MV urban at North Holmwood & south Dorking
Sunday, 29 August 2027 @ 10:30 - 12:30
Very provisional preliminary information
This will be an urban event, planned in accordance with Appendix B10 (urban part) of British Orienteering Rules.
This event is a candidate for including in the UK Urban League and/or the Southern England Orienteering Urban League. Selections for these leagues will likely be announced by January 2027.
The usual urban league courses will be provided:
| Course | League classes (men) | League classes (women) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men Open (M18-35) | |
| 2 | Veteran Men (M40+) | Women Open (W18-35) |
| 3 | Super Veteran Men (M55+) | Veteran Women (W40+) |
| 4 | Ultra Veteran Men (M65+) | Super Veteran Women (W55+) |
| 5 | Hyper Veteran Men (M75+) | Ultra Veteran Women (W65+) & Hyper Veteran Women (W75+) |
| 6 | Junior Men (M16-) | Junior Women (W16-) |
| 7 | Young Junior Men (M12-) | Young Junior Women (W12-) |
Anyone not worried about getting points in the league(s) may run any course, except that children under 16 years on the day of the event may only run courses 6 or 7, and children under 12 may only run course 7.
All adult courses will encounter traffic, but no very busy roads. The A24 Deepdene Avenue (aka Dorking bypass) will be out of bounds, and crossed by subway. The maximum speed limit on any road actually used during this event is 30mph.
Expected winning times for Men’s and Women’s Opens will be around 45-50 minutes, and the other categories will be similar or slightly less. The junior courses may be shorter if the planner can’t find enough low traffic / traffic free areas.
The map will be 1:4,000, an extension by Ian Roberts to the original Dorking map by Mike Elliot. Most of the area is new to orienteering; only the longest courses will reach the original map, and then only for a couple of controls. It is possible that the some of the shorter courses may be printed at 1:3,000.
The area will showcase a wide variety of different styles of housing developments, mostly 20th century. The area closest to the start & finish is perhaps the best, dead-end roads linked by a maze of alleyways, and is reasonably flat. Longer courses can expect significant hills, possibly offering an over-or-round route choice.
We hope/expect to have an indoor event centre, with toilets and a kitchen, so hot drinks (possibly DIY) should be available.
There is some street parking close to the anticipated event centre, and we hope also to be able to use a field some 300m away.
Dorking railway station has trains from London Victoria & London Waterloo. Dorking (Deepdene) has trains from Reading & Gatwick Airport. There is no information yet about any weekend engineering works. Both stations are around 3.8km / 55 minutes walk from North Holmwood. There is a door-to-door bus every 2 hours, and an hourly bus saving roughly half the walk.