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Thursday 01/01/2026 – New Year’s Day Score – Lightning Tree Hill

Thursday 01/01/2026 – New Year’s Day Score – Lightning Tree Hill
Updated:
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01/01/2025 - 2026 New Year's Day Score - Lightning Tree Hill

We kick off our 2026 programme with our traditional New Years Day Score event, this year at Lightning Tree Hill. Come and burn off the excesses of New Year's Eve with a run around another lovely bit of the Forest of Dean......and then put some of them back in the NGOC cafe, which will be there to provide sustenance after your run. It can be pretty cold and wild up on Lightning Tree, and it's rumoured that an Abominable Snowman has been seen in the woods there recently.....there is a bounty available for anyone who can catch sight of him, though you'll need to get pretty close to prove you have found him.

Entries are now open on Fabian4.co.uk: you need to pre-enter by midnight on Monday 29th December. Please try not to leave it to the last minute to enter.
Enter Online

Officials

Organiser/Planner: Pat Macleod Queries? Email Pat

Late updates to these details are shown below in this Green colour

Directions and Parking

Parking is at The Forest High School/Freedom Leisure Centre on Causeway Road, Cinderford, GL14 2AZ. With such a large turnout parking space may be limited, but if the car park is full you can park on the road outside the school/Leisure Centre parking. Parking will not be marshalled so please park considerately, and reasonably close to other cars.

What 3 Words:  ///scavenger.gallons.honestly
Grid Reference: SO660145

Click on the parking sign on the map below, and then the Direction icon icon to get directions to the course.

The Area

Traditional Forest of Dean mixed woodland, with a matrix of larger tracks dividing the the central part of the forest into rectangular blocks, some of which are fenced and impassable. There is a belt of heavily worked and pitted woodland along the Western edge of the map, and steep slopes on the Eastern side, though there are few control on that side. The Edgehills Nature Reserve runs along the top of the main forest ridge. It is fenced, and usually houses a few cattle, but these are docile and normally out of the way in the rougher parts of the reserve. If you come across them allow them space and pass them wide and slow. The Reserve may only be entered and left via the marked gates; the fence, although not high, is not to be crossed anywhere, and is marked with a heavy purple line.

We are grateful to Forestry England for giving us permission to run in this area.

The Map

A4, 1:10,000, with 5m contours, printed on waterproof paper with controls descriptions on the front. Loose control descriptions are available at Registration. For those new to orienteering, who may not be familiar with symbolic controls descriptions (which tell you what feature you are looking for, and the number of the control), there are combined symbolic/textual descriptions also available at Registration

Start and Finish

The Start and Finish are close to Assembly, and the car park. They are located in the woods to the West of the school, the left as you turn in. There is a gate at the far end of the spur of parking on the extreme left (West) end of the parking area.

Event Format

This is a standard 60 minute Score race, with a near-mass start. You will dib the start box, be issued with a map, and set off, and we will process people through this sequence as fast as we can.

There are 30 controls and these will have varying points value – either 10, 20 or 30. The points are shown in the control descriptions on the map, and loose, with higher points for higher numbered controls. The penalty for late return is 1 point for every 6 seconds late.

The course includes a number of easy controls, of Yellow standard, for young runners and those looking for an easy morning perhaps after a heavy New Year's Eve.

As mentioned in our welcome paragraphs, a bounty - 40 points - can be earned if you can find and get close enough to the Abominable Snowman to 'dib' him! A further bounty is available to anyone who identifies and visits the control located at the tree after which the map is named (hint: it's a very old tree!). If you find or guess this tree, there is a second control nearby, hidden in the tree. You need punch that as well as the main control to get the bonus points.

On the downside - perhaps - there are a few controls with a nearby - some very nearby - 'surrogate' - another control which is NOT part of the course. Many of these are on the same feature type as the correct control, though not all are. So you need to heed your new Year's O resolution, or make one if you haven't got one, to check control numbers carefully! If you punch the wrong one and move on you score 'nul point'; if you punch only the correct one, you score the full points value for that control; if you punch both, we will deduct 10 points at download as punishment for breaking the golden rule - check control numbers. So special care needed for touch free punching - there are only a few of these but you'll need to be alert all morning!

We will use SI Timing, in punching and touch free modes. The Start and Finish must however be punched.

Timing and Fees

There will be a mass start at 11:00, consistent with a punching start and map issue. Allow plenty of time to get to Assembly/Start and do not be late.

Fees

Fees are unchanged from last year.

Pre-entry Entry on the Day Non-member Supplement
Adults £8 £10 £2
Juniors £3 £4 £1
Family (2 adults + their children) £16 £20 As above for any non-members

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

Entries are now open on Fabian4.co.uk: enter by midnight on Monday 29th December.

Enter Online

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.

Refunds

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 day or so before the event, so you can delay entry if unsure whether you can run, until very close to event day.

Dogs

Allowed, under control, especially so in the Nature Reserve.

Facilities

The NGOC cafe will be present. We charge a small amount using an honesty system for drinks and snacks at the cafe, simply to cover the costs of providing it. Please make sure you bring some change to pay for your refreshments, although you may also be able to pay via the card machine at registration, subject to a minimum charge of £1.

For logistic and security reasons there will be no toilet provide at Assembly. The public toilets in Cinderford are regrettably closed on New Year's Day. there are some in the main car park in Lydney, however, which appear to be open daily (or at least do not have a notice posted to say that they will be closed on NYD) and others in Littledean which may or may not be open (but which have very limited parking nearby!)

Safety

  • Orienteering is an adventure sport. All runners take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety.
  • The ground is likely to be wet and slippery, and care should be taken on steeper slopes. It is also unwise to step on fallen branches and logs on slopes, as they are usually extremely slippery.
  • A risk assessment will be carried out
  • First aid support will be available at Assembly