Kilnsey is complicated for other reasons.  We learned at JK 2016 that relying on a field for parking in March/April is not a good idea.  Emergency arrangements were needed just before that event when it was clear that a nicely sloping parking field with top access and a lower exit used for maybe a thousand cars for the Kilnsey Show in the summer would just be too wet in March/April.  Threshfield Quarry is massive and can swallow up lots of cars on hard ground.  But it means a long walk to a start and from a finish.  It was thought that this would put a lot of people off, though in the end it didn’t.  Cars for the event easily fitted into the quarry with hardly any hold ups even though much of the parking near the quarry entrance was initially taken up by Fellsman Hilke competitors returning from their event.

Kilnsey South rises to 450m.  With a north wind and rain it can be a serious concern.  Competitors were warned when the event was first advertised that a waterproof hooded top might be compulsory.  A few days before the event all competitors were informed that such tops would be compulsory.  It was very cold on the day when the start team went off to set up and early starting helpers went off at 10 o’clock.  Later starters were a bit luckier.

The area is used for farming sheep and cattle.  This gives two problems.  There are lots of walls and fences to keep the animals where they should be, and where would the animals be on the day of the event?  To a non-farmer, the latter seems simple, but farmers often don’t know where their animals will have to be, as it depends on the weather, the progress of lambing and so many other jobs that have to be done.

Yorkshire Dales walls and fences are big and they need big stiles to cross them where there are no gates.  Competitors on the longer courses were treated to a variety of ladder stiles, milk crate steps, a crawl through and a specially built step stile near the end capable of taking 700 plus competitors at a rate of 4 or 5 a minute.

The highlights of the day came as the first competitors returned smiling and giving very positive comments about their courses and the arrangements.  At the same time the weather started to improve.  And then when it improved further the ice cream van started doing business and it was warm enough for competitors to be standing around looking at results and discussing their courses.

CLARO is a small club and this was the biggest event the club had ever taken on.  Some much appreciated help came from elsewhere, but members rose to the challenge and did an excellent job on the day.  For the rest of the year the club will revert to hosting evening and family events with regionals in June and September.  This will be a relative rest before helping with the JK in 2025.

Northern Championships 2024 results. 

Kilnsey planner Vicky Bailey's perspective

Planning on Kilnsey was a challenge for all the practical reasons Mike has mentioned, but also because as planners we had two hard acts to follow in the shape of 2016’s epic acts-of-God JK and AIRE’s sunny summer special in 2018. It seemed appropriate then that our event served up something in between; on the day, a moderately grim start melting into a modestly mild finish; in the lead up, a catalogue of every other available weather, never friendly enough for shorts but nothing so hostile that it saw us off the hill. No sun, no hail strikes, but come the day: a sunburst of primroses.

With the assembly area already fixed we were limited with how much we could vary from AIRE’s event, which had used the same quarry for car parking. Early efforts to find a novel start location were quickly abandoned – you didn’t want a longer walk to the start, did you? But for the finish we gambled on a short walk back to assembly for the fun of a combined finish with the White and Yellow courses in the caravan park. This also left us with a little more length in the courses, which meant a better share of Kilnsey proper for the shortest senior courses before the inevitable march off the hill. For the longer courses, Mike and Chris’s efforts with permissions and crossing points opened up access to additional areas not used since the JK – a big help for keeping things fresh. Planning tactics evolved over the thrashing-out process. Our early strategy of avoiding long legs crossing the walls resulted in somewhat bland Middle-style courses that lacked “story”. In the end, using the walls to set up macro route choices provided better structure, and made for some entertaining post-race analysis on Routegadget. Every crossing point was worth it, Mike, honest!

The most memorable part of planning at Kilnsey has been the efforts undertaken by so many volunteers to overcome its challenges. Fathomless feats of endurance and ingenuity! An alphabetised schedule of animal-dependent crossing point logistics. A 60kg sheep-proof control marking solution! Dauntless control collectors taking on longer loops than their original courses and a map layout for every permutation of scale and paper size. The amount of time and care that goes into these events is in equal parts scary and inspiring. My tip for anyone considering taking on something similar is to get yourself a co-planner. Find one who always finds time to be slightly less busy when you are super busy; who has a seemingly exhaustible supply of patience, and a very good recipe for flapjack – then no amount of trans-Pennine weather tantrums and late-night PDF checking can get you down for long!

