ChelmsfordSun 10 May

UKUL, EAUL and SEOUL

Regional level event

Explanation of Event levels

Local events are usually low key and in the 'localised' area, ideal for newcomers to try the sport and Training events are non competitive and used for training and coaching, aimed at members of the club, but they can attract people from neighbouring clubs, and are often ideal for newcomers to try the sport. Regional events attract participants from around the local Region, National events are high quality competitions that will attract people from far away, Major events are Major Events such as a British Championships.

Terrain type: Urban

Results

Report

Organiser’s Report

The event ran smoothly thanks to my team of volunteers. The weather was dry but surprisingly cold so the warm event centre was appreciated. There was a short period of panic when the security fob given to me for access didn’t work. Fortunately a call to the emergency help number resulted in a helpful handy man turning up quickly to let us in. We managed to cope with Walk for Life and cricket spectators, added complications for the organiser! 

Thank you all for coming and making the effort worthwhile. The courses seem to have been well received with lots of appreciative comments at download which are always good to hear.

Lyn West SOS
 

Planners Comments

Planning courses 6 & 7 is always a bit of a challenge for an urban event. It was possible to create an interesting course 7 (yellow standard) within Central Park and Bell Meadow and we decided that it would be safe for the older juniors to venture from the park into the city centre and quiet residential roads. This gave a much more interesting and challenging route for course 6.

My thanks to Dave for planning courses 1 to 5 and sharing the load for putting out the controls early Sunday morning. It always surprises me how much extra time is needed to gripple them.

Thanks too to Lyn as organiser and for Sarah’s dedication in controlling the event and for her help and advice during the planning process.

Kevin put in a huge effort improving and extending the 2024 map to the south, east and west. This enabled us to provide a very different set of courses for this Chelmsford 2026 event taking in some varied and less familiar parts of the city.

Eddie Banks SOS

Controller’s Comments

Planning for this event progressed very well initially with Eddie advising our novice planner David, but then in the last week we had to move the finish because of the Cricket parking.  The new finish worked okay for us, but I believe it confused some the the people doing the Walk for Life.

We received mostly positive comments about the courses so I think it was a job well done.  We will pass on comments about the map to Kevin so hopefully they can be corrected for next time.  The warm indoor event centre was a definite plus so my thanks go to Eddie, Lyn, David and Kevin for their work on the event.

Sarah Mansel SUFFOC



 

Last updated: Tue 12 May, 2026

Overview

Urban event around Chelmsford city centre

The map covers a rich mixture of city centre, residential estates and parkland
 
Final details as pdf available Here

Location Info

Location map

Near: Chelmsford
Lat,Lng: 51.7294,0.4571
Postcode: CM1 2QX
What3Words: ///forks.solar.exit

Open an interactive map in:
GoogleMap - OpenStreetMap - BingMap (OS 50k)

Directions / Parking

Event centre at Waterhouse Business Centre, 2 Cromar Way, Chelmsford, CM1 2QE What3Words: ///forks.solar.exit

There is ample free parking adjacent to the event centre. Please do not park in front of roller doors. Some of these are in use 24/7. There are large no parking signs. Don't ignore them.

Chelmsford Railway station is 1 mile from the event centre.

Entrance to the event centre is by door on east side of the building. Look for SOS banner. 
Chelmsford Railway station is 1 mile from the event centre.  

Map / Terrain

2024 map has been updated and extended by Kevin Machin for this event.
The map covers a rich mixture of city centre, residential estates and parkland Scale 1:4,000 with 2.5m contours. 
Courses 1-6 are printed on A3 waterproof paper, Courses 1 & 2 are double sided. Course 7 is printed on A4 waterproof paper.
Course 7 is traffic free within Central Park
Course 6 restricted to roads where there is 20mph speed limit and limited traffic.
The event takes place in a public area. Please be courteous to other users to avoid jeopardising our future use.

Course Information

Course 1 Men Open 11.8km
Entered: 16 of 18
28 controls

Course 2 Veteran Men (M40+), Women Open 10.2km
Entered: 21 of 23
24 controls

Course 3 Supervet Men (M55+), Veteran Women (W40+) 7.9km
Entered: 18 of 20
23 controls

Course 4 Ultravet Men (M65+), Supervet Women (W55+) 7.0km
Entered: 19 of 21
19 controls

Course 5 Ultravet Women (W65+), Hypervet Men (M75+), Hypervet Women (W75+) 5.4km
Entered: 20 of 22
14 controls

Course 6 Junior Men (M16-), Junior Women (W16-) 4.5km
Entered: 5 of 7
17 controls

Course 7 Young Junior Men (M12-), Young Junior Women (W12-) 2.7km
Entered: 4 of 6
17 controls

Distances are the optimal route
Courses are relatively flat with a total of 30m climb on course 1.
Juniors aged under 16 on the day may only enter Course 6 or 7
Juniors aged under 12 on the day may only enter Course 7
Anyone wishing to run out of class should enter Open on Course of their choice

Entry Details

Entry via Racesignup here

From 11th March:
Standard
        Senior: £10.00/£12.00
        Senior Chip hire: £1.00
        Junior/Student: £4.00/£5.00
        Junior/Student Chip hire: £1.00
From 4th May:
Late
        Senior: £12.00/£14.00
        Senior Chip hire: £1.00
        Junior/Student: £5.00/£6.00
        Junior/Student Chip hire: £1.00

Juniors are under 21 on 31st December.
£2 surcharge for non members of British Orienteering.

Registration and Start times

Enquiries open from 10:00am. Start times 10:30am-12:30pm

Start times will not be pre-allocated

Distance to start is 1.1km. The route follows a short stretch of road with negligible traffic then a level tarmac footpath. This is shared with a cycleway. Look out for cyclists and stay in the pedestrian lane. The route passes the finish at 700m. The last part of the route crosses the river by bridge on the pavement of Rainsford Lane. Note that this is a busy road and while there is no road crossing, very young juniors should be accompanied to the start There are no toilets at the start. 

After finishing follow start route in reverse back to event centre.

Anyone wishing to go direct to the start can park in the Waterhouse Lane public car park on Meteor Way. Parking is free on Sundays. Join the taped route to the start along Meteor Way and Rainsford Lane bridge. After running follow tapes towards start back to car park but don't forget to visit the event centre to download! 

Courses close 14:30

SIAC enabled but all competitors must punch start and finish.

Facilities

Enquiries, registration, clothing dump, download, first aid, toilets

Dog restrictions

Sorry, no dogs allowed.

Contacts / Officials

Organiser: Lyn West lynwestghh@gmail.com

07974 391283
Planner: Dave Game
Assistant planner: Eddie Banks
Controller: Sarah Mansel (SUFFOC)

Nearest A&E Hospital

Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, CM1 7ET
NHS Urgent care search

Safety Notes

As with all urban events, road crossings will be necessary. Please take care. The main inner ring road ‘Parkway’ is marked out of bounds and must only be crossed at pedestrian crossings or underpasses.
High visibility clothing is recommended. 
Roads, footpaths and cycleways will be in use by members of the public. Please treat them with respect. 
Walk for Life is taking place. The finish is close to our event centre. Expect more pedestrians than usual on the paths in the park particularly if you are late starters.
Look out for cyclists who are likely to be moving faster than you. In particular be aware of cycle lanes on paths within the park.
Two rivers run through the centre of Chelmsford. These must only be crossed using the mapped bridges.The water is deep. Stay away from water's edge.
There is a pond in Central Park. While there are no controls close to the edge, junior courses do pass in close proximity. Please advise juniors to stay away from the edge.