Sheffield City Centre

The Arena will be in the Peace Gardens, with the adjacent Sheffield Town Hall hosting Bib collection and Enquiries, offering the services listed here.

As the city centre is open to the public, please ensure that bags are stored safely whilst out on your run, and ideally have someone to keep an eye on the bags. An area within the Town Hall has been provided for those wanting to store their bags inside.

Club flags are permitted on the grass in the Arena, and we invite clubs to bring them closer to the podium for prizegiving, as indicated on the diagram. No club tents due to space limitations.

British Orienteering will have an information tent, and Compass Point and Altra will also be in attendance.

Owing to the number of food outlets (cafes, supermarkets etc.) close to the Arena, there will be no additional event food traders.

True to the Outdoor City name, we will be providing a Climbing Wall in the Arena, which everyone 1.2+ metres in height can have a go at for free.

Model Area

A model area is provided near the Arena with example controls. Maps at 1:4000 and 1:3000 are available at Enquiries. The model event has 4 SIAC controls. Do not forget to switch off your SIAC by punching the Finish. Please place maps in the boxes at the Finish, or hand to another competitor.

Under 16's must be accompanied by an adult if undertaking the model event as there are minor road crossings.

Starts

There are two Starts, as detailed below. Please follow tapes to the Starts, and observe the out-of-bounds to avoid walking into the event area.

Start	Courses	Route	Details
Near Start	6 to 17	0.2 km	Due to the small area that the Near Start is in, please don’t arrive too early.
Far Start	1 to 5	2.2 km	The route will have some tapes, but there will also be a map available from Enquiries. The route will not be marshalled, but all road crossings are at light-controlled pedestrian crossings. Portable toilets will also be available here for competitors.

Please note the Late Start policy: late starters will punch a Start box, but will be timed from their original Start time unless they are late through the fault of the Organiser.

Because of time-limited access to an area on Courses 1 to 5, there can be no extensions to the start window due to delays in arriving at the event. Please ensure you leave plenty of time for your journey, bearing in mind there will be extra traffic.

Timed-Out Road Crossing

Whilst competitors will cross multiple roads there is a road crossing for competitors on the Far Start where we have felt that it is necessary to control the crossing for some of the courses.

Courses 1 & 2: Competitors can cross the road at an angle but should take care.

Courses 3 to 5: Competitors will have a marshalled, timed-out road crossing between 2 controls. If the road is clear they will be allowed to cross immediately but should take care as the traffic, including bikes, can be moving quite fast. If there is traffic they may be held by the marshal until the road is safe to cross. In the interest of fairness, whilst waiting to cross and when crossing the road competitors should not study their map; any found doing so will be disqualified. Don't forget to punch on both sides of the crossing!

Safety Instructions

Due to the nature of the event area, there is a high marshal presence to ensure the safety of competitors and members of the public.

Marshals will be placed at potential risk points to warn competitors and pedestrians.

You are expected to take care to avoid other competitors, and to respect other users of the area; be prepared to slow down and pass in single file if necessary. Specific care is to be taken when you cannot see clearly, and take corners widely.

There are delivery cyclists on e-bikes in the competition area which competitors may encounter; please cross cycle lanes and roads with caution.

Please be cautious when crossing tram tracks and bus lanes, and listen to marshals' instructions.

Map

Numerous sprint and urban events have occurred in Sheffield over the years, and maps can be seen on the SYO Routegadget. Urbans in 2019 and 2021 were the most recent events that visited parts of the JK Sprint area.

The map is to ISSprOM 2019-2 IOF Specification, unless otherwise stated. Scales are 1:4000, or enlarged to 1:3000 as appropriate for some courses, with a 2.5m contour interval. Survey and cartography by Ian Cooper (SYO) 2023/25. All maps are A4 size, and are digitally printed by BML on waterproof paper. Some courses have Control Descriptions (CD) printed on the rear of the map, as indicated in the Course Details table below.

