This event is linked to:
Esholt Regional Night Event-2026-01-03
Mixed woodland, with rock and contour features, and a good path network - muddy in places with a couple of crossable streams.
Fast running with quick decision making rewarded
Pre Event Info
Directions / Parking
Provisional Info
Parking in grounds of Thackley Football Club off Ainsbury Avenue and on Ainsbury Road – please follow marshals instructions as access is required to the Esholt Works.
Route will be signposted off Leeds Road (A657) at junction with Thackley Road. This is a busy junction so please take care entering and leaving the event. Once on Thackley Road bear right onto Ainsbury Avenue (signposted). Post code for SATNAV: BD10 0TL
Nearest stations – Shipley or Apperley Bridge (2 miles)
Registration & Start Times
Registration from 10.00 -12.00
Start times from 10.30 to 12.30
Courses close at 14:30. Please have an early start time if you need extra time.
Due to the time of year it is essential that you return by 14:30 even if you have not finished your course. If we have any late returning competitors after that point a decision will have to be made fairly quickly whether or not to search for them.
Start times are NOT being allocated - turn up and run.
Entry Details
Entries are now open shortly via the Fabian link.
If you are helping on the day please contact the organiser for a helper code to give you discounted entry.
- Senior BO members = £10; on Brown to Red and £5 on Orange, Yellow and White (plus £2 supplement if not a member of British Orienteering).
- All Juniors & Students courses Brown to Orange = £5
- Juniors on Yellow & White = £0
- Dibber hire is £1 apart from juniors on Yellow and White
Closing date for pre-entries at these prices is 23.59 on Sunday 28th December. After this date, online entries will remain open until midnight on Wednesday 31st December at EOD prices below.
- Senior BO members = £12; on Brown to Red and £7 on Orange, Yellow and White (plus £2 supplement if not a member of British Orienteering).
- All Juniors & Students courses Brown to Orange = £5
- Juniors on Yellow & White = £0
- Dibber hire is £1 apart from juniors on Yellow and White
There will also be limited entry on the day (EOD), subject to map availability. We hope to update you after entries close on Sunday how many maps are available.
Course Information
Map is 1:7500 with 5m contours for courses Red to Brown. 1:5000 for White, Yellow and Orange.
Provisional – subject to final controlling
The red course is for people used to running but not orienteering. Measured at 5.1k the average runner would take 25 to 30 minutes, however with the map reading element this will take at least an hour. The course helps non-orienteers get experience with the map and hopefully they will be encouraged to try more technical courses in the future.
There are many small paths in the area that are not mapped. Also with leaf fall (and possibly snow) some paths may be obscured. On the White and Yellow course there will be smiley and un-smiley faces to guide competitors with tapes being used on the Yellow course as well.
Courses |
Brown (double sided map): 7.8km, 280m climb, 27 controls |
Blue (double sided map): 5.9km, 240m climb, 21 controls |
Green: 3.8km, 125m climb, 15 controls |
Short Green: 3.0km, 105m climb, 15 controls |
Very Short Green: 2.2km, 65m climb, 12 controls |
Light Green: 2.6km, 95m climb, 12 controls |
Red: 4.8km, 120 climb, 13 controls |
Yellow: 1.5km, 40m climb, 14 controls |
White: 1.2km, 30m climb, 16 controls |
Terrain Description
Mixed woodland, with rock and contour features, and a good path network - muddy in places. Many dog walkers and some horse riders.
It is also a location of a colony of European Grass snakes. It is Britain's longest snake and is a common non-venomous reptile found mainly near Esholt Water Works.
There is also evidence of a pre-historic enclosure - the lack of cultivation has preserved prehistoric archaeological features, interpreted as dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages, with possible continued occupation into the Roman period; these features include an oval prehistoric enclosure, gritstone rocks carved in the cup-and-ring tradition, and a series of land boundaries, including orthostatic walling. The date of the monument is unclear; the ovoid plan of the enclosure has been interpreted as being Bronze Age and archaeological finds have included a flint, a late Iron Age/early Roman period bee-hive quern, a much corroded copper coin, and large numbers of pot boiler stones, suggesting a potentially lengthy period of occupancy.
Dog restrictions
Dogs under control in the wood and at assembly. Please clear up any mess.
Contacts / Officials
Organiser: Peter Haines hainesilkleyATyahoo.co.uk
Planner: Peter Carter
Controller: Peter Jones
Important Information
Safety and Risk: A comprehensive risk assessment will have been carried out by the organiser, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.
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