David Williams, the planner, identified a possible field for the arena, which we had never used previously; the field just to the south of the one we eventually used.   This allowed him to use the best of the area. He structured the courses Jan–March 2023 at the same time coordinating with Tony Thornley producing the completely revised map off new LIDAR data. By this time a year ago to allow review in competition condition the courses were more or less fully planned and controlled. Having had input during April 2023 from David Bowman assistant planner and Mark Garside (WCH) controller. Subsequently courses and map were given constant minor amendments and updates to take account of the storms, wet conditions and middle distance RWT rule changes.

The parking field has become a regular for us over the past 15 years, when we hold Regional events at Danefield.  We knew it was well drained.  It has coped admirably with the cars for all previous events.  We’ve checked it regularly throughout this very wet winter, and never had any doubts about it coping, despite having to accommodate three times the number of vehicles we have previously.  It meant quite a long walk to the arena, but we knew it was 100% reliable.

Last year by March the original assembly field was in prime condition.  This year we did a final check three weeks before the event, just before the map proofs were ready to be printed.  There was a strong chance the field would never drain sufficiently to take vehicles and 900+ pairs of feet.  This was when our brilliant hosts, Sue and Howard Cliff really came into their own.  They suggested we use the paddock and agreed to build us the bridge across the ditch leading to it.  It proved the best of arenas.  The grass didn’t cut up, and it was more compact than the original field which doubtless helped create the splendid atmosphere of the event.

The change of assembly field resulted in a few slight last-minute adjustments to the map, but did not affect the planning of the courses apart from the run-in.

We were able to pull the event off just using Aire members, which made recruitment and organising a good deal simpler than is often the case for a Major event.  From what I saw and heard on the day, all the teams did a pretty seamless job. 

At Danefield we were delighted to hear so many compliments about the courses and the organisation.  The rain held off, although a little more sunshine and a warm wind from the south would have been appreciated. I guess you can’t have everything.

We were pleased to see that both Rob and Lindsey King’s String Course and Maze were well used.

Results from the British Middle Championships 2024. 

Aire’s next large-scale events are the Sprint and Urban events in Leeds on 6–7 July 2024.

And the Dales Weekend in the Malham area on 14–15 September 2024.

HEAVY FOOTSTEPS pound the hill behind me. I turn and glimpse a figure moving among the silvery trunks. My breath comes in sharp bursts, my heart hammers, and overhead a jay unleashes an ungodly cackle.

But this isn’t the start of a John Grisham thriller, this is orienteering – and time is of the essence. I’ve come to Joyden’s Wood in Kent, just 13 miles from London to sample a sport that’s the perfect cocktail of woodland exploration, physical agility and mental acumen. And yes, orienteering is indeed a sport, and not just the casual saunter I’d always assumed. At my heels is my mentor for the day, maestro of the map Andrew Evans. “You’re faster than me!” Andrew laughs as we crest the hill and weave between the Corsican pines towering above. A carpet of needles deadens the air, and coal tits squabble like children in the branches. “But I’m lost, and you’re not,” I shoot back. And this is the crux of orienteering. Racing with gusto may gladden the heart, but have I been paying attention to the minutiae of the terrain around me? Can I orient the map accurately to sniff out the next staging post? And most importantly, have I got the faintest idea where I am? Luckily Joyden’s Wood is a brilliant place to get lost, its warren of forest rides tangling delectably through a mosaic of ancient broadleaf and mature pine. This is a wood with history: it’s got medieval wood banks and scraps of Iron Age dwellings half-buried in the undergrowth. Much was replanted with conifers after the war, but 30 years of tender Woodland Trust husbandry have eased it back to health, and nowadays treecreepers and nuthatches scale trunks in search of insects, marauding redwings and fieldfares forage for berries, and dormice, wolf spiders and wood ants scuttle in the leaf litter. For the wood’s human visitors, Joyden’s new orienteering course offers a fast route to total immersion. Dartford Orienteering Klubb helped the Trust install the 2km network of midget markerposts earlier this year, and my own crash course began 40 minutes ago with a tutorial from club chairman Andrew and coach Allison Page. They handed me map and compass and explained the basic idea: to plot a route that gets you from A to B in the quickest, cleanest manner. The more fragile bits of habitat are off limits, and direct-line travel is often blocked by areas of ‘forest fight’ – code for no-go unless you have a machete and a will of steel. So as I’m quick to learn, orienteering is about watching the map and tracking your surroundings as you run This, it turns out, is where I struggle. “Look at the contours and where the post is marked,” says Andrew, sensing my disorientation. I realise my mistake.

