Parko 7 Oaklands Park Sat 06 September, 2025

Near: Chichester
Level of event: Local
Type of event: Race

Results

Report

Planners Report, Oaklands Park, Saturday 6th September

A sunny warm day, the ground softened up by recent rain, and a pleasantly complex area around and amongst the University buildings – all good omens!

The most difficult feature around which to plan is College Lane, nominally a 20 mph limit but a survey showed this to be 30 mph for the majority of cars. Thus the White and Yellow courses, for safety reasons were restricted to the Park itself. For the White course this is not a problem , as the 1.3 km fits neatly around the edge of the Park, but for the Orange it meant quite a lot of zig-zagging across the Park.

For the Sprint course, too , crossing College Lane was a constraint. There are two possible crossing points, but the southern one has poor visibility looking north because of a hump in the road, and no pavement to stand on. Hence the northern crossing was used outbound and the southern inbound.

It was quite easy to fit a route through the University campus with lots of turns and challenges to spot the narrow alleys which were short cuts; there are so many and varied features. I admit to deliberately including ‘between two building pass-throughs’ (no.10) and ‘statue’ (no.6) to check on competitors’ knowledge of code descriptors! Congratulations not only to the winners for a fast time but also to the two M10s (Mark and Oliver Johnson) and the W12 (Harriett Nichols) for competing successfully with the seniors.

It was a pleasure to see many newcomers from the Cubs and Scouts, and to find that many of them enjoyed it so much that they followed up a Yellow course with a second run round the Orange. We hope to see them again. Many thanks to the Scout leaders for encouraging their participation.

Thanks also to those who helped,, Steve Blount and Neil Crickmore for advice on courses beforehand; and on the day, Katarina and Zoe Hill on the start, who made a special journey though not competing (good luck for their triathlon on Sunday), Michael Merritt for putting out, Euan Marsh for checking, and the control collectors , efficiently able so that all was clear by 1215; and to all those who made appreciative comments afterwards.

And finally, a note on the use of Oaklands. The Parkrun finished at 1000, we were in possession to 1300, and the rugby season was due to start at 1400!


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…

Park O Series Info

Park-Os are friendly club events, usually in parks or school grounds, where children and newcomers are very welcome. These are fun events where you can get a feeling for the sport – you can walk or run, go as a group or on your own or challenge your navigation at high speed against some of our top competitive orienteers. Yellow and Orange courses are suitable for children to walk or run on their own with a bit of practice. Adults are welcome to shadow children until they are confident to go on their own. Sprint courses are run or walked by any age group.

The Park-O series takes place in the early summer and early Autumn and is 8 events this year. Medals are awarded for the best placed in a variety of age categories.

Volunteer here

Enquiries here

Read more about this series

Location Info

Nearest town: Chichester

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

Directions / Parking

  • Postcode: PO19 6AP
  • Grid Reference: SU 862053
  • What3Words: closer.splash.dwell

Registration/download will be by the north-east corner of Northgate Car Park. Parking is chargeable, £1.10 per hour, payable by cash, contactless card or MiPermit.

Public Transport

Chichester railway station (1.5km) and Chichester bus station (1.5km)

Course Information

Provisional course lengths:

  • Yellow 1.2km
  • Orange 2.0km
  • Sprint 3.4km

Yellow and Orange course stay within Oaklands Park. The Sprint course crosses College Lane and does a loop through the University buildings and Havenstoke Park to finish back in Oaklands Park.

Entry Details

Entry via Racesignup.. Newcomers are welcome and eligible for a free trial session - if you'd like to reserve a map or discuss the event please email our membership secretary.

Entry fees: Sprint £5.00, Orange £2.50, Yellow £2.50 (SO Juniors free - use code SOJuniors)

SI card hire: Seniors £1 (£2 for SIAC), Juniors 50p (£1 for SIAC)

Registration open

From 9:45 to 10:45

Start Times

From 10:00 to 11:00 Courses close at 12:00

Map Details

1:4000 with 2.5m contours. A4. Oct 2024

Terrain Description

The event takes place within Oaklands Park and the University of Chichester campus which provides a mix of fast parkland running and complex buildings to navigate around.

Dog restrictions

Dogs on a lead in the car park. No dogs on the courses.

Facilities

Adjacent to Chichester City Centre, with it's large selection of restaurants and cafes.
Public toilets in Northgate car park, please do not use toilets in the Festival Theatre.

Contacts / Officials

Planner: David Wilson

Organiser:

Controller / Event Adviser: