BERKSHIRE ORIENTEERS

CONCORDE CHASE

REGIONAL LEVEL B EVENT

Yateley Heath and Minley Woods

SUNDAY 29th January 2012 – FINAL DETAILS

 A downloadable version of the Final Details is available at the bottom of this page.

Location, parking and Assembly

Parking and assembly are on military land adjacent to Minley Woods.

The entrance to the site is off the west side of the A327 Minley Rd at GR: SU827577. This will be signed from the roundabout junction of the A327 and A30 at SU819589 and at the roundabout on the north side of Junction 4a of the M3.

You will exit by the same track as entering. Although the access track is straight with good visibility, anyone departing before 12:00 should take care as they may encounter late arrivals coming in.

Parking is on grassed fields close to assembly. There is a £1 car parking charge per car. This will be collected at the car park entrance. The furthest point of parking should be no more than 500m from assembly which is adjacent to the main parking area.

Solo travellers may (and are encouraged to) leave car keys at Enquiries.

Map descriptions

The map has been updated in 2011.   There are full map legends on the A3 maps. Green, Short Green and Light Green courses are on A4 size maps which don’t contain a legend. Orange, White and Yellow courses are also on A4 size maps with room for a partial legend which shows the symbols likely to be encountered on these courses. Loose copies of IOF legends will be available from enquiries. All courses are printed on waterproof paper.  Map sizes and scales are given in the course table.

Course Details

Control descriptions will be printed on the map. White, Yellow and Orange will have written descriptions. All other courses will have IOF descriptions.

Loose control descriptions on waterproof paper will be available at the Start.

Road Crossings

All courses Light Green to Black (inclusive) will have two mandatory crossing points between Minley Woods and Yateley Heath Woods.   Both crossing points will be manned.

First crossing point:

• Between controls 177 and 205.
• Follow tapes from 177 along tarmac drive
• At metalled road turn left and stay on the grass verge inside the barriers until you reach the            manned crossing point
• Cross only at the crossing point
• Cross only when told to by the marshal
• Total distance from 177 to 205 = 150m
• Any time taken up to 2 minutes will be discounted. Any time taken in excess of 2 minutes will count.

Second crossing point:

• Between controls 202 and 201
• Cross only at the crossing point
• Cross only when told to by the marshal 
• Total distance between 202 and 201 = 70m
• Any time taken up to 1 minute will be discounted. Any time taken in excess of 1 minute will count.

Terrain

The combination of Yateley Heath and Minley Woods provide a mixture of terrain: runnable high-visibility forest; denser plantations and rhododendron thickets; areas of low bracken; extensive path networks; and some areas of contour detail. To the west of the competition area gravel extraction has been taking place. This area is marked on the map, is dangerous and should not be entered.

There is an area of extensive fly-tipping in the north east corner of the map. It has been marked as dangerous on the map and must be avoided. A number of courses pass close to this area. The western boundary of this area will be taped.

Most of the map is bordered by roads, major and minor. They are marked with the ‘forbidden route’ symbol (lines of purple crosses) and you may set foot on them only at the marked crossing points.  Please respect the Out of Bounds areas marked on the map.

The whole of the Minley area (the eastern part of the competition site including the car park and Assembly) is an active Military Training estate, so please do not touch any suspicious objects. 

Mapper’s notes

Only the bigger pits and knolls have been mapped.  Minley Wood has been used for military training and there are numerous smaller foxholes that are not on the map. 

Yateley Heath was used for a mountain bike event just before the survey was completed and the smaller but obvious fresh tracks have been mapped, usually with the indistinct path symbol.  There may well be additional tracks that appear in the month before the event.

The undergrowth symbols (vertical green lines) have been used for various purposes.  In some places they are new growth conifer and gorse or sparse rhododendron.  They have also been used for areas of fallen trees, bramble or significant tussock grass.  Seasonal bracken is not generally mapped unless combined with one of the above.

Small power lines are not mapped and most of the shooting towers are currently lying on the ground rather than upright.

On the assumption that you know whether you are west or east of the north south road bisecting the competition area, safety bearings are as follows:

West side of the road – Yateley Heath Woods – south east until you reach the north/south road. On the east side of the road head south and east to the metalled forest roads.

Registration

On the day registration will open between 9.30 until 12.00. For EOD you will be given a registration form at the car park entrance. Please complete this prior to going to registration.

There is limited EOD for all Regional Event Courses, subject to availability of overprinted maps. Cost is £14 for Seniors (£12 BOF members) and £4.50 Juniors and Students. EMIT hire £1; free for Juniors.

Start

Allocated start times are on the www.Fabian4.co.uk website. Please note that we are using timed starts at this event - please turn up for your start time on time. However, please punch the start control as ussual, as we are using Emit punch timing.

The Start is 300m from the car park and Assembly along a taped path through woodland.

The Start will be used by all courses. Forest adjacent to the Start will be used for the String course. Pre-starters may warm up in the woodland east of the north/south track near the start lanes. The route to the Start will be signposted from the main track by Assembly and taped through the wood.

Call-up will be at -3 minutes.  Loose control descriptions on waterproof paper will be available in the start lanes (Pre-Start at WYO start).

As the Start and Finish are both relatively close to registration and parking there will be no clothing dump.

Electronic punching

The event is using EMIT electronic punching. If you have pre-booked an EMIT card then you need to pick this up from Registration prior to going to the Start. There will be no spare cards at the Start. A demonstration control will be available outside the enquiries tent.

It is the competitor’s responsibility to ensure that their card has been correctly activated at the Start and that they obtain a correct punch at controls, including a backup pin mark on the backup card, by placing their card flat onto the control bed.  There will be no reinstatement without evidence of punching on the backup card.

Finish

The route from the final control to the Finish will be taped. You must punch at the Finish control, then follow the taped route eastwards out of the forest to Download.

You MUST report to Download even if you retire. Course closing time is 2:30

You will be registered as having started so to avoid an unnecessary search for a missing person, please ensure that you visit Download even if you retire from your course.

Feedback

We encourage competitors to set up their routes on Routegadget after the event, in order to provide feedback to the Planner and Controller on how the courses were executed. This includes Light Green and Orange junior courses.  Any specific feedback comments can also be sent to

Facilities

Toilets, First Aid, Squash, Ultrasport and Tom’s Burgers.

Dogs

Well behaved dogs are allowed if kept under control by their owners.

String Course

A free string course is available close the Start, 300m from Assembly and car park.

Cancellation

In the event of severe weather, information as to whether or not the event will go ahead will be placed on this BKO website www.bko.org.uk

Thanks

We are grateful to the owner of Minley Farm for allowing access across private land to facilitate one of the road crossings.

Officials

Controller :      Roger Thetford - TVOC

Planner :          Andrew Southwood - BKO

Organiser :      Andrew Graham - BKO