Mole evening score event on Epsom Downs

Mole Valley invite you to the world famous racecourse for an evening score event.

Part of the “Kent Night Cup” series, but you don’t have to be competing in that series to enjoy this event. Come to that, you don’t have to go to Kent to compete in the series, there are also be events in Sussex and SE London.

Even though the main course crosses roads, under-16 juniors are still permitted. There will be a smaller mapped area for U16’s, with no road crossings, and an adjustment to the scoring system to compensate for not having access to all the controls. Note however that unaccompanied night orienteering is not regarded as suitable for young children. All under-18’s must have parent/guardian permission to enter.

Directions/Parking
Free parking at the “Tea Hut” car park on Epsom Downs, accessed from Old London Road immediately north of its roundabout junction with the B290. W3W hired.clues.truth; GPS 51.31207,-0.24541; OS TQ223584. Postcode KT18 5PP is about 200m further east.

Public transport
Trains: Tattenham Corner station 500m, Epsom Downs station 1.6km, Epsom station 3.3km.
Buses: “Tattenham Corner” (not “Tattenham Corner railway station”) bus stop is adjacent, only Metrobus services 460 & 480 are likely to be any use. bustimes.org

Terrain
The bulk of the mapped area is open grassland, very fast running. Some controls are in woodland, which will require accurate navigation if you are not to lose time. No steep hills, but there is a 50m height difference between the lowest and highest points of the map.

The southern ¾ of the area is the famous racecourse and adjacent training gallops. The racecourse itself is bounded by white rails and fences, and is out-of-bounds except at crossing points. Most crossing points are on the level, but one is a tunnel. There are other tracks bounded by white rails, but without fences; these are in-bounds. The one road in this area of the map closes to the public at 5pm. There are a couple of houses which use it for access, so a car on the road is possible, but visibility is excellent and you’ll see it a mile off; just step off the road if you see headlights.

The northern ¼ of the area is a golf course, criss-crossed by public roads. All these roads have a path or runnable grassland besides them, so there is no need to run along them. I haven’t cluttered the map with purple crosses; nevertheless please cross at right-angles and give way to traffic. Some of the roads have a little bank alongside them, too small to map, but big enough to trip over; take care! Please keep off the golf greens, these are the small areas of particularly short grass with a flag in the middle, mapped as out-of-bounds. Look carefully at your map, as small areas of out-of-bounds hashing can be difficult to spot.

Format
A one-hour score event with a mass start at 19:30. The main course will have 20 controls, numbered 90 to 109 which may be visited in any order. You score a point for each control visited, and lose a point for each minute, or part of a minute, late back.

To keep the faster people occupied for an hour, there will be bonus points available. You get an extra point for consecutively punching 3 controls in the 90-99 number range, ie without punching a control numbered 100 or above in between. Likewise you get an extra point for punching 3 100-109 controls without a 90-99 in between. No control can be counted in more than one bonus sequence. There is no requirement for the ‘sequence’ controls to be consecutive numbers, they just have all to be ‘90’s or all ‘100’s. Thus 93-91-96 is as good as 90-91-92.

Summary:

Scoring examples:

To reiterate, this is NOT one of those events where you have to visit all your 90’s before 100’s or vice versa. You can jump about between 90’s and 100’s as much you like and each control will score. If you are not going for bonus points, the control codes do not matter at all.

Punching will be with SI. SIAC (touch-free punching) should be enabled, so be careful if you pass close to a control that you do not want to punch because it would break a sequence. If you visit a control twice, only the first visit will be count for scoring purposes.

SI dibbers (the old type, not SIAC) are available to hire via the entries system.

Please download as soon as you have finished (or given up) to avoid the organiser having a nervous breakdown while organising a search party for you.

