Bishops Wood Gates Run
Instructions.
Note: there is no access code (“PIN”) required for this course.
This is an activity that revisits a training event we used to hold regularly until about 30 years ago.
The goal is to visit all the "Gates" or entry points to the wood inside an hour.
Download and print the map and use it to navigate. Time yourself.
You undertake the activity at your own risk and must make your own decision as to whether you can comply with Covid restrictions to travel to the area.
Do not worry if MapRun pings at a control, just keep running. It is best to also time yourself with a stopwatch, GPS can sometimes be patchy in woodland. For this reason the “tolerance” of the control points has been relaxed, so please run to the control point even if you get a “ping” early!
The controls are at the "Gates" or entry points to the wood, except No.3 which is a small ruin where there was a glassworks 250 years ago. There is not always a gate across the path, so when you get to the edge of the wood at the control that is good enough.
You must visit controls in order, but you can miss one or more out to ensure you finish inside 60 minutes. e.g. you could do 1,2,3,4,5,7 missing out 6 so you finish inside the hour.
The fastest will be able to get round in 40-45 minutes. 60 minutes is just achievable for me as an M50
Stay inside the wood on your route. The optimum route will involve a short section through the woods, the rest is on paths and tracks. It looks easy, but as ever, running hard it is possible to make mistakes!
There has been some forestry work going on, take care. The two areas of OOB shows where they have been active recently.
Parking is beside the road at the western entry point to the wood. No parking at the gate, forestry vehicles have been accessing the forest recently. Park 100 metres south of the gate on road side.
OS map link to parking:
https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=3d972f29-85b6-45e2-a5c4-bcf546f39837&cp=52.873955~-2.381594&lvl=14&style=s&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027
What3words map link to parking:
https://w3w.co/surveyors.trappings.costumes
Let us know what you think of the wood, it could make a good venue for an event in 2022.
Duncan
Instructions.
Note: there is no access code (“PIN”) required for this course.
This is an activity that revisits a training event we used to hold regularly until about 30 years ago.
The goal is to visit all the "Gates" or entry points to the wood inside an hour.
Download and print the map and use it to navigate. Time yourself.
You undertake the activity at your own risk and must make your own decision as to whether you can comply with Covid restrictions to travel to the area.
Do not worry if MapRun pings at a control, just keep running. It is best to also time yourself with a stopwatch, GPS can sometimes be patchy in woodland. For this reason the “tolerance” of the control points has been relaxed, so please run to the control point even if you get a “ping” early!
The controls are at the "Gates" or entry points to the wood, except No.3 which is a small ruin where there was a glassworks 250 years ago. There is not always a gate across the path, so when you get to the edge of the wood at the control that is good enough.
You must visit controls in order, but you can miss one or more out to ensure you finish inside 60 minutes. e.g. you could do 1,2,3,4,5,7 missing out 6 so you finish inside the hour.
The fastest will be able to get round in 40-45 minutes. 60 minutes is just achievable for me as an M50
Stay inside the wood on your route. The optimum route will involve a short section through the woods, the rest is on paths and tracks. It looks easy, but as ever, running hard it is possible to make mistakes!
There has been some forestry work going on, take care. The two areas of OOB shows where they have been active recently.
Parking is beside the road at the western entry point to the wood. No parking at the gate, forestry vehicles have been accessing the forest recently. Park 100 metres south of the gate on road side.
OS map link to parking:
https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=3d972f29-85b6-45e2-a5c4-bcf546f39837&cp=52.873955~-2.381594&lvl=14&style=s&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027
What3words map link to parking:
https://w3w.co/surveyors.trappings.costumes
Let us know what you think of the wood, it could make a good venue for an event in 2022.
Duncan
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Shrewsbury SE MapRun
The Start/Finish 'ping' is beyond the NE corner of the Sainsburys car park at the top of steps forming part of the Rea Brook circular walk. (Sainsburys is in Whitecroft Road, Shrewsbury, SY3 7TJ - there are cycle lock ups at the front and a small/hidden parking area around the back of the store).
The controls are all on obvious ground features - mostly path or road junctions or bends, except:
1: Bridge
8: Bench
Times will probably count, as all 20 controls are possible for faster runners. The time limit is 45 minutes.
Around 7 out of the 20 points can be muddy (off road); the rest are on streets.
On the rare occasion the Rea Brook looks particularly high and flooded parts of the course won't be passable, we have a lookout (Barry Houghton HOC) living nearby who can email round if he thinks it's a no go.
MapRun Code: 1852
The controls are all on obvious ground features - mostly path or road junctions or bends, except:
1: Bridge
8: Bench
Times will probably count, as all 20 controls are possible for faster runners. The time limit is 45 minutes.
