Sunny Sussex Weekend - Middle Friston Forest East Sat 09 May, 2026

Report

Planners comments

I hope you enjoyed the runnable beech forest today and that the brambles and hills didn’t spoil things too much. I tried to keep things challenging for middle distance racing with fairly short legs and frequent changes of direction to keep you thinking and off the paths. The sunshine certainly played its part in making the terrain a delight to run through. Chris Hooker’s great new map made the planning process easy, and Controller Peter Chapman’s wise advice significantly improved the courses. Thanks to both, and to control collectors Peter Stubberfield, Liam Marsh and Tim Bartlett.

Alan Velecky

Organiser's comments

Thank you for joining Southdowns Orienteers on a delightfully sunny day in Friston Forest. I hope the long trudge up the chalk path was well rewarded by the challenge of our super SO planner Alan Velecky’s technically challenging courses (it would be boring if it were easy). Pete Chapman SO, Controller provided wise advice on courses and was out early today checking everything would work like clockwork.
As usual these events begin months earlier; this SSW event was to be held in West Sussex but moved to East Sussex after problems securing permission on a favoured site. Thanks to our SO committee members Steve J, Steve B and Andy H for reorganising the event to Friston and Sovereign Harbour. Clive H did all the advance organising for the event but could not be there on the day. Karen A on H&S and David M SO webmaster helped behind the scenes to ensure you had the necessary information.

Steve and Jill B also set up and ran our starts at all three events, no mean feat. Supported by Vince today; I felt his pain when he finished his course and then had to climb back up to start.

Gail T, Tim and Linda H welcomed you and got you parked. Di T was ‘ happy to help’- another club stalwart who turns out regularly to help. Our Si team Penny and Joe had to reconcile a few course corrections; again, they will be supporting all three events. Please thank them when you download!

On the finish David W, Penny M and Chris J cheered you on, and made sure you could stagger back to Download. The children’s maze and Bea’s cake sale were a delicious and entertaining diversion for our younger members. Thanks to Karen, Bea and Laura for their help. As usual, the Chapman family were out in force; Pete as Controller, Anna on maze and Prize giving, and Emma and Ben supporting their parents. Long after we headed home, the control collectors were back out in the forest- Peter, Liam, Tim and Chris; a fast turnaround to collect the units and get them back out for the National long event tomorrow.

As a dress rehearsal for the National tomorrow, I think we can promise you an exciting day.

Samantha Gibson (Organiser on the day)

Controller's comments

The proof of the pudding (course) is in the eating (running) in orienteering, as in many things. To that end, I believe that Alan planned courses worthy of the orienteering equivalent of fine dining.

He put a huge amount of thought into designing courses that gave the appropriate level of physical and technical challenge within the middle-distance format. Alan also had great support from the area Mapper (and Sunday’s Planner), Chris. Chris educated both of us on the use of Ocad templates to produce course maps to different scales and covering different areas from the same master “All Controls” plot. The larger (1:7500) scale was certainly beneficial to those on the Blue and shorter courses, whilst the 1:10000 scale (Brown and Black courses) enabled all maps to be kept to a standard A4 size, thus maximising scale where really needed and keeping all printing within the capability of the club printer.

I chatted to several of the earlier starters straight after they had finished. Green and Blue course finishers found the final climb from the controls on the steep valley side rather tough, but appreciated the course overall.

Control 114 (control 14 on Black, 9 on Brown) caused some problems for those who attacked from the path bend to the East (mainly Black course competitors, as brown flowed through the control from the other direction). It was felt that the control was not positioned far enough into the corner. In hindsight, though the approach from the path to the south worked for the Brown, the control may well have been slightly misplaced, and enough such that those attacking from the E would not see it. I can only apologise for not spotting this and hope that it did not detract too much from the enjoyment of the course.

Course finishing times were within reasonable bounds for the middle-distance format: the target being that a ”… top elite-standard competitor would win it in 30-35 minutes.”

The organisational aspects of the event were good from my perspective. These were initially put in place by Clive Hawkes, and finalised by Samantha. Samantha worked wonders with giving the event a “big event” feel with reorganising the catering provision very late in the day after the original provider had to cancel the previous weekend.

All successful competitors should be congratulated on meeting the demands of Alan’s tough, but fair courses on this first event of Southdowns Orienteers Sunny Sussex Weekend 2026.

Peyer Chapman

RouteGadget

Is a web app for sharing and comparing orienteering routes. You can draw your own route or upload a GPS track from your watch. It also allows you to watch an animated replay with a simulated mass start.

Pre event info

Day 1 of the Sunny Sussex weekend opens with high energy middle distance courses through the beautiful beech woodlands of the South Downs.

Get your entries in by 8pm on Friday 8th May.

Final details.

Location Info

Nearest town: Eastbourne

• Postcode: BN26 5QN *
• Lat,Lng: 50.78509,0.21171
• Grid Ref: TQ560007
• Google Map
• Streetmap (OS 50k)
• Bing Map (OS 50k)
• OpenStreetMap

* Postcodes are not very precise in some areas, so don't rely on them for an exact location.

