EventsFeature

Ripon City Final Details

LOCATIONSpa Park tennis pavilion, Church Lane, opposite St Wilfrid’s Primary School.
POSTCODEHG4 2ES
LATITUDE/LONGITUDE54.136 -1.530
OS GRID REFERENCESE308713
WHAT3WORDSskid.restores.jumps

ENTRIES: Pre-entries are now closed. There are very limited entries available on the day, although courses 3 and 4 are currently full (maps may become available if any entered competitors cancel).

TIMINGS: Starts: 1030-1230 for seniors, 1030-1130 for juniors owing to marshalled crossings.
Courses close: 1400hrs.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: There is a regular (even on Sunday) direct bus service from Leeds and Harrogate to the centre of Ripon (route 36). First bus leaves Leeds at 0815, arriving Ripon 0940 (the Harrogate-Ripon service starts even earlier!). In both Leeds and Harrogate the bus station is close to the rail station. See Transdev. If you are coming from the CLOK Richmond event then there is a bus on Saturday afternoon run by Proctors. And you can get to Richmond from Darlington (on the East Coast main line) by Arriva bus.

CAR PARKING: Some on-street parking is available in the vicinity of the event centre. However, as it is a Sunday and there are at least 4 active churches within 300m of the park, places may be limited. Best options are likely to be along Studley Road and Clotherholme Road to the west – please park considerately and only along one side of the road (the south). There are a number of car parks available in Ripon. Blossomgate is the nearest, and free, but is very small. Marshall Street car park has a 3-hour maximum stay. Late edit: If approaching Ripon from the south, you are advised to leave the A61 Ripon by-pass at the B6265 roundabout, and enter Ripon from there, as temporary roadworks on Harrogate Road-Low Skellgate where it crosses the river are causing delays.

REGISTRATION AND FACILITIES: The event centre, including registration, /enquiries and download will be in the pavilion adjacent to the tennis courts at the west end of Spa Park. The nearest available toilets are in Spa Gardens, adjacent to Near Start and 350m from the event centre. Spa Gardens cafe, at the same location, will be open. There are no toilets between the event centre and Far Start.

THE AREA: The senior courses will explore the intricate network of streets, ginnels and parks of this historic city, as well as extending into some of Ripon’s more interesting and varied outer areas, including the grammar school and the old college of education (now residential). The junior courses (7 and 8) will be run entirely within the grounds of the grammar school and a neighbouring primary school to conform with British Orienteering rules for under-16s urban races. For all, rapid and accurate route finding and route choice will be at a premium; courses 7 and 8 have been been planned sprint-style.

START: There will be 2 starts: Far Start, for courses 1-3 and 7-8, is 900m from the event centre; Near Start, for courses 4-6, is 350m from the event centre. Pre-entered competitors with their own SI cards may go straight to their respective starts, but please note that both starts must be approached via the marked routes: access from any other direction is out of bounds.

FINISH: immediately adjacent to the event centre (on the other side of the road).

COURSES: Course details are given below. Distances are straight line: shortest running distance for senior courses are all 50-60% further (eg Course 1 = 11.3km); junior courses run 30-35% further. Anybody may enter any course, but, if you wish to be part of the Yorkshire and Humberside Urban League, and/or measure yourself against your age peers, you should run the relevant course for your class as listed below. Adult beginners are recommended to run one of courses 5 or 6, although all senior courses are planned to the same technical standard; courses 7-8 are also open to adults, but please note the start time restrictions (1030-1130).

CourseMen’s classesWomen’s classesKmClimbControlsMap size
1Men Open 7.490m34A3+ double sided, 1:4000
2Men Vet (40+)Women Open6.585m33A3+ double sided, 1:4000
3Men Supervet (55+)Women Vet (40+)5.565m30A3+ single sided, 1:4000
4Men Ultravet (65+)Women Supervet (55+)4.975m25A3 single sided, 1:4000
5Men Hypervet (75+)Women Ultravet (65+)3.440m19A3 single sided, 1:4000
6Women Hypervet (75+)2.835m16A3 single sided, 1:4000
7Men Junior (16-)Women Junior (16-)2.815m23A4 double sided, 1:3000
8Men Young Junior (12-)Women Young Junior (12-)2.210m18A4 double sided, 1:3000