Around 7 out of the 20 points can be muddy (off road); the rest are on streets.
On the rare occasion the Rea Brook looks particularly high and flooded parts of the course won't be passable, we have a lookout (Barry Houghton HOC) living nearby who can email round if he thinks it's a no go.
MapRun Code: 1852
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MapRun Winter Series
The second in this winter's MapRun series is now available. This one was put together by Adrian and is based in the west side of Shrewsbury. The start/finish are in Little Oxon Lane, at the entrance to the Oxon Park and Ride car park. As normal for this series, it's a 45-minute score course.
The access code will be emailed to all Wrekin members and is available to non-members on request (please use the contact form on this web site). Please observe all current COVID regulations.
The access code will be emailed to all Wrekin members and is available to non-members on request (please use the contact form on this web site). Please observe all current COVID regulations.
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Hi everyone,
Lockdown may be ending but with so many areas near here in Tier 3, “real” events will be hard to arrange or attend for a little longer yet…
On the brighter side, we can still provide a winter series of MapRuns! The first of the new courses is live now, and based on the Priorslee area. Thanks to Lawrie Jones for creating this one.
Please note, for winter, with daylight short and weather likely to be chilly or damp, we are using a 45-minute score format.
The start/finish is close to the Priorslee Surgery, off Priorslee Avenue. Parking is available opposite the surgery.
The access code for this course is 2281, and you’ll find the event in MapRunF under UK / Wrekin and Shropshire / WRE Winter Series 2020-21.
The map will be available to download soon from the club web site.
Finally, I intend to remove all the summer series courses a week from now, so you have a last chance to run any you meant to but missed!
Enjoy your runs!
Regards
Richard Rogers
Lockdown may be ending but with so many areas near here in Tier 3, “real” events will be hard to arrange or attend for a little longer yet…
On the brighter side, we can still provide a winter series of MapRuns! The first of the new courses is live now, and based on the Priorslee area. Thanks to Lawrie Jones for creating this one.
Please note, for winter, with daylight short and weather likely to be chilly or damp, we are using a 45-minute score format.
The start/finish is close to the Priorslee Surgery, off Priorslee Avenue. Parking is available opposite the surgery.
The access code for this course is 2281, and you’ll find the event in MapRunF under UK / Wrekin and Shropshire / WRE Winter Series 2020-21.
The map will be available to download soon from the club web site.
Finally, I intend to remove all the summer series courses a week from now, so you have a last chance to run any you meant to but missed!
Enjoy your runs!
Regards
Richard Rogers
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Haughmond Hill MapRun
For anyone hoping for some terrain training now that we have the prospect of at least a few “real” events, we have a range of courses (Orange, Light Green, Green and Blue) combining the permanent orienteering course (POC) on Haughmond Hill with additional controls using MapRun. The courses are located in the “WRE Training” folder within the UK / Wrekin and Shropshire folder on MapRun, and PDF maps can be downloaded here Parking is at the Forestry Commission car park. The start and finish are at the stone spiral near the cafe.
You should download and print the orienteering map for your course and navigate exclusively from the printed map.
Ignore the course as it appears on MapRun, for reasons that will be explained below.
The MapRun courses on Haughmond Hill are a hybrid that combines some Permanent Orienteering Course (POC) markers and some virtual controls in MapRun. It means we can set courses that are variants of the POC for a bit of variety.
The courses are also an experiment to see how well the App works where there is more tree cover. It combines using some of the POC posts as controls. The test run went well, my [Duncan’s] famous Moto smartphone that has tried so hard to hijack other phone based orienteering behaved impeccably and the Pings for the MapRun controls came up generally at about the edge of the circle.
For POC controls the MapRun App does not Ping and you need to find the POC marker. What this means is that some controls are where there is a POC marker post. There will be an orienteering marker about 10cm square on one side of the post, sometimes it is also a marker post for the walks on the hill and the POC marker may not be on the side you approach from. In one instance it is on a large log carved into a bench. It also means the POC control does not appear as part of the MapRun course - you need the PDF map to run the whole course!
For the other controls there is nothing there to mark the control site, they are virtual and you get a MapRun Ping. Strong, obvious features have been chosen where there is good visibility from the sky to help GPS signal and to help in placing the controls when creating the MapRun files.
The MapRun controls have been set with 25 metres radius so as you approach the edge of the circle it may Ping. You should still go to the feature before continuing. The 25m tolerance is to allow for a combination of phone variability, GPS signal, and weather etc meaning that you should be able to pick up a Ping for certain if you go to the centre of the control circle.
The control descriptions make it clear which controls are POC markers and which ones are virtual MapRun controls. If the control code (in column 2) is prefixed “M”, it’s a MapRun control (you will get a Ping but there will be no POC post); if it’s just a number, it’s a POC post and you will NOT get a Ping on the phone. It will always be one or the other, never both.
