Updated:

22/07/2023 – League 7 – Cleeve Hill

22/07/2023 – League 7 – Cleeve Hill
Updated:
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22/07/2023 - League 7 - Cleeve Hill

North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club are pleased to invite you to join us for a summer orienteering event at Cleeve Hill. Cleeve Hill is one of the best areas locally for orienteering and the courses have been planned to take advantage of the area. There is a full range of courses suitable for beginners through to experienced orienteers, including, as a one-off and not part of the NGOC league competition, a Light Green course, designed for those looking to step up in distance and technical difficulty from the Orange course, as well as adults with little or no orienteering experience. The event returns this year to the north of the area.

This is a Regional (level C) event for which Ranking points will be awarded

Udated 20/07/2023. New Details

Entries have now closed. Here are some important reminders and final details:

Parking and Facilities

  • Take care turning off the fast main road on arrival, and again on leaving. There will be warning signs 100-200m from the turn, so signal and slow down in good time. You will cross the Cotswold Way footpath just before entering the parking filed, take great car to look out for pedestrians crossing the vehicle track.
  • In the parking field, there is a dog agility training area and a farmers field. The parking marshals will park you away from both but please be courteous to the dog agility field users.
  • Toilets are provided in the parking field but will definitely not win any awards for how nice they are. There is one unisex toilet with urinals and 1 working toilet. You may prefer to find toilets en route to the event.

The Golf Course

  • There is an active golf course on top of Cleeve Hill. The longest courses may cross the golf course fairways (shown as red arrows) or go near greens/tees.
  • Be aware of the risk of flying golf balls and of trip hazards near the greens. There are low electric fences around greens and some have extra metal looped fences near them. These are not very visible so best to pass the greens and tees with space.
  • Please be prepared to giveaway to golfers about to play. This is particularly important en route to the Start, where you will pass close to a tee

Equipment and Clothing

  • It is recommended to wear leg cover, especially for the longer courses which may encounter thistles, gorse and nettles.
  • Juniors running by themselves should carry whistles and know how to summon help. Whistles are recommended to be carried by all competitors
  • Waterproof coats/cagoules may be compulsory in severe adverse weather. Current forecast is for light wind and rain.
  • There is an ever present risk of ticks, and therefore a small risk of infection with Lyme Disease. Check yourselves and your children carefully after your run. Tick 'tweezers' will be available at Registration/First Aid if needed.

Start times

  • No fixed start times. You can start anytime between 11:00 and 13:00.
  • Some of the courses have a lot of entries (in particular green and blue with approximately 60 entries). Be prepared for a short wait and try to spread out start times.

Download

  • Immediately report to the download tent after you finish or if you retire.
  • Courses close at 14:30. If you do not report to download before 14:45, we will send out a search party and you risk disqualification if not injured

Officials

Organiser/Planner: Rob Finch Queries? email Rob
Controller: Tommi Grover, BOK

Directions and Parking

Parking is at Dryfield Farm on the Northern edge of Cleeve Hill. It is NOT at the Golf Club or in the normal public car park. Access is off the B4632 Chelteenham to Winchcombe road, at:

What 3 words: ///total.clasping.registers
GL54 5AG
Grid Ref: SO996278

Assembly is adjacent to parking.

NGOC have recently set up a Car Sharing WhatsApp group, called NGOC Ride Share, so if you need, or can offer, a lift, please sign up to the group and we can try and cut down our travel footprint. Request an invitation to join by emailing equipment@ngoc.org.uk, or texting Pat Macleod, if you have his mobile number.

Click on the running man icon on the map below, and then the Direction icon icon to get directions to the course.

The Area

Cleeve Hill is an area of open hillside and Common land. The area is predominately grassy with areas of gorse thickets. The runnability is excellent and there is little undergrowth. On the top of the hill, there is a golf course with a steep slope overlooking Bishops Cleeve and Cheltenham. There are a number of intricately contoured areas from the remains of quarrying.