ADDITIONAL PLANNER’S NOTES:
Out of Bounds: OOB areas (purple hatch) have been added within the grammar school grounds and in the old college of education grounds; most courses include some or all of these (including juniors). They are distinct areas, although not marked with tape, and MUST be observed: our future use of both areas is dependent on this, and there is very likely to be school and resident observers. Anybody found transgressing will be disqualified. Courses have been planned so that there is little or no advantage in doing so anyway!
Far Start courses: 11+ assessments and a rugby match are all taking place in the grammar school at the same time as our event, so there will be a significant number of other school visitors. Courses have been planned to ensure maximum separation, but please show respect for other users. In particular, please keep noise to an absolute minimum within the vicinity of all school buildings as you will be passing close to exam rooms. Senior management are understandably concerned that exams are NOT disturbed at all – several other sports fixtures have been cancelled on this account, and we are only being allowed to use the planned courses because of their understanding of the sport and its inherent quietness! As stated above, there will be observers, and noise levels will be monitored. Please also note that space at the start is very tight, so warming up will need to be done on the way there, or in a car park area (unused on Sundays) on the other side of the road from the start (the road is quieter on a Sunday, but can still be busy).
Course 1 & 2 maps: these are double sided. They have been printed to provide an overlap of 2-3 legs to ease swapping maps. Course 1 runners should note that the last complete leg shown on map 1, 17-18, does not show all the route choice options – you are recommended to turn over earlier rather than later, with legs 15-16 and 16-17 both shown fully on both maps. Full course descriptions are on both sides.
Courses 7 & 8 maps: course 7 is in 3 parts: parts 1 and 3 are on map 1, part 2 is on map 2. They have been printed so that the last leg for one part is shown as the first leg for the next part, providing an overlap to ease swapping over! There are NO control descriptions on the maps – please make sure that you take loose descriptions.
Course 7 marshalled road crossing: course 7 has a marshalled zebra crossing across the main driveway in the grammar school grounds. This driveway will be busy (see Far Start note above). Competitors will punch controls immediately either side of the crossing, and their time for the crossing will be excluded from race times as long as they follow the marshal’s instructions!
Route to Near Start, Toilets and Cafe: On entering the gardens, you must stay on the marked route which gives access to these locations: the rest of the gardens is out of bounds to competitors until after the competition. Please show consideration to other park users – these gardens are popular with local residents and visitors (and the cafe with cyclists!).

ELECTRONIC PUNCHING. SportIdent (SI) punching will be used for all courses. Hire dibbers will be available. Controls will be enabled for SIAC touch-free punching. Note that courses 1-3 have 30 or more controls which is more than some old dibbers can handle.

RESULTS: It is intended to have live on-line results available. These will be updated every 5 minutes at:

www.claro-orienteering.org.uk/results/live

Final results will be posted on the Claro website at www.claro-orienteering.org.uk.
When entering our events your name may appear in the results section of this website or in newspaper reports.

DOGS: No dogs on the courses, please.

SAFETY: As ever with urban events, competitors should take great care crossing roads and other areas with traffic (eg car parks): whilst Ripon is generally quiet on Sunday mornings, there will still be activity, especially around churches, of which there are several within the vicinity of the event centre, and supermarkets (at least three in competition area). Busier roads are marked with darker brown colour (as standard). Ripon has plenty of ginnels, particularly in the centre, which are well frequented, so please take care using these, especially on blind corners: run wide, slower, and watch out!

INSURANCE: Please note that if you are not a member of an orienteering club affiliated to British Orienteering then you are not covered by our public liability insurance except if you are a newcomer to orienteering, in which case you are covered for three registered orienteering events without joining. Please ask any of our club officials for more information if you would like to join CLARO.

PHOTOGRAPHY: In accordance with the British Orienteering Policy Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults, the organiser of this event requires that any person wishing to engage in any
video, zoom or close range photography should register their details with the organiser before carrying out any such photography. The organiser reserves the right to decline entry to any person unable to meet or abide by the organiser’s conditions.

OFFICIALS:

All enquiries: entriesATclaro-orienteering.org.uk

Organiser: Arthur Clarke (CLARO)

Planner: Andrew Kelly (CLARO)

Controller: David Day (CLARO)