Final details, 24/10/08, but keep checking for latest edition.

RISHWORTH MOOR REGIONAL EVENT
Incorporating the
YHOA CHAMPIONSHIPS

SUNDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2008

LATEST UPDATE: TUESDAY 21st OCTOBER

1. Having just got the key to the reservoir track, I drove up there
today. I knew it was wet from some recent runs out there, but some of
the puddles on the track are enormous (and more heavy rain is forecast
on Thursday). However, I managed to drive along in a Ford Ka - I would
estimate the maximum depth ot the puddles at about 6". PLEASE drive
very slowly. Neither EPOC, BOF nor Yorkshire Water can take any
responsibility for damage to your suspension. There are some parking
spaces in lay-bys on the A672 but using them would entail a very long
walk to the assembly area and start.

2. I have taken the decision that WEARING OR CARRYING A CAGOULE WILL
BE COMPULSORY.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday! Dick Spendlove.

Compass Point orienteering shop will be in attendance, parked at the
southern end of the dam near the old sailing club. Please give them
your support.

 

Travel: 500m from J22 on the M62 – follow signs NE along the A672 (direction of Sowerby Bridge). If approaching from Calderdale, the signed turning is 8km SW on A672 after the traffic lights in Ripponden. GR. SD 991 151 Beware of sheep on the road.

Parking: £1 per car. Linear parking along the track leading to Green Withens reservoir. PLEASE be patient on arrival as we will try to turn all vehicles so that they are facing the right direction for leaving. Most of the track is suitable for echelon/diagonal parking so please follow the marshal's directions and park as economically as possible as regards space.  20 spaces for families with young children will be reserved nearest to assembly on a first come/first served basis. Minibuses and camper vans will be parked near the old sailing club house, 600m from assembly area. (NB the old club house is semi-derelict and will be out of bounds – please do not allow children to play in it.)  Late arrivals may be parked up to 1500m from assembly area. Anyone planning to bring a coach or large motor-home should contact the organiser.

Assembly area: will be situated at the NW end of the reservoir dam and will provide registration, dibber hire, buddy system, enquiries, toilets, download, orange/water, results and venue for prize-giving. There will be no caterers present. Registration 9.30 – 12.00.

Pre-entries: all competitors who have pre-entered can make their way to the start unless they have indicated they need to hire a dibber. Start times are in 3 blocks, please arrive in time to start within your allocated block (see below).

Entry on the Day: Please fill in the form handed out on arrival by the car park marshal and take it to one of the registration cars in the assembly area. Dibbers can be hired. We hope to have printed sufficient maps for the probable number of entries on the day. However, later arrivals may have to run a different course to their age group or alternatively copy their course from a master map.

Fees (EOD): Age group courses: Seniors £11 (£9 BOF members), Juniors £3, 
                      Family £21
                      Colour-coded courses: White to Lt.Green: £5 / £2
                      Dibber hire: £1

Map: 1:10,000 surveyed and drawn 1985-2008 by Rod Ryall. Maps will be printed on waterproof paper.

Start:  There will be two starts:
            Far Start: 1.2 km from assembly area along a flat drainage channel followed by 
short uphill section (25m climb).  Allow 20-25 minutes to walk it. It took 25 minutes at a W14 Dawdle. As a relatively fit M45 it took the planner 15 minutes slow jogging and walking.
            Near Start: 250m from assembly area. Allow 10 minutes walk.
               Call-up will be at -3 minutes. A punching start system will be used.
Start times: Pre-entries will have been allocated a start block time.

EARLY	MIDDLE	LATE
10.30 – 11.10	11.10 – 11.50	11.50 – 12.30

Finish: For all courses is 900m from the assembly area. The route back is flat along the drainage channel. Competitors heading for the Far Start will pass close to the finish and may leave clothes there, but please provide your own bag. It is a further 700m to the start. It’s a 15-minute W14 dawdle, or relatively fit M45 5 minute jog from the finish to assembly.
Safety: All competitors take part at their own risk. The area is high exposed moorland between 360m and 430m and can be very tricky to navigate in low cloud/mist etc. WHISTLES will be compulsory and a WATERPROOF CAGOULE is highly recommended and may also be compulsory if conditions on the day are bad. From most of the competition area a bearing due SOUTH will bring you back to the safety of the main drainage channel and the reservoir. We ask all competitors travelling alone to use the BUDDY SYSTEM and leave their name and car keys at assembly so that we can be sure they return safely. All competitors must report to the download caravan even if they retire and do not complete their course.  COURSES CLOSE AT 14.30.

