and the entrance to Dryfield Farm is about 900m down the hill towards Winchcombe.
If approaching from Winchcombe/the East, you will see the signs turning you into the farm before you reach the Golf Club turning.
Please do not be tempted to park at the golf club anyway. You will be sent away, and will cause problems on the narrow track up to the golf club.
The camping field will be open from 15:00, so don’t arrive before then. The parking marshals will probably leave at 17:00, after which time you should find yourself somewhere to park/camp. The limited toilets/washing facilities are located in the far left corner of the field as you enter, and access to the golf club and event is up the Cotswold Way, which is the track you will have crossed on entering the field.
Cleeve Hill is the highest point in the Cotswolds. It consists mainly of open, runnable, grassland, with steep crags on its Western escarpment, together with areas of scattered gorse, and complex old quarry workings. The Cleeve Hill golf course occupies some of the Northern part of the map, but courses will cross it. Runners are required to avoid running on the greens, which are mapped.
You can see an earlier version of the map here.
The event map will be A3 for all courses, 1:10,000 for courses 1 and 2, 1:7,500 for courses 3-8, 5m contours, printed on waterproof paper with control descriptions on the front.
With full LiDAR coverage recently made available by EA, the contours and map have been completely re-drawn by Greg Best. The previous version of the map had LiDAR data available for only about one third of the area.
The rough open symbol is used for most of the map. However, the whole area is pretty runnable, although the degree of roughness varies from the short-cropped grass of the fairways(which are not mapped) to longer, tuftier grass. Golf greens and tees are however mapped using the yellow open symbol, with a distinct vegetation boundary. Runners must avoid running on the greens, and ideally the tees as well. See also the note below about grassy paths.
Many paths in the area are actually just a strip of short grass between longer grass, varying from 2 to 10m or so wide. A special thin yellow strip symbol has been used to depict these. Paths which have bare earth are shown using the more traditional black dashed path symbols. Classification of paths is not always clear-cut and there are some grey areas – often the indistinct path symbol has been used in these cases. There are also some vague paths which are not shown at all on the map. Note that in the quarry areas, many small paths are deliberately not shown on the map.
There are quite a number of small single trees in parts of the area. Many of these are shown on the map using the symbol for a small distinctive tree. However, note that not all of these are shown, particularly in the more contoured parts of the map.
Most of the vegetation is gorse, which is subject to an annual clearing programme. Whilst we know the cutting plan for this year, we are unable to influence it, so we do not know exactly when it will be carried out, and so which areas planned for clearance will actually have been cleared on race night. Courses are planned with the clearance programme in mind, but it may be necessary to show late vegetation changes in the start lanes.
Courses details and class allocation are as per British Orienteering Competition Rules and can be viewed HERE
The start is about 250m from the Golf Club, up the hill alongside the quarry car park. It will be lit and visible from the golf club. The Finish is about 200m from the golf club, on the far side of the quarry car park from the start.
Sportident timing is used, in both contact and contactless modes. All runners have a timed start, unless starting from the late start lane, in which case the start control must be punched. The Finish is contactless for those with touch free dibbers. However, all runners must punch the post-Finish control to record their return from the event area.
A waterproof jacket, backup headtorch and whistle are mandatory and will be checked in the start lanes. Please note that for the avoidance of any doubt as to whether it is required or not, we have decided that a waterproof must be carried regardless of conditions on the night.
All runners must wear a race number, which must be collected from the bib line at the left end of the golf club verandah, before proceeding to the Start. Pins will be provided. Please ensure that your start lane and time, printed on the bib, are visible to the start officials.
Start Procedure
We are retaining a socially distanced start layout and procedure, in case rules change before the event.
Call up is at -5 minutes. All runners have a timed start. If you are late for your allocated start time, but less than 4 minutes late, we will attempt to slot you into your correct time slot. Otherwise you will be started in the first available slot for your course, or at a half minute interval. Your start time will not be adjusted, but you will punch a start control to record your actual start time. If you believe you are late due to the fault of the organiser you must register a complaint when downloading.
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There are 4 start lanes – A to D – with 2 courses starting in each lane, as follows. You will move into the correct start lane for your course at -4. This is designed to maintain reasonable separation between runners, distribute runners across the start window as far as entry numbers allow, and minimise the risk of your picking up the wrong map. Your start time, lane and course will be printed on your bib, which must be collected from the golf clubhouse before proceeding to the start. You will not be allowed to start without a bib.
