The second event in this year’s Saturday series will take place on 8th February 2020 at Daisy Nook Country Park.

These local Saturday afternoon events are ideal for newcomers to the sport, as well as offering a technical course for more established orienteers.

Daisy Nook Country Park is 40 hectares of varied landscape in the heart of the Medlock Valley. There are waterways, a lake, a canal, woodlands and wildflower meadows.
The park is a great habitat for wildlife and bird-spotting – with an abundance of creatures from great-spotted woodpeckers and owls, to foxes and squirrels.
There are footpaths and bridleways for horse riding that link to neighbouring countryside areas. With a children’s play area and numerous trails and paths into the surrounding area.

Location  Stannybrook Road, Failsworth, Manchester M35 9WJ. Grid Ref SD 921 005. 

Registration: 1130-1300 adjacent to the car park

Starts: 1200-1400

Entry Fee: £4 for adults, £2 juniors, SI card hire is free (though there is a charge for lost cards)

Courses

As usual, there will a choice of three courses:

• Yellow (ideal for newcomers and younger juniors)
• Orange (slightly longer and slightly more tricky navigation, ideal for older juniors and adults new to the sport)
• Technical (offering more navigational challenge and length for those who have orienteered before)

The start is near the café so a great opportunity for post-run refreshment!

New to orienteering?

It’s a trail run (and often an off-trail run!) with a difference – an orienteering race doesn’t follow a set route. Instead you have to visit a series of checkpoints and register each one with an electronic timing chip. The checkpoints are marked by flags on the ground and may be along paths, earth banks, streams or anywhere in the woods or around the woods. The challenge is to race between each one, choosing your own route between the checkpoints, using a special orienteering map (which you get to keep too). Why not come and give it a go?