Mid Wales Orienteers

POW’S NEXT Local Event

POW’S Local League Event

June 14th Nant yr Arian Forest Centre, Ponterwyd.

Mid Wales Orienteers

Esgair Gorlan and Esgair Nant y Moch

Sunday 14th June 09  start times between 10.30 and 11.30 am
All courses close at 2pm

 Access will be sign-posted off A44 between Ponerwyd and Goginan at Bwlch Nant yr Arian and is along the forest road past the visitor centre.

This is an area that is entirely new to orienteering and it has only been mapped within the  last month.  It is mainly rough open moorland similar to Pumlumon.   There are intricate rock features in several parts of the area.

 The bracken is just starting to grow in some patches.  There are several patches of low level gorse.  Significant areas of this are mapped.  There are many small wet patches.  Spare shoes and socks are recommended.

Help will be available for novices.

Whistles will be compulsory

Cagoules will be compulsory if the weather is bad

Dogs must be on lead – this is sheep country.

There will be three courses:

SHORT  this will follow mostly tracks and sheep walks and be 2.25 km long with 55m climb.

MEDIUM  this will be harder with controls well away from paths.  3.2 km long  120m climb

LONG  Controls can be anywhere,  Very difficult navigation  4.2km long 240m climb

2009 Events Programme

Mid Wales Orienteers stage events roughly once a month throughout the year. Every event offers a course which is suitable for people who have no previous experience of navigating with a map.

All the events are colour-coded. Colour-coded courses are planned to a similar standard at all events, providing a progressive structure through which new orienteers can advance as they get better at navigating - starting with Yellow and Orange, and eventually moving up to Green, Blue and Brown. Competitors on each course can compare their results against the Colour Standard for the course, and when they have three colour standard results, may apply for Colour Awards; click here for details of the Welsh Orienteering Association Colour Awards Scheme.

The backbone of the fixtures programme is the series of Local events.

Each event will offer three Courses –

•  Short- 1.5-3km - (Yellow/Orange standard – Technical Difficulty 2-3)

•  Medium - 3.0-4.5km - (Lt. Green/Green standard – TD4-5)

•  Long- 4.0-5.5km - (Blue standard – TD5).

The league will be calculated for Club Members only , but if you join the club before 1 st October, you can have results from earlier in the year included in the league. Events are however open to anyone.

Positions will be calculated on your best five scores to count for both Junior and Senior. If a Planner has not done five events in total, then he/she will be given his/her “average” score for that event which will be added to his/her total score.

However, both Seniors and Juniors will be Age Group “handicapped” using the BOF Age Group Speed Ratio system (see below for the Handicaps) – this is so e.g. a 45 year is on an “equal” footing with a younger and faster 21 year old! Likewise, it is not fair that a W10 should have to run against a W16 without the “handicap” system in operation.

All Junior and Senior winners (this applies to both Short, Medium and Hard courses) will be “offset” one Age Group for the following season (to try to ensure that the same person does not win all the time!), i.e. if a W55 won the Blue course, then the following year her handicap would be based on a W50. However, it won't apply should a Junior or Senior move “up” a Course category, e.g. he/she wins the Short course in 2008 but moves up to the Medium Course in 2009 etc.

If any Juniors go round in pairs (acceptable on the Short Course only , if of a Medium standard then they should be encouraged to do it alone) then, if one is a M12 and the other a M14, then the handicap will be based on the “older” person for that pair. However, any Under 5s accompanied by mum or dad will have their points calculated on either an M10 or W10 handicap.

If you require any further information, please contact Bill Marlow, tel. 01686 627708, or by e-mail