The optimum route is mostly on paths to avoid brambles. Gaitors are recommended, but you can avoid the brambles by careful route choice.
It would be good to hear how you all get on. If this MapRun/POC hybrid works we can try doing other variants of Wrekin POC courses on other areas.
I took 48 mins on Green including clearing some undergrowth, so it will be interesting to see who can get under 40 minutes. Blue should be possible in under 50 minutes if you have speed (Kristoph) or know the map so well you could draw it out on blank paper (Clive)!
Have a good run.
Duncan
Map Files Here:
For anyone hoping for some terrain training now that we have the prospect of at least a few “real” events, we have a range of courses (Orange, Light Green, Green and Blue) combining the permanent orienteering course (POC) on Haughmond Hill with additional controls using MapRun. The courses are located in the “WRE Training” folder within the UK / Wrekin and Shropshire folder on MapRun, and PDF maps can be downloaded here Parking is at the Forestry Commission car park. The start and finish are at the stone spiral near the cafe.
You should download and print the orienteering map for your course and navigate exclusively from the printed map.
Ignore the course as it appears on MapRun, for reasons that will be explained below.
The MapRun courses on Haughmond Hill are a hybrid that combines some Permanent Orienteering Course (POC) markers and some virtual controls in MapRun. It means we can set courses that are variants of the POC for a bit of variety.
The courses are also an experiment to see how well the App works where there is more tree cover. It combines using some of the POC posts as controls. The test run went well, my [Duncan’s] famous Moto smartphone that has tried so hard to hijack other phone based orienteering behaved impeccably and the Pings for the MapRun controls came up generally at about the edge of the circle.
For POC controls the MapRun App does not Ping and you need to find the POC marker. What this means is that some controls are where there is a POC marker post. There will be an orienteering marker about 10cm square on one side of the post, sometimes it is also a marker post for the walks on the hill and the POC marker may not be on the side you approach from. In one instance it is on a large log carved into a bench. It also means the POC control does not appear as part of the MapRun course - you need the PDF map to run the whole course!
For the other controls there is nothing there to mark the control site, they are virtual and you get a MapRun Ping. Strong, obvious features have been chosen where there is good visibility from the sky to help GPS signal and to help in placing the controls when creating the MapRun files.
The MapRun controls have been set with 25 metres radius so as you approach the edge of the circle it may Ping. You should still go to the feature before continuing. The 25m tolerance is to allow for a combination of phone variability, GPS signal, and weather etc meaning that you should be able to pick up a Ping for certain if you go to the centre of the control circle.
The control descriptions make it clear which controls are POC markers and which ones are virtual MapRun controls. If the control code (in column 2) is prefixed “M”, it’s a MapRun control (you will get a Ping but there will be no POC post); if it’s just a number, it’s a POC post and you will NOT get a Ping on the phone. It will always be one or the other, never both.
The optimum route is mostly on paths to avoid brambles. Gaitors are recommended, but you can avoid the brambles by careful route choice.
It would be good to hear how you all get on. If this MapRun/POC hybrid works we can try doing other variants of Wrekin POC courses on other areas.
I took 48 mins on Green including clearing some undergrowth, so it will be interesting to see who can get under 40 minutes. Blue should be possible in under 50 minutes if you have speed (Kristoph) or know the map so well you could draw it out on blank paper (Clive)!
Have a good run.
Duncan
Map Files Here:
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Virtual orienteering courses for lockdown - MapRun
While we can't provide our usual summer series of evening events, we will be making available some "virtual courses" that you can run using the MapRunF app on your smartphone (either Apple iPhone or Android).
To get you started we have re-created two of Richard Lewis's winter street score courses for MapRun, at Oakengates and Shifnal. You can download PDF maps to print out [links here]
These will be followed soon by a weekly series of Street-O courses using mostly postboxes as control sites (and hopefully at least one "traditional" map as well!). Look out for more information soon.
For a guide to getting started with the MapRunF app, please see: http://wmoa.org.uk/wp/getting-started-with-maprun-for-participants/
Important note: runs on these courses are not covered by British Orienteering insurance, so are AT YOUR OWN RISK (just as if you were going for a run from your front door!). Neither British Orienteering or Wrekin Orienteers accepts any liability for your use of the course or map. Please go safely.
Also because of this, these courses do not form an officially competitive series. While you will be able to see how you and others got on, there are no prizes, just your own satisfaction.
Unless stated, all courses require an access code to load into the MapRun app. This code is sent to all club members by email; for non-members, please drop us a line using the form on the Contact Us Page and we will send you any codes you need.