The post I’m seeking isn’t atop the hill as I’d assumed, but just over the brow – away from direct line of sight. Apparently, these navigational nuances become second nature to a hardened orienteer. We race on, shouting out features to help keep us oriented. “Left at the T-junction” I yell, feeling like a navigator in a road rally. “Vegetation change!” We plunge downhill and burst suddenly from the muffled quiet of the pines into the joyful vibrancy of native broadleaf trees again. A blackbird is shunting leaves in the undergrowth, entirely unconcerned as we speed past. Shafts of low winter sunlight dance at our feet. “This is what it’s all about!” says Andrew with a broad grin, spreading his arms wide. His exuberant love of this place is infectious. We notch up another post and then run blinking into the glare of a sandy glade. Dense gorse and buddleia forms a thicket around us. Forest Fight! Andrew points into the greenery: “Somewhere under there are the remnants of an Iron Age roundhouse. And that huge ditch is called Faesten Dic. It was built by the local Saxons to keep out the Londoners!” This must be the most breathless guided tour I’ve ever had – it feels like speed-dating with a wood. “Post!” I yell suddenly as it looms from the brush. I’ve learnt my lesson by now, and have been mentally ticking off features as we pass. I think I’m getting the hang of this. A stretch of wide forest track gives me a chance to quiz Andrew about orienteering culture. “The sport is really easy to take part in,” he says. “All you need is a compass, trainers and a  downloaded map. We have people aged from eight to 80 competing at our club, and we run lots of family events.” Standard orienteering pace, he tells me, is about 1km every ten minutes. I glance at my watch. We haven’t quite cracked it, but I don’t mind. Today was more about exploring the hidden corners of this beautiful place. Ahead of us, a mammoth oak splits the path in two, fat-bellied and glorious. I spot ropes hanging from its limbs and wonder about the children who’ve clambered there. This queen of the forest has seen some adventures in her time, and we pause briefly so she can share in ours. Then, all at once, our race is run. I don’t know whether to hug the post or high-five Andrew, but I’ve loved every minute of our adrenaline-fuelled quest. Orienteering is a unique way of exploring the great outdoors, and I can’t wait to give it another go.

GOLDEN RULES
Orienteering oracle Andrew Evans keeps you on course:

• DRESS FOR SUCCESS
  You won’t be sticking to established trails, so wear leg and sleeve cover to protect you from brambles, as well as comfy trainers or boots.
• START SLOW
  Pick a course that suits your experience level. Navigating accurately and enjoying your surroundings are just as important as speed.
• KNOW YOUR MAP
  Orienteering maps have their own symbols, so study the legend first. Areas labelled ‘forest fight’ are impenetrable – steer clear!
• TREAD LIGHTLY
  Courses in Woodland Trust woods or on the British Orienteering website are vetted so they don’t disturb nesting birds or other delicate wildlife. Stick with a trusted source for your mapping.

NOW HAVE A GO
Orienteering isn’t just about racing: it can add variety to a family walk or spice up your woodland jog. You’ll find links to courses and events at  britishorienteering.org.uk/goorienteering. The map for Joyden’s Wood can be downloaded free at dfok.co.uk/permanent, and other Woodland Trust woods with permanent courses include Hainault Forest in Essex, Martinshaw in Leicestershire, Elemore Woods and Low Burnhall in Durham and
Carnmoney Hill, County Antrim.

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This is a great article!  British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to thank both Andrew Evans (DFOK) and Allison Page (DFOK) for their work involved in generating this fantastic article.  Special thanks must also go to The Woodland Trust in raising the profile of the sport of orienteering with their 200,000 members. 

Does your club have Permanent Orienteering Courses on any Woodland Trust sites? 
There may perhaps be an opportunity for you to engage with the Woodland Trust and put on some future orienteering activities.