Mole Festive Event at Reigate Priory Park

Mole Valley Orienteering Club welcomes you to Reigate Priory Park for a regional (level C) ranking event incorporating the South East Veterans and Super Veterans Championships. Join fellow runners for mulled wine and mince pies after your run.

Location: The assembly, start and finish will be close together in Reigate Priory Park. What3words for assembly gravel.point.dream / google maps . Walking distance from Reigate station (~1km). You need to get yourself to the assembly following the map in these details; NO TAPES FROM THE CAR PARK!

Entries: racesignup.co.uk : Seniors £10, Juniors (u21) / students £4 by 8 December. Seniors £12, Juniors £6 after and entry on day (subject to map availability, payment by card only). £2 surcharge for non-BOF Seniors. SI-Card hire £1 (lost units £30).

Parking: Bancroft Road multi-storey car park (post code RH2 0AN or what3words ///cubes.clever.forgot or google maps) is recommended for use because: it has plenty of capacity, is ~360m from assembly, allows you to go past the public toilets en route to assembly. The closest car park (Bell Street) is expected to be very busy due to the other events happening in the park on the same day (note purple painted bays are max 3 hour stay; white painted bays are not). The cost on Sundays for these council car parks is £2.20 for 4 hours, or £1.10 for 2 hours. There is also a Morrisons car park (map) very close by for use by customers with a two hour time limit.

Route from Bancroft road car park to assembly: as shown in the maps below. Please use the traffic-lit crossing points for the busy roads.

Championships: Trophies to winners of the Veterans and Super Veterans competitions, who must be members of an SEOA affiliated Club. We will try to do prize giving on the day at 1pm.

• South East Veterans courses: M40+ Blue, W40+ Green
• South East Super Veterans courses: M60+ Green, W60+ Short Green

Courses

If you are new to orienteering you should choose a Yellow course. Course lengths are straight line distances and you will likely go further.

Map: 1:5000, contour interval 5m. All courses printed on A4. Brown and blue courses double sided. Mapped by Philip Gristwood including updates 2024 by Philip Gristwood and Ian Roberts. A 2022 map of Reigate Priory Park is at https://www.mvoc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#81.

Terrain: Priory Park comprises two adjoining areas. One is open grassland used as sports pitches, with playgrounds and a lake. The other is a wooded area on the Greensand Ridge with some challenging and open woodland together with some steep gradients.

Other park users: The park is widely used by members of the public for sports. On the same day there will be a junior parkrun (9am start, should be finished by the time of our first starts), an ice rink (open from 11am) and a santa run for YMCA East Surrey (adult race 10:30, family race 11:15)! So watch out for lots of santas. Courses have been designed to avoid contraflow running.

Facilities at assembly: key drop, hire dibber pickup, bag drop (under a gazebo), no toilets.

Toilets: Please use the public toilets on your way from the station or from the car park. The public toilets are at the west side of the junction of Bell Street and Bancroft Road, by the car park entrance to Morrisons (what3words: lake.could.invent). Morrisons has toilets for customers. The cafe in the Park has toilets too (w3w: ///print.summer.barn) but this is in the middle of the Santa run route. It’s possible but unclear whether the Santa-run or ice rink will also have toilets – tbc.

Start: 2 minute taped route from assembly to the start. Start times 10:30 – 12:00 (MV helpers will be starting earlier). It will be a punching start. The start will be first come first served – join the queue. Loose control descriptions will be available in the start lane and are also on the front of the map. All courses will use IOF symbols, except yellow which will have text descriptions. The orange course will have IOF symbols on the map, and copies of text descriptions as loose control descriptions will be available. If you are new to orienteering or are unsure about anything, please ask one of the start team and they will be pleased to help you.

Timing and control punching: SportIdent (SI) Punching will be used with SIAC enabled for all the controls in the “terrain”. The start and finish controls WILL NOT be SIAC enabled: all competitors will need to “dib” at both the start and finish. Should a control fail then use the attached pin punch on the map and explain at Download. If a SIAC “dibber” battery fails then “dib” at all controls.

Results: Will be online (expected address: www.sportident.co.uk/results/MV/2024/20241215ReigatePriory) , see QR code on splits printout. Join fellow runners for (provided) mulled wine/berry punch and mince pies in the assembly area after your run.

Safety briefing:

• Competitors are reminded that they take part at their own risk and are responsible at all times for their own safety.
• Full leg cover required.
• All runners will encounter uneven surfaces – please take care.
• Your route may cross or run alongside (in the same direction) the santa run route. Please respect other park users and give way / provide space.
• You may encounter dogs being walked.
• Within Priory Park there is a lake (deep water). Courses go near/alongside this lake on paths. Parents, please remind your children to take particular care here.
• Please avoid running through the skate park in Priory Park.
• Particularly for junior competitors, there is as ever the risk of stranger danger. Please remind your juniors to exercise vigilance. There are no sad/smiley faces on courses.
• Weather-related risks: In the event of severe weather we may require rain jackets are worn or carried. Wet weather will make surfaces slippery.
• You must download, even if you abandon your race.
• Please make us aware at the enquiries tent of relevant existing medical conditions and unexpected reactions/allergies before running.
• Safety bearing from the hilly end of Priory Park is north to the grasslands .
• There will be professional First Aid at Enquiries/Download.
• The nearest A&E hospital is East Surrey Hospital, Canada Avenue, Redhill, RH1 5RH (~10 minute drive, 2.5 miles)
• Covid: Please follow the British Orienteering participant code of conduct  .
• Courses close at 14:00

First Aid: provided by Pulse Medical Services, will be situated close to the assembly area.

Refreshments: We are offering a cup of mulled wine or warm fruit juice along with a mince pie to all finishers, at Assembly, included in the price of your entry fee. No water will be provided at the finish. Beyond this your options are:

• <2 min walk from assembly: the park cafe by the playground (hot drinks, some food options)
• <1 min walk from assembly: the ice rink have advertised food options (burger+chips, German sausages, various sweet things) and drinks options (‘alpine’ bar)
• 1 min walk from assembly: The santa run event has advertised that they plan to have stalls selling hot drinks and bacon/veggie rolls.
• 5 mins walk from assembly: numerous eateries in Reigate.

Event officials: Planner: Ian Roberts (MV), Organiser: Tim Scarbrough (MV – chair@mvoc.org), Controller: Helen Marsden (HH) in advance, and Ian Marsden (HH) on the day of the event.

Acknowledgements: Reigate & Banstead Borough Council.