The Event
For the second year running, we will be hosting our own Street Orienteering event in Mortlake and Sheen. The event will take place on Thursday 27th December at 10:30am with the start just to the north of Mortlake Station opposite Thompson House School. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t pour with rain again this year.
This is open to both our senior and junior sections and any friends who’d like to join in, though we would request that ‘children’ run with guardians. We can always sort out logistics if you let me know you want to run and have no one to run with – we won’t stop you running in groups. Can you let me know (bob.reed@post.com) if you want to run as we need to know approximately how many maps to print – it’s colour ink on special tear proof paper.
What is Street – Orienteering?
A very informal urban orienteering race, where you are given a special map of the local area, with the aim of running around looking specific locations (“controls”) on the map. You will also be given a clue sheet (on the back), which will ask a question for each control, which you will be able to complete when you find the correct location – e.g. “fire hydrant number” or the “colour of door at number 20” etc.
Each control is assigned a points value – generally the ones further away are worth more points. The aim is to score as many points as possible, within the given time limit of one hour. Try to keep within this limit, as you will be deducted 1 point for every 3 seconds you are late getting back! If you don’t want to be out for a full 60 minutes you can always come back earlier.
What does the map look like?
An A4 sheet with streets shown as black lines and paths shown as dotted lines – and obvious major roads. As with all orienteering maps, there are no street names on the map! The controls are normally drawn overprinted in purple. To help distinguish which side of the road you need to be looking at, the control circles are shown with a dot in the middle. The start and finish is always at the same place and shown by a triangle.
What kit do I need?
All you should need is running kit, a pen (a spare is also handy as I can testify) and a watch. A compass is not required! If you are still not sure about what to do – arrive a bit earlier and we will give you a quick tutorial.
Cost of Entry
Free!
Special Instructions
There are plenty of road crossings on the more major roads – so please use them rather than taking a gamble!
Apres Run
We will reconvene after the event at The Hare & Hounds in East Sheen!
Any questions – please ask. It’s a fun event so we hope we’ll see quite a few of you taking part!
