• Final details  - Version 2 

For details of the other associated events during the weekend, go to

Day 1 Friday 3rd May 2024 - Metro 'O'
Day 3 Sunday 5th May 2024 - Long distance UKUL Urban
Day 4 Monday 6th May 2024 - 'O'Fest in Wythenshawe Park

Day 2 Saturday 4th May 2024

Assembly will be at Hallé at St Michael's - a former church, now a space for the Hallé orchestra's artistic and education activities - George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 5DG

All facilities will be here including toilets, download and enquiries. Race number bibs will be used on days 2 and 3. These will be available for collection at Assembly.

Location

Nearest town: Manchester

• Grid Ref:
• Postcode: M4 5DG
• Latitude: 53.48502
• Longitude: -2.22965
• Google Map
• Streetmap (OS 50k)
• Bing Map (OS 50k)
• OpenStreetMap

Directions / Parking

All street parking by Hallé St Michael's is pay and display on a Saturday with a maximum stay of 2 hours. The nearest public car park is a multistorey at 27 Gun Street and is about 5 minutes walk away. A four-hour stay here should cost about £5. There are plenty of other reasonably priced options to the NW of Oldham Road. You can find more information at Parkopedia 

We recommend using public transport if feasible: Assembly is easy walking distance (10-15 mins) from Piccadilly and Victoria railway stations as well as Piccadilly Gardens bus stops. All these locations also have Metrolink tram stops. One option is to use Metrolink Park and Ride, e.g. from East Didsbury (Parrswood Lane, M20 5NP) or Sale Water Park (Rifle Road, M33 2LX) - but they both have 2.4m height restrictions. A full list of MetroLink Park and Ride locations can be found at the BEE NETWORK

Registration & Start Times

Starts will be from 10:30 to 12:30.

Self-selected start blocks of 15 minutes are requested on the online entry system for the Long, Medium, Short and Yellow courses. Please start during your selected block.

The Accessible and Score courses will have open start times.

Course Information

Final courses. 

The class to course mappings are guidelines only, please feel free to run a longer or shorter course as you see fit.

Juniors aged under 16 on the day of the competition are not permitted to compete on the long or medium couses.

Course	Men's classes	Women's classes	Optimum Course length (km)	No of controls
Long	MO(Men's Open) MV(M40+),  MSV(M55+)	WO (Women's Open)	7.6	34
Medium	MUV(M65+)	WV (W40+)  WSV (W55+)	6.1	25
Short	MHV (M75+)	WUV (W65+) WHV (W75+)	4.4	20
Short 16-	MJ (M16-)	WJ (W16-)	4.5	22
Yellow	MYJ (M12-)	WYJ (W12-)	2.0	14
Score 30	All classes	All classes		32
Score 45	All classes	All classes		32
Accessible	All classes	All classes	2.2	9

Start locations 

Starts will be within a 10 minute walk of Assembly.

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

Online entry is via Racesignup

Entry fees

Until 23:59 on 27 April 2024
Courses Long, Medium, Short and Yellow: £10 Adults, £4 Juniors/students
The Accessible and both Score courses: £6 Adults, £3 Juniors

On or after 28 April 2024
Courses Long, Medium, Short and Yellow: £12 Adults, £6 Juniors/Students
The Accessible and both Score courses: £6 Adults, £3 Juniors

Online entries close 3 May 2024 at 20:00
Entries on the day (EOD) may be available after this date subject to the availablity of maps.

SI card hire (not SIAC) is free. A limited number of SIACs will be offered free to competitors on the Accessible course.

Dogs allowed?

Only assistance dogs are allowed at Hallé at St Michael's. 
Dogs on leads are allowed on courses in public streets and open spaces.
 

Contacts / Officials

Entries: Marie Roberts, 

Contact: Sue Birkinshaw, Coordinator,  

Planners: Trevor & Hazel Hindle MDOC

Controller: Paul Turner SELOC