Saturday 05/09/2026 – 2026 Chair’s Challenge – Elton Giant Mazes

The terrain for two of the courses is a maze created in a maize field. The paths are quite broad in most places, enough for two people to pass each other and the ground has been firm red clay all summer. The maize was already well over 2m in late July, so expect general visibility to be limited. There are some platforms reached by stairs on the map, marked as man-made features. You are welcome to climb these if you think it will help. Due to the dry weather, however, the local badger population have been unable to dig into the ground for their usual diet of worms and have instead found it necessary to knock over maize plants to get at the sweetcorn. This has had two effects; firstly competitors may need to be careful about tripping over fallen maize stalks and secondly there might be some visibility between paths. But please, no cutting between paths!

The third course will be on a different map scale in a different setting, which will include chain link fencing, willow tree cover, interspersed covered areas and an altogether more enclosed atmosphere.

The map for the two maize maze courses is at 1:1,500. The map for the willow/adventure maze is drawn at 1:400 scale. There are no contours on either map!

You are trusted not to take unmapped short cuts through the crop, nor through obvious man(child!) made holes in the willow maze.

Control descriptions, lose and on the map, will be supplied, but most will be the same......just use the numbers!

Adjacent to assembly.

As in previous years, the competition will comprise three very short courses. Straight line distance varies between 0.3km and 0.8km, but please expect to cover more than this distance as you will be restricted to paths in the maze and cutting between paths is against the rules and spirit of the competition. Unlike previous years, control codes will be provided to make sure in these very confusing mazes that you are punching the right control. Controls might be very close together, in breach of normal IOF rules on control proximity, and so SIAC will be disabled. Please ‘dib’ each control. Rather than disqualification, mis-punches will incur a time penalty, to be determined by the Chair, if, and at the Chair’s discretion, a competitor has made a genuine effort to punch the correct control but has been overly-bamboozled by the mazes contortions.

The competition will be based on competitors’ cumulative time across all three courses, although there will be an award for the fastest time on the shortest course which is No3. You will see why!

We will use SI Timing, in contact mode only. All runners must punch all controls. At the end of each leg you must download, and then clear, before starting your next leg. There is no time limit between finishing and restarting, subject to completing all legs before 4 pm.

Entry Details

There is one entry class - The Challenge.

Fees

Your event fee covers entry to both the maize maze and the willow maze, as well as normal NGOC costs and levies, so is a substantial discount on the full price of entry.

SI dibber hire: Standard dibber £1 Adults, Juniors free

You can order meal tickets at £5/ticket when you enter; under 12s eat free, but please remember to register them for meals, if applicable, so that we can calculate numbers. You'll take a chance on food being available if entering on the day.

Entries are now open, and will close at midnight on Wednesday 2nd September. Please enter early if you can, to help with food planning.

Entry on the day is possible only while maps last, but note the premium price to discourage this. We should by then be able to accept credit/debit card payments, but this is not guaranteed so bring cash just in case.

A helper discount is available for those offering to help on the day. These events don't happen without volunteers willing to help out on the day, so if you are able to do so, before signing up to enter, email Ian Prowse, Volunteer Coordinator, to let us know if you can help, and ask for the helper discount code that you can apply when entering. You don't have to be a NGOC member to help, but you do need to be a BOF member to be covered insurance wise.

Timings for the day

• 11:30 – 12:30 arrival
• 12:20 – event briefing (can be repeated at 13:00 for late arrivals)
• 12:30 – courses open
• 14:00 – last start
• 14:30 – courses close
• 14:45 – catering available
• 15:30 – prize giving
• 16:00 onwards – maize field may be harvested, strictly no entry

Note that courses close only 30 minutes after the last start, so make sure you arrive in good time to run all three courses, and don't be too complacent about how quickly you will get a round a 0.3km course!

The standard Fabian4 terms and conditions offer an automatic refund up to 2 months before the event date, and we do not normally vary this specification. That means that in most cases no refunds are possible, as we do not publish details until less than 2 months before the date of the event.

However, for all except large events we hold entries open until only a few days before the event, so you can delay entry if unsure whether you can run, until very close to event day.

Dogs are permitted under control in the parking area and in the maize mazes, but not the willow maze. This is a very public child friendly site so it is essential that you clean up after your dog.

We have the whole maze to ourselves. Chris George who operates the maze has kindly agreed to keep it open for us past his usual seasonal close. Please don’t be surprised to see the combined harvester ready to harvest all of the sweetcorn later on the same evening, and please make sure everyone keeps out of the field once courses close.

On site is a small café which might be open but please don’t count on it. There are also toilets and a large covered picnic area which will be open.

Maggie will be offering her famous vegetarian chilli, with tray bake and/or apple slinky and a drink to those of you who sign up for it along with your entry. You are also free to bring your own picnic.

We hope to hold prize giving about an hour after the last finishers. Prizes will be awarded according to categories to be determined at the Chair’s discretion.

Competitors take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety. Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear for terrain and weather.

The biggest risk around the area is collisions between runners in the mazes. You must proceed with caution and be prepared to give way to others particularly around corners and in the willow maze.

A risk assessment has been carried out and will be available to view at assembly.

A First Aid kit will be available at Assembly, together with qualified first aiders.