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Safeguarding and welfare

Rushmere Country Park

Sunday 23 November 2025

Rushmere Picture

Rushmere Country Park

Regional Event and EAOA League
Sunday 23 November 2025

Entry

Online entries will open shortly on Fabian4. Entry on the day will also be available, subject to map availability.

Prices:

British Sprints vouchers: for those wanting to use EA Run Vouchers from the British Sprints, do not enter online. Instead, please email Helen giving your name, age class, club, course and dibber number to reserve your map, then bring your voucher to registration on the day.

Location

Rushmere Country Park is south-west of the village of Heath and Reach, and is signposted from the Flying Fox roundabout on the A5.
Postcode LU7 0EB.
What3words: sardine.balconies.erupts

Leighton Buzzard station has a good train service. From there it's about 3.5km to the event location. The bus to Heath and Reach does not run on Sundays.

Parking

Standard Greensand Trust car parking charges apply. Pay on exit at the machines near the cafe. Cards and coins accepted.

We do not plan to marshal the car park.

Assembly and facilities

Registration, enquiries and download will be in the corner of the Meadow close to the visitor centre.
Public toilets are available at the visitor centre.
The Tree Tops Cafe in the visitor centre will welcome your custom. Please change your shoes if necessary.

Courses

White, Yellow, Orange, Light Green, Short Green, Green, Short Blue, Blue and Brown courses will be available.
If you want to be competitive in the East Anglia League, enter the correct course for your age class. Details are here.

Terrain and Map

The terrain is attractive forest, mostly runnable, and quite hilly. The area was used for the British Middle Distance Championships in 2022 and can be recce'd on Routegadget.

Map: 1:7,500 A4.

Loose control descriptions will be available.

Electronic (SI) controls will be used, with contactless punching enabled. Punching start and finish.

Times

Start times will be between 10:30am and 12:30pm. Courses close at 2:00pm. Please consider this when choosing a start slot. Start blocks are

As always, don't forget to download, even if you retire.

Results

Results will be available at www.smoc.info as soon as possible after the event.

Safety

Rushmere is frequently used by horse riders, dog walkers, mountain bikers and walkers. Please treat all forest users with courtesy.

In particular, please remember that horses have evolved to escape from predators. If you emerge suddenly and unexpectedly from the woods, particularly at the periphery of vision, this may cause a horse to start or bolt.

First Aid

First Aid is available at Enquiries.

Nearest A&E is at Milton Keynes University Hospital, Standing Way, Eaglestone MK6 5LD, roughly 15 km from the event.

Dogs

Please keep dogs under control in the car park and assembly area. Dogs are allowed on courses provided you can reliably control them; if "just being friendly" might appear threatening to horses, other dogs, runners, children or bicycles, then please don't bring them.

Extreme weather

In case of extreme weather on the day of the event please check the event is still on at www.smoc.info

Helpers

SMOC members are encouraged to help out and earn a discount on their run. If you'd like to volunteer, please contact Ros for the helper discount code before entering.

Officials

Organiser: Ros James

Planner: Martin Cook

Controller: Freya Askham (SMOC)

Joining SMOC

If you are new to orienteering and wish to join SMOC you can join online via the BOF website here.

Important event information

Safeguarding and welfare

We want everyone to feel safe and welcome at our events. As a club, we support and follow British Orienteering's safeguarding policies, which can be found via the links below:

Child Safeguarding Policy

Safeguarding Adults at Risk Policy

Find out more on our Safeguarding and welfare page.

Safety and risk

A risk assessment is carried out by the organiser in advance of each event, but participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.

Insurance

If you have participated in three orienteering events/activities and not joined an orienteering club that is affliated to British Orienteering then you are not covered by our public liability insurance.

Taking photographs

In line with the policies of British Orienteering, the organisers of this event request that any person wishing to take photos or videos showing children other than members of their family should register their details with event volunteers before taking any such photos or videos. The event organisers reserve the right to ask people to refrain from taking photos or videos and may, if such warnings are ignored, refer the matter to the police.