Middle Distance Races ⬥ Saturday 27 March 2027

Vining Woods

Overview

We are pleased to announce the replacement venue for the Middle Races. With a great deal of help from the landowner, Cowdray Estates, and their tenant farmer, we have secured a fine new area for orienteering. We're calling it Vining Woods, with Elite and other longer courses also using North Heath. It is adjacent to two areas that have previously been used for Major and National events. Taking forest, vegetation, parking and arena into account, we believe Vining Woods offers a better experience than either.

Location

The car park is near Benbow Pond, signposted from the A272 4km east of Midhurst, West Sussex. The arena is 2.1-2.4km walk and 100m climb from there. Limited toilets will be available near the parking.

Grid reference SU914223
Post code GU28 9BX
What3words: ///bends.unrated.froze

Travel

By Road

Approach along A272 from W or E. Signs will warn you from 200m out. Take care turning in, part of the access road is narrow so we will operate a one-way policy.

Just beyond Benbow Pond, camper vans and larger vehicles will be diverted to the left and smaller vehicles to the right. Both fields are reasonably level and well-draining, the camper van field is often used for horseboxes.

By public transport

There is no convenient railway station. Bus 1 from Worthing to Midhurst stops on the A272 at the turnoff for Benbow Pond, 400m from car parks.

Embargo

The embargoed area can be seen the map here.

Starts

There are 3 starts, 350m (shortest courses), 400m (most courses) & 1300m (longest courses) from the Arena. There will be a single toilet near the far start callup for WRE runners. A timed (non-punching) start will be used for all competitors. The start interval for the Middle Races will be 2 minutes.

Competitors should enter the start lanes 4 minutes before their Start Time. A silent start will operate: names will not be called out and a minimum of instructions will be given. All competitors are expected to observe the silent start as far as possible. Clear, Check and SIAC Contactless Test boxes will be available before entering the start lanes.

Minutes before Start
4	SI-Card Check & Bibs checked
3	Control Descriptions
2	Final Notices (written)
1	Stand beside map frame. 10 secs before (first beep) hold edge of map but do not pick up. On Start Time (long beep) take the map out and start.

Finish

This will be in the Arena and is the same for all courses. There will be room for club tents either side of the run in.

Map

Peel Land Surveys are developing the new map.

Map scale 1:10000 or 1:7500 depending on age class. Contour interval 5m.

All maps will be digitally printed on waterproof paper.

Terrain & Mapping Notes

Vining Woods and North Heath are near the top of a mostly gently sloping South facing hillside with some steeper-sided valleys visited by longer courses. No courses use the very steep scarp slope in the NE, which is a SSSI and marked out of bounds. There is a variety of vegetation. The conifer woodland is generally runnable now the bracken is dying back, there are some brashings but not much bramble. Many of the blocks are sweet chestnut coppice, which has very different runnability depending on where that block is in the 8-year coppicing cycle - so don't trust any aerial photos you may have seen. There are several areas of contour detail from old workings.

Mapping notes to follow.

Officials

Planner	Helen Marsden (HH)
Planner	Anthony Flick (LOK)
Organiser	Mike Bennett (HH)
Controller and IOF Adviser	Simon Thompson (HOC)

Medical

Professional First Aiders will be in the Arena
A&E: St Richard’s Hospital, Spitalfield Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6SE