Directions / Parking

Signed from Jevington Road.

• Grid Reference: TQ560007
• Nearest Postcode: BN26 5QN
• What3words: puzzle.name.dots

Flat grass field. Park as directed by marshals.

Public Transport

Nearest train station is Polegate.

Course Information

Prizes to be awarded to the first place in each of the following age groups:

M/W 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20-40, 45-50, 55-60, 65-75, 80+

Course details

Black - 6.0k, 195m, 25 controls

Brown - 5.1k, 170m, 20 controls

Blue - 4.3k, 170m, 18 controls

Green - 3.8k, 120m, 14 controls

Short Green - 3.2k, 125m, 12 controls

Orange - 2.3k, 60m, 9 controls

Yellow - 1.7k, 45m, 8 controls

White - 1.4k, 30m, 8 controls

Please note that since the terrain is not sufficiently technical for TD5 legs, the Short Green course is suitable for those who would normally run Light Green.

Loose control descriptions on waterproof paper will be available in start lanes.

Start times have not been pre-allocated, please turn up and start when you are ready to do so, you will be fitted in at the next available time.

SIAC touch free punching will be enabled, punching start and finish.

1.1k / 80m climb to the start up a chalk track, follow red and white tapes, and allow 10-15 minutes walk. This is a bridleway, please give way to horse riders and mountain bikers. Route back from the Finish retraces the same route.

Entry Details

Pre-entry via Racesignup.co.uk (there will be no entry on the day):

£14.00 BOF Senior/£6.50 BOF Junior up to 27^th April 2026

£15.00 BOF Senior/£6.50 BOF Junior up to 7^th May 2026 (subject to map availability)

£2 non-member supplement (Seniors only)

SO juniors free (use code SOjuniors)

Standard Dibber Hire: £1.00 Senior/£0.50 Junior

SIAC Hire: £2.00 Senior/£1.00 Junior

Novice seniors can enter an Orange, Yellow or White course for a reduced fee of £8.00

See series info at the beginning for discounts available.

Registration

11.45am - 1.15pm

Start Times

12.00am - 1.30pm. Courses close 3.00pm

Map Details

1:10,000 for Black and Brown only, 1:7500 for all other courses. 5m contours. New map for this event surveyed to Spring 2026 by Chris Hooker using Lidar data. Printed on waterproof paper.

Terrain Description

Open and largely runnable beech forest with a wealth of embankments and depressions, some very large craters. A steep scarp slope runs SW to NE towards the north of the map. The remainder of the area is more gently sloping. There are some areas of bramble; larger patches which impede progress have been mapped. Many of the wider rides have a narrow border of bramble – gaps can generally be easily found, and these strips have not been mapped to assist with map clarity. Some of the open beech forest has recent sapling growth, these reduce visibility, but have only been mapped where they significantly impair runnability. Leaf fall can be deep in places, and particularly on the scarp slope, can be energy sapping to traverse!

Mountain bike tracks criss-cross the area, competitors should be careful of mountain bikers who may be approaching at speed from behind. Please give way to mountain bikers; signs have been put out to alert them of our presence. Due to this activity small paths can appear very quickly, and are therefore not always mapped. Mountain bike tracks which cross deep craters have not been mapped to aid clarity.

There is some overlap with the Long race on Sunday, but the southern section of the map is only used for the Middle race.

Dog restrictions

On a lead in the parking field. In the forest, keep dogs in sight and close-by; use a lead if they don’t always return when called. Clean up after your dog.

Facilities

Sublime coffee will be providing barista coffee, tea and cold drinks from their vintage horse box trailer.

Hot food will be provided by Road Grill- chips, burgers, hotdogs etc. Vegetarian options available.

A cake sale will be taking place to raise funds for the Southdowns Junior squad.

Children's maze

Portable toilets

Bring your own water

Miscellaneous

Safety bearing: NE

Other Users: The area is popular with dog walkers, cyclists and horse riders, please give them plenty of room to pass.

Biosecurity Measures: Before attending the event, please ensure that your orienteering footwear/gaiters are clean. After your run, please ensure you remove any excess soil/leaf litter/needles from footwear, gaiters and clothing before leaving the car park. On returning home thoroughly scrub footwear/gaiters, wash clothing and leave to dry for at least 48 hours before reuse.

Thank you to Forestry England for permission to use Friston Forest and Stephen Carr for the use of the parking field. His pub The Sussex Ox at Alfriston serves dishes using beef and lamb reared on his farm.

Long Man Brewery offer a 10% discount to competitors visiting the brewery over the Sunny Sussex Weekend. You can find them at Church Farm, Litlington, BN26 5RA www.longmanbrewery.com

Contacts / Officials

Planner: Alan Velecky

Organiser: Clive Hawkes / Samantha Gibson

Controller / Event Adviser: Peter Chapman