Special rules for juniors who have yet to reach their 16th birthday
British Orienteering does not permit you to race across public roads. Therefore you are not permitted to visit the controls on the golf course. This deprives you of the opportunity of visiting 6 controls, and getting 2 bonus sequences, reducing your maximum score by 8 points. To compensate, if you visit all 14 controls which are available to you, you will get a bonus point for every complete 3 minutes by which you finish early, up to a maximum of 8 bonus points for finishing in 36 minutes or less. No bonus for finishing early if you don’t punch all 14 controls. “Complete” 3 minutes means that you must finish within 57 minutes for one bonus point, 57 minutes and one second would be too late.

These bonus points are only available to U16’s; older people need to visit controls rather than finish early.

The finish is on the far side of a road from the car park and download, however my understanding is that you are allowed to cross a road so long as you are not racing. Take care, and make use of the mid-road island next to the roundabout.

Entries
In advance only and online only, closing at midnight the day before the event, via racesignup. Discount for the first four people agreeing to collect about five controls each after the event (experienced night orienteers only please).

Lost hire dibbers will be charged at £30.

Under-18’s must have the permission of parent or guardian to enter.

Precautions
Torch and a backup compulsory. A mobile phone with a light will do for backup provided it has adequate battery – carrying a phone is recommended anyway. An emergency phone number (ICE) will be printed on the map. Cagoules, hat & gloves may be compulsory if the weather is bad. Please ensure that you clear and check your SI dibber before starting (we use the check box to know who has started) and please download as soon as possible after finishing.

In the case of extreme bad weather, the event may be cancelled. The most likely cause would be thunderstorms – the downs are high and exposed and lightning would be a serious risk. If in doubt, please check the Mole Valley website.

The usual orienteering hazards are present, including trees anxious to trip you up or poke your eye out. With much of the course being tree-free fast running, it’s easy to rush into the woodland at the same speed without taking due care. There are also a few rabbit holes, and a deep pit close to the northernmost control (109).

The roads are fast but visibility is very good, just watch out for the small earth-banks along the edge, usually too small to map but big enough to trip you up. You may cross the roads, but not run along the tarmac; running the grass besides them is fine.

Formal COVID-19 restrictions are a thing of the past, but please stay away if you suspect you may have a contagious disease, and respect any desire of others for social distancing.

Safety bearing
If lost on the racecourse side (south of the start), head north. If lost on the golf course (north of the start), head south. Once you see the the racecourse grandstand, looking like a stranded cruise liner, head east to the event car park (400m east of the grandstand).

Map
1:10,000, 5m contours, ISOM 2017 (ie standard “forest” map), last updated by Philip Gristwood in 2023. (Control-free) map courtesy of the O-Tools website.
Maps will be printed on A4 waterproof paper. Map legend obscured by control descriptions (except for the U16 course), print you own from the online map if required. Separate/loose control descriptions are not provided.

Special Item on map and control descriptions: black circle is a coal tax post, a metal bollard about 1.2m high and painted white.

Special map symbol: a golf green is a shown as a dashed green circle/oval with out-of-bounds hashing as infill. Please keep off.

Note that the “distinctive” trees are usually distinctive by way of being isolated (no overlap of canopy with other trees) rather than large.

Dogs
Permitted provided under control. Be warned there are several road crossings in the north (golf course) part of the map, and not everybody observes the 40mph speed limit.

Nearest A&E Hospital
Epsom Hospital, Dorking Road, Epsom, KT18 7EG

Facilities
None (the public toilet block that was available for the previous KNC here in 2020 has been demolished). Possibly you might be able to sneak into the pub toilets (see Apres-O).

Apres-O (optional)
At the Tottenham Corner pub (no longer part of the Beefeater chain), 50m from the car park. No specific space reserved, but hopefully we can find an empty corner to take over. Food orders will be taken until at least 9pm (their website says 10pm). No mud in the pub please.

Results
Will be announced at the pub, and then appear on the Mole Valley and Saxons (Kent Night Cup page) websites sometime later.

Organiser/Planner
Ian Ditchfield (MV)      mvocevent@gmail.com

You compete at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety