Conistone National Event

Pre Event Info

Safety Information

The terrain is high and exposed, rising to 500m. Come prepared for all weathers.

Whistles must be carried. If the weather is poor, it will also be compulsory to carry or wear a taped-seam, hooded water-proof top. Shorts are allowed. If conditions are poor, over-trousers may also be required at the organiser's discretion. There will be notices at assembly to notify you if you are required to carry or wear these.

There are no road crossings on any of the courses. Competitors have to walk along and then cross a narrow road to get to the start and return from the finish.

There will be no water available on the courses or at the finish – please bring your own.

First aid will be available in the assembly area, and a first aider will be based in the start/finish field.

Lone runners please leave car keys at registration as a safety check.

Don’t forget to download after your run even if you have retired – failure to do so may result in an unnecessary search and fell rescue being called out.

Safety bearing: head west and downhill to the road (Conistone Lane).

Directions / Parking

Parking is in a field opposite Scargill House, 1 km south of Kettlewell. Grid ref SD975711. Postcode BD23 5HU.

A charge of £2 per vehicle will be collected on entry to the field. Please have cash ready.

Assembly is adjacent to car parking, with registration, download, first aid and portaloos. Compass Point mobile shop will be there. The junior cake stall is TBC.

From Skipton or from the A59 take the B6265 to Threshfield, then continue straight on the B6160 to Kettlewell village. In the centre of Kettlewell, turn right onto Conistone Lane and proceed south about 1km to the parking field.

Please only approach from Kettlewell! The lane from Conistone village is extremely narrow, and it is not possible to turn into the parking field from that direction. If you approach from the south, you will be sent up to Kettlewell to turn round! Exit is also only via Kettlewell.

Family arrangements

Because of the relatively long walk to the start and back from the finish (see below), we would like to make arrangements to assist families with small children. A section of the assembly field will be reserved as a play area for kids, including an activities tent. We hope to put on a string course / maze. Families will be able to park next to this space – please let the parking official know when you arrive.

Please note that this play area and tent are not a supervised childcare service. Children remain the responsibility of their parents when using this space.

Registration & Start Times

Registration for entries on the day will start at 10.00.

Starts 10.30 -12.30. Courses close at 14.30.

The start for all courses is 1300m from the parking field, south along Conistone Lane and up Highgate Leys Lane, which is also the Dales Way. There is 170m climb to the start from the road. Follow the taped route. Allow 30 minutes (the time taken by a W70).

Start intervals will be 2 minutes on all courses, as this is a YHOA Championships and on open terrain. You can choose a start time when you enter, but it’s a punching start. If you miss your start time, don’t worry – we’ll fit you in, but you’ll have to wait for the next available slot.

The finish is close to the start, in the same field. A tent will be provided at the entrance to this field where you can leave clothing, water etc. From the finish, retrace your route 1300m back to assembly & download.

Prizegiving for the YHOA Long Distance Championships will take place at assembly at 14.30 or earlier.

Entry Details

Enter from early August 2026 via this Fabian4 link (TBA):

Pre-entry Fees (closes at 23.59 on Sunday 6^th September)

• Seniors on Brown to Light Green = £16 (plus £2 supplement if you are not a member of British Orienteering).
• Seniors on Orange or Yellow courses = £7 (plus £2 supplement if you are not a member of British Orienteering).
• All Juniors & Students = £7
• Juniors on Yellow course = free
• SI card hire = £1 Free for juniors on Yellow

Entry on the day (limited, subject to map availability)

• Seniors on Brown to Light Green = £18 (plus £2 supplement if not a member of British Orienteering).
• Seniors on Orange or Yellow courses = £9 (plus £2 supplement if you are not a member of British Orienteering).
  
• All Juniors & Students = £7
• Juniors on Yellow course = free
  
• SI card hire = £1 Free for juniors on Yellow

Hired SI cards will be available to collect at registration. A charge of £30 will be made for lost or non-returned hire SI cards. After your run they must be handed in at download.

Course Information

Yellow to Brown. Sorry, but the area is not suitable for a white course.

You may enter any course, but the age categories for the YHOA Superleague and YHOA Long Distance Championships are available at this link: Yorkshire Superleague Rules. The one exception to these rules is that M21 will run Brown, as there is no Black course.

Course lengths are provisional and subject to final controlling.

Controls will be SIAC (contactless) enabled, but you must dib at the Start and at the Finish. Competitors with standard or hired SI cards must also dib at all controls.

It is the competitor’s responsibility to ensure that their SI card has registered at the control. Back-up punches will be available at controls.

Map

Surveyed and drawn by Chris Burden, updated in 2026 by Peter & Liz Carter

Map scales: 1:10000 for longer courses, 1:7500 for shorter courses (details nearer the time)

IOF ISOM2017 symbols, except:

• Bare rock symbol (solid grey) is used for continuous limestone pavement
• Grey stipple (small dots) is used for broken limestone pavement

Route Gadget from the previous event in 2022 can be found here.

We are grateful to the Dales landowners for permissions to stage this event.

Terrain Description

An extensive area of upland moorland terrain on the east flank of the Upper Wharfedale Valley, tussocky in places, and with many pits, small crags and rocky limestone ground. Crags and boulders are often significantly smaller than you might expect – we will display typical photos of these features on this page before the event.

Mapped depressions and pits can vary greatly in size. Where the mapped depressions and pits are large, there are often smaller unmapped depressions and pits nearby.

There are also very many dry-stone walls in the area which need to be crossed only at designated crossing points. These crossing points MUST be used, and include specially constructed stiles, farm gates which can be climbed using provided step over, open gateways and stiles on public rights of way. Any damage to walls or gates is to be reported to the Organiser to allow repairs.

No stiles or gates need to be climbed on the Short Green, Very Short Green or Yellow courses. The Orange course requires crossing an existing stile.

Several areas are marked on the map as Out of Bounds, including all areas of limestone pavement and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Do not enter these areas – our future access to this unique terrain for orienteering depends on this.

Dog restrictions

This is sheep country. Sorry, dogs are not allowed at this event, even in the assembly area and not even in vehicles, please.

Contacts / Officials

Planner: Peter Carter

Organiser: David Bowman 07739593442 david.bowman AT ipfdigital.com

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.

Insurance: Everyone is welcome to take part in this event. However, from 1st January 2026, participants who are not members of British Orienteering will no longer be covered by British Orienteering’s public liability insurance. For example, if you were to accidentally injure a member of the public or damage property during the event, you would not be covered by our insurance. By entering any event from 1st January 2026, you acknowledge that you are taking part at your own risk. British Orienteering’s public liability insurance used to cover non-members at events before this date.

Privacy: Please note that by entering our events you are treated as giving your consent to:

• your name and your children’s names appearing in the results section of this website or in social media. Read our data protection page to see how we look after your personal data.
• being photographed or filmed during the event and for these images being used on our website, social media or other publicity to provide information & to promote our sport and the club. You can withdraw your consent or your children’s consent by completing BO’s Right to Object Form (Appendix A of BO guidance found at https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/doc/policies-and-guidance/safeguarding/photo-and-filming and giving/sending it to the organiser of the event or sending it to chairATaire.org.uk. For more information see our photography and filming guidance.