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Orienteering Club

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New Mills Festival Spunch

Saturday Afternoon Spunch Event as part of the New Mills Festival - 60/90/120min countryside score course using an enlarged and enhanced extract of OS Explorer map.

Sat 30th Sep 2023

Type of event: Local, Score
Info updated: 02nd Oct

Results

Event Report

It was great to see so many of you coming along - over 200 of you in total, including a lot of new faces and over 60 kids!

You are all very welcome, and it is your participation that makes the organisation and course-setting so worthwhile.  We hope to see many of you at another event soon!

The Leisure Centre provided a great base for the event with easy access to such a good variety of different landscapes and terrain offering great running, walking and navigational opportunities.  Having use of the Leisure Centre for this event was perfect and a big thankyou goes out to the management & staff at the centre especially Mark, Tracey & Jack.  It was also good to be included in the New Mills Festival programme of events and thanks to Helen and the team for supporting the event.

Thankyou for supporting the cake stall.  A total of £270 was raised, and this will be split between the New Mills Primary School PTA, and the Budd family whose 9 year old son (a pupil at the school) has had to have his leg amputated as part of his cancer treatment.

Thanks especially to Sue (Mrs) Fisher, a teacher at the school, for all her baking and running the refreshments stall.

There were a total of 80 Spunchpoints to go at - unusually high I know - but with it being part of the Festival I wanted to provide lots of low-hanging fruit in the Torrs and Mousley Bottom in order to allow everyone to score well.  In the end I think just one point #60 went unvisited.

On the 120 min course, the very experienced Iain Bell visited all bar 14 and might have got at least one more had he not had an "accidental finish" with 3 minutes still remaining!  Spunch debutant Caroline Gay also scored well visiting 60 points.

On the 90 min course Liam Corner blitzed it (again!) covering a mighty 16k in the time available.  But he may have to watch his back as youngsters and newbie pair Anna & Joe Tuckwell were not too far behind.

Finally on the 60 min course wily fox Peter Gorvett scored best visiting 38 controls in just a little over time, but young Thomas Gilliver shows much potential with the fastest pace of the day 5:35 per k.

So......what's up next?  

This event was staged with support from members of Manchester & District Orienteering Club MDOC https://www.mdoc.org.uk/ 

A big thanks to all those who helped both in advance and on the day - you know who you are! ����

There is always a lot going on at the club with regular local events in different terrains (parks, urban, woodland etc) - see website above for more details.

The next Spunch is a collaboration with Mow Cop Runners, in just 2-weeks time.

Mow Cop Spunch on Saturday morning 14 October 

Entries are open now here: Mow Cop Spunch Entry and more details will follow soon - watch this space!

Pre Event Info

Discover the beautiful countryside on the Leisure Centre doorstep - in and around New Mills!

Run, jog or walk - suitable for trail runners, park runners, fell runners, adventure runners, orienteers, walkers, and newcomers alike.  Great for families and friends to do together.  Suitable for all ages and abilities - lots of help available for newcomers.  Well behaved 4-legged friends welcome but must be kept under control and on a lead at all times especially around others.

  • 60, 90 & 120 minute score course options - choose on the day

  • 20 points per control, 10 points penalty for minute or part minute late

  • Registration from 12:30 to 13:45

  • "Rolling start" times between 13:00 and 14:00

Venue: New Mills Leisure Centre, Hyde Bank Road, New Mills, High Peak SK22 4BP

Please pre-enter via SiEntries:

https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=12209

Location

map

Nearest town: New Mills

Directions / Parking

Free Parking, Registration, Loos, Start, Finish, and refreshments all at New Mills Leisure Centre, Hyde Bank Road, New Mills, High Peak SK22 4BP

Registration & Start Times

Registration from 12:30 to 13:45.

Start anytime between 1300 and 1400.

Course Information

50ish Spunchpoints to choose from, spread out in countryside immediately accessible from the Leisure Centre.  You will find lots of route choice on a good network of paths, tracks and lanes.  The area of about 9 sq km offers both modest family-friendly options and longer options over a wider area for those who prefer an outing up to 2 hours.

Visit as many checkpoints as you can in the time available, S-punching using the MapRun app on your smartphone or Garmin. 

Explanation of colour courses

  • White are very easy with all controls on paths. They are mainly used by 6-10 year olds and family groups.
  • Yellow use simple linear features like paths, walls and streams. They are mainly used by under 12’s and family groups.
  • Orange progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters.
  • Light Green are ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses simple contours and point features.
  • Green are used mostly by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course with a very hard navigational difficulty.
  • Blue are a longer, more physically demanding course in comparison to the green. The distances are more varied between controls and the course attracts experienced orienteers.
  • Brown & Black are very physically demanding and have a very hard navigational difficulty. They are for experienced orienteers only.
  • Score means visiting as many controls as possible in any order in a specific time, like 45mins.

Entry Details

Can be done solo, in a pair, or as a team of 3 or more.  Each participant needs to put in an individual entry EXCEPT Under 16s who go for free with a paying adult.

Seniors £5, Age 16-20/students £3. Under 16s go free but must be accompanied by a paying adult.

Please pre-enter via SiEntries:

https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=12209

Online entry closing date: 27/09/2023

(£1 surcharge for late entries and EOD)

Facilities

Cakes, tea, coffee and soft drinks will all be available at low-cost in the leisure centre after you have finished.  A great opportunity to compare routes and chat with friends & rivals old and new!

Contacts / Officials

Enquiries to: Andy Thornton 

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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