The Map

1:10,000 and 5m contours based on Lidar, A4 for the shorter courses, A3 for the longest. Major revision in 2020 by Greg Best with minor updates in 2023 for this event.

The longest courses (green, blue and brown) cross the golf course fairways (shown in red arrows on the map, as in this snippet. Running around is the safest option.
Please be prepared to giveaway to golfers about to play a shot. Be aware of the risk of flying golf balls.
Cleeve golf course sample)

Start and Finish

The start is approximately 500m with 35m climb from the parking field. The route to the start is gradually uphill on good gravel tracks and grass and will be taped. The route exits the field from the same entrance that cars will be using to enter - please take care. Allow 10 minutes.

The finish is approximately 100m from download and the parking field. The route will be taped and goes through a small pedestrian gate.

Courses

Class/Course lengh(Km) Climb(m) Controls Suitable for
Brown 9.5 365 21 Experienced Orienteers
Blue 6.7 200 14 Experienced Orienteers
Green 4.4 175 12 Experienced Orienteers
Short Green 3.4 170 11 Experienced Orienteers
Light Green 3.1 140 9 Adult improvers and experienced children
Orange 3.1 120 10 Adult beginners and improving children
Yellow 2.4 95 13 Children

Course details subject to final controlling.

We will use SI Timing, in contact and touch free modes. All runners must however punch the Start and Finish controls.

In order to minimise demands on scarce volunteer resources we operate a 2 hour start window for this event, and we recognise that this can be a challenge for parents seeking split starts. We are happy to accommodate split starts provided:

  • You let us know in advance that you need a split start. Do this by emailing the organiser, address in the introduction above
  • You come early; the start team will normally be ready to allow very early starts sometime between 10:30 and the published 11:00 start time, so aim to be there soon after 10:30. We do not offer starts later than the published end of the start window.
  • The shorter course runner goes first. We will not turn you away if you can't manage this, but it gives you both a better chance of beating the course closure time.

Entries, Timing and Fees

Entry Details

You should enter the course appropriate to your involvement in the NGOC league, if relevant, or whichever course you choose otherwise.

Starts: 11:00 - 13:00
Courses close: 14:30, meaning that you must report to download before 14:45, or risk disqualification.

Fees Pre-entry Entry on the Day Non-member Supplement
Adults £7 £10 £2
Juniors £3 £4 £1
Family (2 adults + their children) £16 £20 As above for any non-members

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

Touch Free dibber: £2 Adults, £1 Juniors

Enter via Fabian4.co.uk by midnight on Wednesday 19th July.

Enter Online

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.

A helper discount is available for those offering to help on the day. These events don't happen without volunteers willing to help out on the day, so if you are able to do so, before signing up to enter, email Ian Prowse, Volunteer Coordinator, to let us know if you can help, and ask for the helper discount code that you can apply when entering. You don't have to be a NGOC member to help, but you do need to be a BOF member to be covered insurance wise.

Refunds

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.

Dogs

There is a dog training enterprise in the parking field, and probably livestock on the area. Dogs must be kept under strict control in parking and assembly, and likewise on courses. Whilst not banned, they should not be run off lead anywhere at this event.

Facilities

There is a toilet in the parking field, close to Assembly.

The NGOC cafe will be present.

The Cleeve Hill golf club is about a 500m walk from parking, and is open to the public for refreshments and food throughout the day.

Safety

There is a golf course on Cleeve Hill which will be busy during this event. You may not run on the Greens, should be aware of the direction of play on the fairways, and should give way or act courteously towards golfers in the process of playing or shaping up to play a shot.

Orienteering is an adventure sport. All runners take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.

A risk assessment has been completed, and a copy will be held at Enquiries and Download in case competitors wish to consult it before their run.

A first aid kit and trained first aiders will be available at Enquiries and Download.

Living with COVID

Although all legal restrictions have ceased, you should NOT attend if you are Covid positive, or suspect you are, and everyone attending should continue taking sensible precautions, such as avoiding close contact, particularly around the Start, Finish, and Assembly.