Kent Night Cup 5 Mote Park & Maidstone South

Thu 24 Oct 2019

We are grateful to Maidstone Borough Council for allowing us to use Mote Park. Tony Connellan reports.....

Type of event: Local, Night, Score
Type of terrain: Parkland, Urban

Info updated: Sat 26 Oct

Results

Event Report

34 individual competitors and a family of three joined us at Mote Park for Thursday's night event.  Needless to say the going was very heavy after all the rain which has fallen over the last couple of weeks, but it thankfully held off during our event. As expected the scoring was high since Mote Park does not offer many challenging areas in which to site controls and fast times were expected from those taking part who have a turn of speed in their armoury, but allows satisfaction for those who are less fleet. This predicted opportunity was taken and was borne out when a group of five runners found all 21 controls in good time, all taking the same control route in the street section. Congratulations to Ian Ditchfield and Chris Hooker who had a royal battle finding all the controls for first and second place with just 11 seconds between them. These six street controls were popular with all competitors unlike the challenging unit positioned by the wall next to the Ashford Road far to the north end of the park and felt to be out on a limb by most, who gave it a miss.  

There were many comments of satisfaction after the event and then a further post event chat and prizegiving at the congenial Newnham Court Inn.

The thanks of the club have been passed to Maidstone Borough Council for the use again of the well managed Mote Park.

Tony Connellan

Planner & Organiser

Pre Event Info

Location

map

Nearest town: Maidstone

Directions / Parking

Parking is in the south east corner of Mote Park (different from the parking we have used recently).

From the A20 Ashford Road, near Bearsted, turn south from the traffic lights along Willington Street with the wall of Mote Park on your right. As the wall ends you need to turn west into School Lane and very shortly you can drive through the entrance to the Park on your right. Car park fee £2 (coins or RingGo via mobile). If full, parking is possible in School Lane.

Nearest postcode ME15 8DJ

Maidstone railway stations (East & West): 3 - 4km

Registration & Start Times

Registration: 19:00 to 19:15 (please don't be late).

Please bring your SI dibber to Registration (if you have one). For event safety purposes you will be asked to fill in a KNC Registration Form 2019 (if you haven't done so at a previous event).

Briefing and Mass Start at 19:30 sharp.

Order food for Apres-O at Registration.

Course Information

60 minute score suitable for all abilities. 21 controls numbered 90 – 110; visit as many as you can. 10 points per control, 10 points penalty per minute/part minute beyond 60 minutes. Controls will be collected after 70 minutes (course closing time).

Controls will be placed in Mote Park and in streets nearby.

Note: Juniors (age 15 or younger) are welcome to take part but must be accompanied by an adult (condition of British Orienteering insurance for Street events); however, this does not apply if the Junior stays wholly within the Park.

If you are new to Night Orienteering and would like someone to help you get started please email the organiser or make yourself known on the night.

1:10,000 scale map with 5m contours, a new combination of Mote Park with the streets to the south. Maps will be printed on A4 waterproof paper.

Controls are not SIAC enabled. Separate/loose control descriptions are not provided.

Explanation of Score courses

You don't have to visit all the controls! There is usually a time limit, instead of a set course. Points are scored for visiting controls, and deducted for finishing over the time limit. You decide which controls to visit, and in which sequence. Sometimes controls have different points values. You will need to carry a watch or phone, so you know how long you have been out.

Entry Details

Entry on the Day: Seniors (British Orienteering members) £4, Non-members of BO £6.          Juniors & students £3. Group: £10 (1 dibber; map for each participant).    Dibber loan: Free

Please email the organiser if you intend coming so we know how many maps to print (some extras will be done, if you suddenly realise you can make it).

SPORT IDENT dibbers to borrow if you don’t have one. Some sort of torch essential plus a small backup/reserve. Carrying a whistle is mandatory (as a casualty, blow six short blasts, wait 1 min, repeat). A cagoule may be required in inclement weather. As some controls are on the streets, wearing High Visibility clothing is strongly advised.

An Emergency contact number will be printed on the map. Carrying a mobile phone is strongly recommended, especially for newcomers. You can let us know if you are lost or late, and we can contact you if you have not returned.

Terrain Description

Mote Park is fine parkland with the River Len running through it, and a large lake. The majority of the controls will be in the Park, but there are some on the streets bordering it.

Facilities

Apres-O and prizegiving

Prizegiving will take place in the Newnham Court Inn afterwards; postcode ME14 5LH.

Return to Willington Street and turn left towards the A20. At the traffic lights, left again to another set of lights and turn right along New Cut.

Keep straight on at two roundabouts until you reach a third one where you will turn left. 

The pub is shortly on your right (up a slope), but you have to go past and around the roundabout and come back to it.

Orders for food will be taken at Registration.

Contacts / Officials

Planner & Organiser: Tony Connellan

Important Information

Health, safety and other important information related to events.

If you have pre-existing helath issues that you feel the organiser should know about please fill in this medical form.

 

Covid-19:

Before travelling to any orienteering event please make sure you are aware of and following British Orienteering guidelines. 

To ensure that we comply with these guidelines and make our events Covid secure and safe for participants and volunteers, all events will be pre-entry and pre-payment only.

During the on-line entry process, you will select your preferred start window from those available for your course. You must then make payment to reserve your start window. Please do not turn up at the event unless you have pre-entered. If you need help with the registration process please contact the event organiser.

On event day turn up for your allocated start slot

Please move away from the map box after collecting your map.

At control sites do not touch the control, and move through quickly.

Do not congregate at the Finish.

At Download please get your breath back and recover before downloading.

Saxons volunteers are very happy to help beginners understand the courses, maps and timing equipment used at our events. To get advice please contact coaching@saxons-oc.org at least 3 days before the event, or go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/saxons.oc and ask questions there. It may be possible to arrange for somoene to meet you before your start.

For full BO Covid guidance click here

Ticks and Lyme Disease: Ticks are common in areas where we go orienteering, more information about ticks.

Training and help is available from qualified coaches. Please contact the organiser.

Privacy: when entering our events your name may appear in the results section of this website or in newspaper reports. Read our privacy policy to see how we look after your personal data.

Data Protection: Your personal information provided for this event or obtained from registration databases will be used to process your entry, publish results, check for missing runners and trace missing SI cards.