SE Night Championships Tilgate Forest Sat 14 November, 2026

Pre event info

A night event in the newly re-mapped Tilgate Park and incorporating the golf course.

Directions / Parking

By car:

Pay and Display car parking in one of the country park car parks, details of the recommended one: TQ276345. What3Words: early.path.loft  Google Maps. There are no charges after 4pm, but if you arrive earlier, parking fees are as follows:

Up to 2 hours £3.20, up to 3 hours £4.80, up to 4 hours £6.00, or all day £7.00. Fees payable at machines in the car park or using the MiPermit app.

From M23/A23 take the Pease Pottage exit (Junction 11) and follow signs towards Crawley. Follow the brown tourist signs to Tilgate Park. At the first set of traffic lights, turn right towards K2 Leisure Centre (RH11 9BQ) and turn immediately right onto Tilgate Drive. Follow this road until you arrive at the Pay and Display car park (W3W early.path.loft,). There is another access via Titmus Drive which can also be used.

There is a 2.1m height restriction in all Tilgate Park car parks.

Public Transport

By train:

Three Bridges Station - 3.4km

Crawley Station - 2.6km

By bus:

Metrobus Route 2 - Whistler Close (1km) or K2 Leisure Centre (1.1km)  

Course Information

Three courses are on offer with the SEOA competition classes mapped as below

You can enter any course but to be eligible for an SEOA championship medal you must be affiliated to British Orienteering through SEOA and run a suitable course for your age class. If running up please specify in which class you would like to compete (eg an M60 could complete in either M20-40 or M45-50 on course 1).

Note that the youngest junior age category is M/W16 - younger juniors can enter but must only run alone if they have proved to be capable of running a green-standard course. The organiser has insisted that all U18s must also carry a trackable mobile phone with them.

The start is approximately 500m from the car park, the finish is about 200m from the car park but in a completely different direction. Courses close at 20:30

A previous version of the golf course map can be found here

A previous map of the main park can be found here

Entry Details

Entries are via Racesignup

Standard entry fee: Seniors £12, Juniors £6 (SO juniors free using the usual code)

Late entry (from 9th Nov): Seniors £14, Juniors £6 (SO juniors free using the usual code)

Start Times

Starts between 5:45pm and 6:45pm

Map Details

1:10000 (course 1) or 1:7500 (courses 2 and 3). Newly remapped in 2026.

Terrain Description

All courses intially visit the golf course - please do not run across the greens (marked as OOB) or bunkers. There are many drainage ditches on the golf course, only the most significant have been mapped. Throughout the entire map only rootstocks higher than 2m have been mapped. Branch hides have not been mapped.

There are some dense patches of bracken and/or bramble which you can attempt to cross at your peril. These are mapped with the closely spaced green undergrowth stripes. Other areas of less dense (and now dying) bracken are mapped with the wider stripes and are generally crossable.

Dog restrictions

Well behaved dogs are welcome.

Facilities

If you arrive early there are lots of things to do and places to eat in Tilgate Park including Tilgate Zoo, children's play area, The Walled Garden Community Café, Tilgate Lakeside Café, The Smith and Western pub, Walled Garden with maze, and Go Ape.

Unfortunately the public toilets in the car park will be closed from 4pm.

Miscellaneous

In addition to their main head torch all competitors must carry a back-up torch and a whistle.

We hope to be able to award the SEOA championship medals as as soon as possible after 8pm.

This event takes place on both Forestry Commission land and Crawley Borough Council land. Access to the CBC part has been granted by kind permission of Crawley Borough Council. Access to the Forestry Commission part has been granted by kind permission of the Forestry Commission — access is normally restricted to public rights of way; please respect these restrictions at all other times.

The event supports contactless SIAC electronic punching. The start and finish controls must be punched though (ie. not just contactless, ‘dib’ them). Pre-ordered dibbers will be available from the download tent. You must report to download as soon as possible whether you complete your course or not.

Personal information provided for this event will be used to process your entry, communicate about the event, publish results and check for missing runners only.

Contacts / Officials

Planner: Euan Marsh

Organiser: Tim and Linda Hulley

Controller / Event Adviser: Neil Crickmore

Mapper: Neil Crickmore

Important Event Information

Safety and Risk: A comprehensive risk assessment will have been carried out by the organiser, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event. Information about how to keep yourself and your children safe at an event can be found here.

Whistles:Carrying a whistle is strongly recommended at all our events and may be made compulsory by the organiser depending on identified risks and conditions.

SIACs: Note that in contactless mode no record of a SIAC "punch" is held in the control box. By using contactless punching, competitors are accepting the resulting risk that we may take longer to find them if they are lost or injured.

Covid Prevention: Please adhere to the British Orienteering Code of Conduct and take care to allow others to maintain social distance if they wish.

Ticks: Please be aware that ticks are common across many of the areas we run in and can carry infections such as Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Encephalitis. This is why the rules of orienteering say that you MUST wear full leg and abdomen cover in the forest. Full arm cover is also recommended. Please check for ticks after running and seek medical advice if you develop flu like symptoms or a spreading circular rash after being bitten. There is an excellent government leaflet here.

Insurance: All of our events are registered with British Orienteering and are covered by their public liability insurance; individuals are advised to consider their own private accident insurance.

Participants who are not members of British Orienteering are not covered by British Orienteering’s public liability insurance. By entering this event, you acknowledge that you are taking part at your own risk. For example, if you were to accidentally injure a member of the public or damage property during the event, you would not be covered. Look into joining here.

Please note that the insurance only covers those registered as being part of the event so if you are taking part as a group, or are accompanying / shadowing a child please make sure you register the names of everyone taking part as you sign up.

Privacy: when participating in our events/activities your name may appear in the results section of this website or in newspaper reports. Read our data protection page to see how we look after your personal data.