Affpuddle Heath and Sares Wood

Venue
The event centre is at the visitor's carpark of Babcock International Group, Napier Way, Bovington BH20 6JD. Google Maps or here What3Words

Parking
Parking is in the same place as the event centre along with registration and download.

Terrain
The event will take place in a compact area on a ridge of heathland and forest studded with > 200 sinkholes. The courses will make full advantage of these features, but no controls will be placed in the bottom of the depressions.The North part of the area is quite runnable, but recent forestry work has left quite a few brashings. The worst areas of bramble have been avoided, so running through dark green may not be the best route-choice. The network of paths and rides can be helpful but also confusing. The Southern half has a steep ridge across the middle of the area, all courses will cross this, and there are areas of open heath. The Southern woods are tougher under foot, with some ridge and furrow. Using paths might be a better route-choice here. The blue and brown courses will have a double-sided map, and on these courses expect climb as you criss-cross up and down the slope.

Maps
The area of Affpuddle woods (Forestry England) and Sares Wood (Tilhill Forestry) lies adjacent to the famous Culpepers Dish. This area hasn't been used for orienteering for over 20 years and is part of a much larger forested and heathland area mapped during 2024 by Nick Nourse (The Mapworks). This is one of the last remnants of Thomas Hardy’s Egdon Heath (now mostly forested, but includes some of the ancient woodland), where he set parts of Return of the Native. It is also part of the old stomping ground of TH Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) who lived in nearby Clouds Hill. So, expect classic Dorset. See here for more important information about the terrain from the Planner.

Timing
Sport Ident using SIAC enabled controls. All competitors must physically dib at both the start and finish

Registration open from 10:15 for hire card collection (SI Card5 only) and any last minute changes to entry details.

Start and Finish
Starts: 1030-1230
Courses Close: 1400
Start and Finish are situated about 4km from the car park, so we will be operating 2 minibuses between the car park and a drop-off point which is about 600m from the actual start. They will shuttle approximately every 15 minutes, starting at about 9.30. As a result of this additional cost we are charging slightly more than usual, but feel that it is still excellent value due to the quality of the area.

Facilities
Portable Toilets and a Catering Van

Safety
Orienteering is an adventurous activity and all participants must accept there is an element of risk involved in taking part.

All competitors should carry a whistle. In bad weather the organiser may decide that cagoules must be either worn or carried while competing. In this case a notice to this effect will be displayed at the registration area

Please read the planner's notes for important information about the terrain from the Planner.

The safety bearing is generally to head uphill, either to North or South, to regainn the top of the East/West ridgem which has a forest road running along it.

An emergency phone number is printed on all the maps.

Dogs
We do not have permissions for dogs in Sares Wood, so please do not run with a dog. Any dog mess in the assemply area must be picked up and removed from the site.

Cancellation
In the event of cancellation a message will be placed on the Wessex Orienteering Club’s web site and an email sent via Race Signup to all entries
If there is a cancellation Wessex Orienteering Club reserves the right to retain a fraction of the entry fees to cover expenses already committed

Withdrawal policy
In order to encourage earlier entries WSX are happy to offer a no/low cost withdrawals policy. You can withdraw at any time up to the night berfore the event and obtain a full value credit with WSX account, simply by editing your entry on Racesignup/ If you are unlikely to use that credit on a future WSX event you can request a low cost refund to your payment method. On a refund we will retain a small sum (less than £1) to cover processing and any map costs incurred.

Event Officials
Planner: Jolyon Medlock
Controller: Linda Pakuls (WIM)
Organiser: Julie Astin