While we can't provide our usual summer series of evening events, we will be making available some "virtual courses" that you can run using the MapRunF app on your smartphone (either Apple iPhone or Android).
To get you started we have re-created two of Richard Lewis's winter street score courses for MapRun, at Oakengates and Shifnal. You can download PDF maps to print out [links here]
These will be followed soon by a weekly series of Street-O courses using mostly postboxes as control sites (and hopefully at least one "traditional" map as well!). Look out for more information soon.
For a guide to getting started with the MapRunF app, please see: http://wmoa.org.uk/wp/getting-started-with-maprun-for-participants/
Important note: runs on these courses are not covered by British Orienteering insurance, so are AT YOUR OWN RISK (just as if you were going for a run from your front door!). Neither British Orienteering or Wrekin Orienteers accepts any liability for your use of the course or map. Please go safely.
Also because of this, these courses do not form an officially competitive series. While you will be able to see how you and others got on, there are no prizes, just your own satisfaction.
Unless stated, all courses require an access code to load into the MapRun app. This code is sent to all club members by email; for non-members, please drop us a line using the form on the Contact Us Page and we will send you any codes you need.
MapRun Update Schedule
The first of this summer's series of MapRun courses is now available for you to run. It's a 60-minute score course based in Wellington, with the start and finish in the car park opposite the civic centre. All the controls are postboxes, other than no. 2 which is a mail bag box (so all mail-related!).
The map is available to download from the MapRun page on the club web site. To find the course on MapRunF, look in the "Summer 2020 Series" folder within the Wrekin and Shropshire folder. It's called "Wellington PostboxPlus 2020".
The rest of the series is looking like this...
10 July Shrewsbury
17 July Bridgnorth
24 July Church Stretton
31 July Newport
7 August Shifnal
14 August Oakengates
21 August Carding Mill Valley
The first of this summer's series of MapRun courses is now available for you to run. It's a 60-minute score course based in Wellington, with the start and finish in the car park opposite the civic centre. All the controls are postboxes, other than no. 2 which is a mail bag box (so all mail-related!).
The map is available to download from the MapRun page on the club web site. To find the course on MapRunF, look in the "Summer 2020 Series" folder within the Wrekin and Shropshire folder. It's called "Wellington PostboxPlus 2020".
The rest of the series is looking like this...
10 July Shrewsbury
17 July Bridgnorth
24 July Church Stretton
31 July Newport
7 August Shifnal
14 August Oakengates
21 August Carding Mill Valley
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Cardingmill Valley MapRun
Something different for the last in our scheduled series of MapRuns for this summer: linear courses - long, medium and short - on a traditional map at Carding Mill Valley. Please note that you will need to print out and carry the map as there will be no map on the app! (only aerial imagery). The start and finish are at the National Trust car park - parking charges apply for non-members, but pre-booking is not required to visit this site.
Oakengates MapRun
This week's MapRun course is in Oakengates. Controls 1-15, and 18 are postboxes, with the remainder being other street furniture or obvious ground features. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course. The start/finish is in the central car park.
Shifnal MapRun
This week's MapRun course is in Shifnal. Controls 1-11 are postboxes, with 12-22 being obvious ground features. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course. The start/finish is in the car park by the village hall (behind the town centre Co-op supermarket). Thanks to Rod P. for the map!
Church Stretton MapRun
This week's MapRun course is in Church Stretton. Once again, most of the controls are postboxes, with some obvious ground features added. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course. The start/finish is in the car parking area adjacent to the railway station. Thanks and regards Richard Rogers
Newport MapRun
In a change to the published schedule, this week's MapRun course is in Newport. Once again, most of the controls are postboxes, with some obvious ground features added. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course. The start/finish is in the central car park (adjacent to the one behind Waitrose).
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Shrewsbury MapRun
Attached is the map for the second of the summer MapRun series.
This course is based in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury, and once again in a 60-minute score format. Controls are generally on obvious ground features such as path or road junctions etc, but descriptions are included on the map in case of doubt.
Attached is the map for the second of the summer MapRun series.
This course is based in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury, and once again in a 60-minute score format. Controls are generally on obvious ground features such as path or road junctions etc, but descriptions are included on the map in case of doubt.
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Bridgnorth MapRun
This week's MapRun course is in Bridgnorth. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course, and the start and finish are at the entrance to the car park between Sainsbury's and the hospital. Controls 1-20 are all postboxes, 21-25 are obvious ground features (road/path junctions/bends).
This week's MapRun course is in Bridgnorth. As usual, it's a 60-minute score course, and the start and finish are at the entrance to the car park between Sainsbury's and the hospital. Controls 1-20 are all postboxes, 21-25 are obvious ground features (road/path junctions/bends).
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Wellington MapRun
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