We are fortunate to have been given permission to base the event in the grounds of Barnard Castle School and Bowes Museum.  CLOK acknowledges and thanks both the school and the museum for allowing us to use their facilities and land for this event.

Parking will be in the main car park of Barnard Castle School, which is accessed from Newgate in the south-east corner of Barnard Castle.  The postcode is DL12 8UN and the What3words reference is ///replaying.jumpy.joints.

Click on the link to see a map.  You can zoom in (and, optionally, switch to Satellite mode) to see the details of the final approach to the event.  You can also get directions if you specify your starting location.

Parking will be along the left hand side of the entrance drive and in the car park at the end of the drive.

Please note that there will be no access to any of the school buildings.

Barnard Castle centre is mainly Georgian and Victorian architecture with a Norman castle lying by the River Tees.

The competition area includes the beautiful Bowes Museum gardens, Barnard Castle School grounds and the hilly town centre with maze of cobbled streets and narrow alleyways.

Please be courteous towards members of the public and be careful not to cause a hazard to yourself or other people.  In particular:-

• Run wide round blind corners.  Another competitor – or an elderly pedestrian – may be approaching the corner from the other direction.
• Take care crossing roads.

Adults may enter any course they wish, but if you wish to score points in the UK Urban League then you should enter the allocated course for your age class.

The course lengths have been measured along straight lines between the controls.  The optimum rountes are approximately 25% - 30% longer than these straight-line distances.

There will be two timed-out road crossings on the main A67 road through the centre of the town.  Remember to punch the controls on both sides of the road.  The time that you take for each crossing will be deducted from your running time, up to a maximum of 90 seconds.  That should be plenty of time to cross the road, but if it takes you longer than that, please take the extra time.  Your safety is a higher priority than saving a few seconds on an orienteering run.

Courses G and H remain within the school grounds, museum gardens and minor surrounding residential streets.  Anyone under the age of 16 on the day of the event who wishes to run one of the other courses (i.e. courses A - F) must be accompanied by an adult.

Courses G and H remain have been planned to be suitable for adult newcomers to orienteering as well as for Juniors.  If you would like some advice about which course to run, contact the Organiser or ask at Enquiries / Download.

1:4,000 scale.   5m contours.   A4 or A3 size, depending on the course.

Control descriptions will be printed on the maps, and loose copies will be available at the Start.

SPORTident electronic punching will be used.

The control boxes will be activated to enable SIAC cards to operate in touch-free mode ..... but please note that you will need to punch the conventional way at the Start and Finish.

SI-cards will not be available for hire on the day, but you can arrange to hire an SI-card (not SIAC) for £1 by adding this to your entry in Racesignup.  Please collect your hire SI-card from Download before your run and return it as you download after your run.  Take care of your hire SI-card, as there will be a £20 charge if you lose it.

Important note:  If you have an SI-card 5 (1 - 499,990) or an SI-card 8 (2,000,001 - 2,999,999) and you are running a course with more than 30 controls then you will need to arrange to use a different SI-card for this event.  If you can't make other arrangements, contact the Organiser, who will arrange to lend you a suitable SI-card.

If you wish to participate in this event, please pre-enter via the Racesignup online entry system.

The entry deadline is midnight on Sunday 15‑Sep‑2024.  After that, you will still be able to enter until midnight on Thursday 19‑Sep‑2024, but there will be a £2 late entry surcharge for Seniors and your choice of course may be limited by map availability.

CLOK members:  If you are available to help, contact the Organiser for the discount code and please tick the "helper" box on the entry form.

There will be very limited entry on the day subject to the availability of maps and a late entry surcharge of £2.00 for Seniors ..... but please make every effort to pre-enter if you possibly can.

11 a.m. - 1 p.m.       Courses close at 3 p.m.
Note: To allow us to accept more entries, the start window has been extended to 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and the course closing time has been put back to 3 p.m.

The Start is in the Barnard Castle School grounds, about 5 minutes walk from the car parking area.  If you have your own SI card then you can go straight to the Start.

The Finish, Download and Enquiries are in the Bowes Museum grounds.

We have the use of the external toilets on the north side of the Bowes Museum building.

First aid at Download.

No drinks will be provided at the Finish, but the Bowes Museum cafe will be open, serving breakfast from 10 a.m. and Sunday lunch from 12 noon.

Bowes Museum – which has a renowned art, fashion and design collection – will be open to visitors as usual.  The iconic Silver Swan will perform at 2 p.m.

American novelist Mark Twain, who saw the silver swan at the Paris Exhibition in 1867, wrote "I watched the Silver Swan, which had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes – watched him swimming about as comfortably and unconcernedly as if he had been born in a morass instead of a jeweller's shop – watched him seize a silver fish from under the water and hold up his head and go through the customary and elaborate motions of swallowing it."

Well behaved dogs on leads are welcome in the parking area and the Bowes Museum grounds, but must not be taken out on the courses.

Dogs are not allowed into the Bowes Museum buildings.

A comprehensive risk assessment has been carried out by the Organiser, but please remember that competitors take part at their own risk.  Orienteering is an adventure sport – your safety while orienteering is your own responsibility.

Please make sure that you download even if you do not complete your course.

If you have a relevant medical condition, please add this to your competitor details in Racesignup.  Any information provided will be treated in strict confidence and will only be used if you need medical treatment and are unable to communicate at the time.