Compared with university campus events, this City Centre Sprint presents different challenges for competitors. There are some heavy traffic roads which are mapped as out of bounds and which can only be crossed by under or overpasses or at manned crossing points; other roads have traffic, including taxis and buses, and should be crossed with care. There are tram lines with 2 tracks that can be crossed with care (look both ways as trams are quiet) except where shown with olive green. The trams slow down approaching stops and are generally running slowly in the competition area. Sheffield is also promoting cycle use so there are dedicated cycle paths in many areas.

There is a central shopping area, some of which is pedestrianised, the World Snooker Championships are taking place in the competition area and football fans may also be in the centre as Sheffield United (whose ground is about 1.5km from the assembly area) kick off at 17:30, so there will be many users/pedestrians/cyclists who are not orienteers. Please be courteous and compete with care. Many courses will encounter some of the above obstacles so be prepared and act sensibly - remember that pedestrians, as well as orienteers, do not always act rationally. We cannot adjust the event timings because of traffic delays.

Sheffield also has much construction work underway into 2025. The event map will be as up to date as possible.

Otherwise this is a typical urban area with roads, paths, open spaces, steps and multi-level areas. There is much street furniture, such as flower pots, defibrillators, benches and signs, with only the larger more significant features individually mapped. Roads are shown with pavements, which may include cycle lanes where they are significant. There are significant slopes in Sheffield and where buildings and car parks have been built into slopes the contours reflect the relief of the running surface, so if the running surface is flat there are no contours.

Junior courses involve no road crossings except at manned crossings.

Bus shelters are not shown but larger tram shelters are mapped as canopies.

Underpasses under heavy traffic out of bounds roads (so there is only one running level) are mapped using the canopy symbol for clarity, with normal multilevel mapping where there are passable footpaths (see below for an example of the mapping, where there is an upper level passable footpath north of the out of bounds road).

There is a section of overhead tramway that has been mapped similar to below so that the ground level detail can be shown. The tramway is out of bounds on either side of the airbridge.

Example One

The climb is mainly up steps that are open to the sky.

1. steps up from pavement to first floor level passage, which is covered by a canopy
2. steps from first floor level west up to higher level
3. from underpass exit south up steps to street level or to west

Example Two

1. steps up from street level. There are then alternatives to reach the higher western street level: either
2. use a zigzag set of steps to then exit to the north (arrow 4 over an underpass) or south, or
3. head west up steps and through an underpass, where you can exit north up steps or carry straight on using an underpass under an out of bounds road

Course Details

Course	Classes	Start	Distance (km)	Climb (m)	Controls	Map Scale & Info	Tech Diff
1	M18 M20E M21E	Far	3.9	40	21	1:4000	3
2	W18 W20E W21E	Far	3.5	40	19	1:4000	3
3	M35 M40 Men Open	Far	3.5	50	20	1:4000	3
4	M45	Far	3.4	40	22	1:4000	3
5	M16 W16	Far	3.1	40	21	1:4000	3
6	M50	Near	3.1	60	20	1:3000 Double-sided	3
7	M55 W35	Near	3.1	50	21	1:3000 CD on back	3
8	M14 W14	Near	2.7	30	22	1:3000	3
9	M60 Women Open	Near	2.7	35	20	1:3000 CD on back	3
10	W40 W45	Near	2.5	35	16	1:3000 CD on back	3
11	M65 W50	Near	2.5	30	19	1:3000 CD on back	3
12	M70	Near	2.5	20	19	1:3000	3
13	W55 W60	Near	2.3	20	14	1:3000	3
14	M75 W65 W70	Near	2.1	15	15	1:3000	3
15	M80 M85 M90 M95 W75 W80 W85 W90 W95	Near	1.9	15	18	1:3000	3
16	M12 W12 Novice Adult	Near	1.6	15	18	1:3000	3
17	M10 W10 Novice Junior	Near	1.3	10	17	1:3000	2

Clothing & Footwear

Shorts and running vests are permitted for this race. Shoes with spikes and metal dobs are not allowed.

Prizegiving

We aim to start the prizegiving at 15:45 with the WRE Flower and Medal ceremony. This will be followed by the British Orienteering Volunteer & Mapping Awards and the 2024 UK Orienteering League presentation. The JK Sprint Medal Ceremony will conclude the prizegiving. Please stay to show your support.

Acknowledgements