Houghton ForestSun 27 April, 2025

Near: Arundel
Level of event: Regional
Type of event: Race

Results

Report

Planner's Comments:

Houghton is not the easiest of SO's areas in which to plan. Nowadays, much of the area is a much darker shade of green than most Orienteers appreciate, but with careful planning it is possible to funnel the technical courses around the blocks of white and lighter shades of green, which has enough subtle ground detail to make for a reasonable orienteering challenge. As you may have worked out, I like courses with plenty of changes of direction and a variety of leg lengths.... I firmly believe such a twisty planning style increases the interest of a course and also its technical difficulty - as the compass becomes a more important navigational aid than might be the case on a course which gradually loops around a competition area.

Most of the controls were placed on Saturday afternoon, and massive thanks go to Samantha and her husband David who helped me with that task, which literally took twice as long as anticipated - much of the forest looks so different now to how it did when the courses were taped up quite a number of weeks ago. I needed to do extra checks to confirm a number of control sites, as I didn't recognise them and sometimes struggled to locate my red tapes, despite all of them having been visited several times since last November when the planning process began. Apologies if you felt there were control placements on your course which were not as visible as perhaps they could have been.

My thanks go to Thomas for helping me check control sites and remapping a few areas, to Chris for updating the OCAD files, to John for his calm and assured Controlling, to Andy for persevering with FE regarding permission when we were getting ready to pull the plug, Neil for providing all the forest kit, and LittleDave, Chris x 2, Garry & Alan for bringing in the controls as soon as everyone had downloaded.

Steve Jarvis

PS - thanks to all who thanked me for today's courses, some lovely comments which were much appreciated. And to those who may not have had such a pleasurable experience but kept their thoughts to themselves!

PPS - Spoiler Alert.... For my sins I'm also planning our SOG event next Saturday at Oldhouse Warren - so if you liked today's style of course and are free, entries are open on racesignup.co.uk

Organiser's comments:

The only thing you can’t organise is the weather, which was pretty well perfect. Cool and shady in the woods but warm enough to enjoy an ice cream and picnic to the steady thrum of motorcycles and bird song. Steve Jarvis had set out testing courses in the woodlands of Houghton, and restored the spirits of many who had been bested at the JK. There were some minor snaggings- the portaloos in the finish arena, and missing grid tapes but the orienteers made it work, so thank you.

The biggest thanks must go to the many club volunteers who enabled the event to take place. Andy Hannaford and Steve Blount for the protracted negotiations to secure permissions, Steve Jarvis and John Collyer for making my job a pleasure, SI/Download team (Joe Barrett, Penny Parker, Mike Ralph and Les), Joe House and his team of parking marshals (David Gibson, Robin Wilson, Nick Hockey, David Wilson, David Cussens, Chris Bradfield, Lars Otto Naess, Marion West and Mark Chapman), String course (Bea, Matt and Emily Waters and Emma Chapman), Enquiries Simon Bowes, Start/arena set up Michael Merritt, Anna and Pete Chapman and Ben, William Neville and David, Clive Hawkes, Linda and Tim Hulley, Vince Joyce, Chris Jepson, Cliff Woolford and Jane King), Finish ( Andy Parkinson, Gail Thompson), Control collection (Dave Cummins, Alan Velecky, Chris Hooker, Garry Greenstreet, Chris Pearson.) I do hope I haven’t forgotten anyone; it takes many people to make a successful event, thank you all.

Samantha Gibson

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.

Read more about RouteGadget…

Pre event info

Come and join us on the South Downs where we've made the most of the areas of runnable beech forest.

Enter now whilst maps are still available. Entries close at 8pm on 26th April. FINAL DETAILS

Location Info

Nearest town: Arundel

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

Directions / Parking

Whiteways overspill car park. Please park as directed.

There is a height restriction barrier (2m) at the entrance to the overflow car park. Alternative parking is available, just ask the parking marshal. We will not be measuring the height of your vehicle so proceed at your own risk.

Whiteways Lodge car park and take away kiosk are very popular with motorcyclists; expect to navigate with care past scores of motorcycles to the overflow car park. (Turn left at main entrance).

Public Transport

Nearest train station Amberley.

Course Information

Courses lengths:

Brown 8.7km, 270m climb

Blue 6.3km, 180m climb

Short Blue 5.1km, 150m climb

Green 4.2km, 120m climb

Short / Light Green 3.4km, 90m climb

Orange 2.8km, 95m climb

Yellow 2.3km, 70m climb

White 1.6km, 60m climb

String course - for our younger juniors

Approx 250m from assembly to Start. Finish almost adjacent to Assembly

Course Notes:-

Very few off-path controls are placed in woodland that is not mapped as "white", but careful route choice selection will be required on some legs to avoid exposure to bramble and thicker vegetation.

There are numerous hides marked in some areas close to the Start & Finish locations - it is possible that new ones will have appeared after the maps have been printed.

A section of runnable beech forest at the northern end of the map has some parallel narrow mountain bike tracks. Less distinctive ones have not been mapped, but could appear more prominent on race day depending on recent usage.

There is an almost completely buried WW2 Nissan Hut in the northern part of the forest, the entrance being marked as a "Cave". This will be marked with the Out of Bounds symbol and taped off on the day, please stay clear.

As per the new BOF rules, the route from the common final control on all courses will be taped to the finish flag.

Entry Details

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

£12.00 BOF Senior/£6.00 BOF Junior up to 20th April 2025

£14.00 BOF Senior/£6.00 BOF Junior up to 26th April 2025 (subject to map availability)

£2.00 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

Registration

10.15am - 12.15pm

Start Times

10.15am - 12.30pm. Courses close 2.30pm.

Map Details

1:10000, 5 metres contours. Totally Re-surveyed with LIDAR data by Chris Hooker Autumn 2023 for the Sunny Sussex Weekend in May 2024, with planners updates in Spring 2024 & Spring 2025. A4 map for all courses.

Safety Bearing:- South-East towards Assembly at Whiteways Lodge Cafe & Picnic Site

Terrain Description

A mixture of broadleaved (mainly beech) and coniferous woodland of varying ages and runnability. Some of the beech areas are delightfully runnable and the more technical courses have been planned to maximise the time spend in these areas.

Some of the non-white blocks have extensive bramble, and even along the edges of some of the runnable blocks there is a bramble fringe.

Dog restrictions

Keep dogs in sight and close-by; use a lead if they don’t always return when called. Always clean up after your dogs.

Facilities

There is a free string course with an animal theme set in the field and woodland 100m south from the assembly field. Certificates and a small prize will be given to all participants.

Portaloo toilets.

Take away food kiosk.

Note that no water will be provided on the course or at the finish. Please consider carrying your own if you feel that you are likely to be out for a long time in the unsually warm April weather predicted for the event.

Miscellaneous

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. When you leave the car parking field to go to the start you will be asked to disinfect your footwear/gaiters before running in the forest. 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.

Contacts / Officials

Planner: Steve Jarvis

Organiser: Samantha Gibson

Controller: John Collyer (GO)