Pre-entry In our current socially constrained times it is most important that you know that you must pre-enter for all of our events, until such time as we change these instructions. You can do this on the Fabian 4 registration system. If you haven't used Fabian before, you will need to set up a simple profile, which the system will keep for your future reuse, and then you can enter the event, select a start time, and pay your entry fee.

Everybody must enter this way - you can't register one person and then run as a group, as we have allowed in the past. Likewise everyone must select a start time, and must do their best to be at the start at that time.

Getting there

Click on the postcode on the event line, for a map and access to google directions, if you need them. Generally speaking we try to meet somewhere where you can park nearby, free of charge, although there is sometimes a parking charge, which will be detailed on the event page. This is often a supermarket or other public car park: if at a supermarket you should try and spend something the in shop and be a ‘customer’, as we are using their customer car park. During the current COVID regime we have switched from a mass-ish start at 7 pm to a timed start over a period of about 2 hours. Try to aim to get to the event perhaps 10-15 minutes before your chosen start slot.

Equipment

All you need to compete is a smartphone. You’ll also need to download the maprun app. For the winter series, you’ll also need a basic headtorch and bright-coloured clothing. If you have a Garmin watch you can now use that during the race, leaving your phone behind if you wish. For more information on this option see the MaprunG page on the main maprun website page.

For the summer series there is no need for a headtorch, but you may be running on footpaths and through the woods, where the going may be a bit more muddy and slippery than around the towns. You’ll always be on paths, pavements, or open ground, so you shouldn’t encounter too much undergrowth or brambles.

You should try to download the course and map from the maprun server before coming out, though at most events you should have a phone signal to download it there. You’ll find the courses in the folder: UK/Gloucestershire/Current Series.

If you don’t have your own smartphone, we currently have two loan phones. You will need to contact maprun@ngoc.org.uk to reserve them if you wish to use one of them.

The event

The race takes the form of a 60 minute score course, in which you collect as many points as you can. There are 30 checkpoints:

• checkpoints 1-10, worth 10 points
• checkpoints 11-20, worth 20 points
• checkpoints 21-30, worth 30 points

You lose 10 points for every minute or part minute you are late back, after the permitted 60. The map on your phone will be PIN protected, and you will be given the PIN, together with a paper map, a minute or two before the start. Note, though, that your 60 minutes only starts when you run through the Start checkpoint. We will aiming to start at about 19:00, and we’ll be there to make sure you don’t hang around too long planning your route before getting started!

Your time finishes when you run through the Finish point, so make sure you don’t pass that point – usually but not always the same as the Start point, before you have finished your run.

Race Procedure Please do not hang around the organiser's car and the map table before your allocated start time. You should have downloaded the event before you go to the start. It will however, be PIN protected, so that you wont be able to see the course. As your start time approaches, make your way from your car to the Organiser's car, where there will be a table on which the maps are to be found.

At your start time, pick up a map from the table, and look for the PIN number printed on the map. You can then tap 'Go to Start' on your phone, enter the PIN number, and set off. Please do not hang around the map table deciding on a route, or waiting for your Garmin to download the course. You are trusted to set off to the start straight away, and not spend time route planning before starting the clock on your 60 minute time allowed.

The maps will have been printed a week or so before the event, hardly handled then, and not handled since, so you may wish to sanitise your hands, but the maps should be safe to handle.

After the event

Once you have finished, please make sure that the organiser knows you have finished, before going back to your car. This is to allow us to account for everyone. Don't congregate to compare results and route decisions....do that remotely with whatever media tools you use. Cake will sadly be absent for the time being! You can upload your results to the maprun server and see how you got against everyone else. What sort of socialising we might do post event will very much depend on how people feel about it, and whether there is any interest in doing so, within the current COVID guidelines, of course.

Entry fee

The entry fee for each race is £5 for adults, and £2 for juniors(under 16 years old on the day of the race). This covers the cost of the paper map, cake, and third party liability insurance, provided under the racing rules of British Orienteering. If you run as a pair or group, one person in the group pays the full £5 fee, and all others pay £3 each, to cover insurance levies.

It is a British Orienteering regulation that juniors may only compete in street events if accompanies by an adult.

SAFETY

Races take place in on streets and footpaths and open public areas. You are responsible for your own safety, and runners must take particular care when crossing roads. In some case roads may be marked out of bounds, by means of purple crosses, and you may not run on or cross these except at light controlled junctions, bridges or underpasses. You may run on pavements alongside such roads. Please also take care when running down narrow lanes, or around corners, to avoid collisions with pedestrians.