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Should the starts be delayed for any reason, the start clocks will be re-timed, and you will be called up in accordance with the start time on your bib.
The Golf Clubhouse and nearby cafe are the base for all facilities for the evening.
O shoes are not permitted in the clubhouse bar/restaurant, nor in the lounge area, with the exception of a small area at Enquiries/Download which will be protected with temporary matting. If you are parked in the camping field, or some way from the clubhouse, you can leave spare shoes and clothing in the gents and ladies changing rooms or on the front verandah of the clubhouse, at the far end above the bib line.
Toilets are located as shown on the diagram above. You may wear O shoes into the changing rooms, and leave others in there if you wish, but must not wear them anywhere else in the club. The Ladies changing rooms have an external access at the back of the clubhouse, so that you do not have to walk through the bar to get to them. This is a little tricky, up some steps, so have your headtorch with you when you go round there, or take your shoes off before going through the bar.
Vouchers for pre-paid meals must be collected from Enquiries. There is one voucher for each dish ordered, so that people on the same order but wishing to eat at separate times may do so without having to manage who has the voucher. They should all be collected at the same time, though, from Enquiries, and handed to the cafe when you go to collect your meal. The voucher only provides for the dish ordered; drinks and other requirements must be paid for by cash or card on the night. Food can be taken into the bar restaurant to eat.
All food, pre-ordered or ordered on the night, is delivered by the cafe, as shown on the diagram. It will be open throughout the day and until 23:00 in the evening. Hot and cold drinks are also available from the cafe, on a cash/card basis. You may take your food into the clubhouse to eat, if you can find room, and the clubhouse bar will also be open until 23:00 for sale of drinks, tea and coffee etc.
Prizegiving will be in the clubhouse bar around 21:30, or when we know all medal positions. If you are unable to stay to collect trophies or medals, you can collect them from Hils Nicholls at the BOK Sunday event at Speech House, where she will have a stand displaying the NGOC banner.
Compasspoint should be present.
First Aid support is provided by Hereford and Worcester First Response, who will be based in the clubhouse.
A waterproof jacket, whistle and backup torch are mandatory for the event, and will be checked in the start lanes. You will not be allowed to start without these items. If you think you are going to be out some time you may wish to carry hat and gloves as well. We strongly recommend that you carry a mobile phone with you. Signal should be good across the whole of the area. The emergency number for the evening is the Organiser’s – 07983 390295 – which will be printed on the maps.
There are significant crags and cliffs in the event area. Courses are planned to avoid these where possible, but runners who are lost or unsure of their location must take particular care when relocating. Almost all crags are broadly aligned North-South; a safety bearing of due North will bring you back the main B4632 Cheltenham to Winchcombe Road, or the Cotswold Way track, with minimal risk of encountering a crag hazard across your route.
COVID Requirements
Whilst step 4 of the Government COVID roadmap, where we are now, removes most restrictions on attendance at, and the format of, sporting events, you must nevertheless continue to take appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
In particular, before attending the event, you should self-assess for symptoms of COVID-19. These are:
- A high temperature.
- A new, continuous cough.
- A loss of, or change to, your sense of smell or taste.
If you, or anyone you live with, has one or more of these symptoms you should not attend the Championship, even if your symptoms are mild.
You should follow NHS guidance on testing and self-isolation. If you have been informed that you need to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace (or are required to self-isolate in relation to travel), you must do so. You should not leave your isolation location in order to attend this event. You can find more information in the NHS guidance on how to self-isolate.
Once at the event, you should maintain appropriate social distancing where practical, and abide by any constraints or requirements imposed upon us by the golf club. We will let you know in the final details whether the club wishes to impose any such constraints.
Dogs are permitted in the car parks, but not in the Golf club or on the courses. There is a fenced dog training area in the camping field. Please ensure that your dog does not enter the area, and if training is in progress when you arrive, please ensure that you do not disturb their activities.
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel an entry up to event closing date and receive a refund of your entry fee less the Fabian4 processing charge. If you have to cancel for valid Covid reasons, you can do so up to the event closing date without losing the Fabian processing charge. In this instance you must contact the organiser to request a full refund.
Officials
Organiser: Pat Macleod, NGOC
Planner: John Fallows, NGOC
Controller: Michael Chopping, RAFO
Mapper: Greg Best, NGOC
Safety Officer: Andy Creber, NGOC
Enquiries: Email Organiser, or 07983 390295