Courses:

Course	Classes		Distance	Climb	Start
1	M21L		10.2 km	320 m	FAR
2	M35L,M40L		8.7 km	250 m	FAR
3	JM5L,M21S,M45L,M50L,W21L		7.8 km	240 m	FAR
4	JM5M,M35S,M40S,M55L,M60L,JW5L,W35L,W40L		6.6 km	235 m	FAR
5	M21V,M45S,M50S,M65L,W21S,W45L,W50L		5.6 km	160 m	FAR
6	JM5S,M55S,M70L,JW5S,W35S,W40S,W55L,W60L		4.5 km	140 m	FAR
7	M60S,M65S,M75L,W21V, W45S,W65L,W70L		3.3 km	110 m	FAR
8	M70S,M75S,W50S,W55S,W60S,W65S,W70S,W75		2.8 km	105 m	FAR
11	JM4,JW4	Light Green	3.5 km	160 m	NEAR
12	JM3,JW3	Orange	3.2 km	110 m	NEAR
13	JM2,JW2	Yellow	2.3 km	85 m	NEAR
14	JM1,JW1	White	1.4 km	70 m	NEAR

 

String course: Due to a shortage of manpower we are sorry not to be able to offer a string course on this occasion.

Control descriptions: Can be downloaded from the EPOC website (eastpennineoc.org.uk). They will also be printed on the map. Waterproof control descriptions which will be available at the start!

YHOA Championships:  All members of clubs in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region (AIRE, CLARO, EBOR, EPOC, HALO, SYO plus affiliated university clubs) will be competing in the Championships. Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd on Junior courses (JM/W 1-5) and to the winner on all Senior courses (L and S). Results will be displayed near the download caravan and will also be on the EPOC website by Sunday evening (systems permitting!). Please make the effort to put your route on Route Gadget. It is not difficult! The prize-giving will be in the assembly area as soon as possible after 1.30pm. 

Planners Notes : As a planner I subscribe to philosophy that starts and finishes should be near to assembly. You will notice at Rishworth this is not the case. I have tried to plan the courses with the terrain in mind. In places on the moor there are man-eating tussocks, and man swallowing bogs! There is a dearth of line features. The best area is featured on our website. When planning the course my W14 daughter ably assisted me, if she couldn’t get across the terrain we ruled out that bit of the moor.

So I have planned the courses so that all the technical difficulty 4/5 courses avoid the worst of the tussocks and bogs and get into the most technical areas. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised at the run-ability of most of the area. I hope the "longer-than-I-would-have-liked", walk to the start is worth it! As for JMW 1,2,3, I have again tried to avoid the worst of the bogs, but motorbikes have made my job difficult and your conditions underfoot could be on the adventurous side!

Terrain Notes:  Natural England have asked us to avoid the main areas of sphagnum moss and exposed peat and the course planning has taken this into account. However, you will certainly encounter some on your course and we ask you to steer clear wherever possible.

Rishworth is typical West Yorkshire Moorland. Tussocks, marsh and some bracken, typify the lower slopes. The higher up you go the more runnable the moor becomes, with some haggs and groughs. To the east of the moor there is ankle to shin deep grass, with virtually no tussocks. This area is gently sloping with some interesting gully features. In the north east of the area is where there have been a variety of landslips in the past, the land is now stable and is like many abandoned quarry areas, which abound in the Pennines it is quite technical. The west of the area is fast running and fairly featureless. To the north is a gently sloping hillside with a wide variety of terrain from former quarry workings, to haggs and groughs, and areas with many deep gullies.
If there is marsh marked on the map this will be very boggy and in all likelyhood tussocky!
As this is sheep grazing moorland there are in places many sheep trods. They are not mapped, but they may aid progress, if you are lucky to find one!
Many of the tracks on the south slope have been created by motorbikes illegally scrambling, they have churned up the moor quite badly in places, this may slow down competitors, especially quite young ones on J1, 2 and 3.
If the mist is down this will test all your navigational skills.

Dogs: please keep your dog on a lead along the car parking track and in the assembly area. No dogs to be taken on courses. There are sheep on the moor.

Officials: Planner – Graham Lloyd
              Organiser  -  Dick Spendlove  01422 832471 / 0779 1524140

              Controller – Mike Pownall assisted by Brian Mellor and Anthony Greenwood