The 37th White Rose Orienteering weekend will be held in the southern North York Moors from 28th to 31st August 2009. Since 1972, the "White Rose" has been a very popular date in the orienteering calendar combining good quality races in excellent North York Moors terrain with relaxed and "runner-friendly" organisation.
The White Rose in 2009 will be special in that it offers no less than seven orienteering events in three days – a great weekend of excellent, enjoyable orienteering.
The White Rose is also one of the few O weekends to offer an exclusive campsite for competitors and this is what makes the event an exceptional opportunity for a real orienteering holiday weekend in great North Yorkshire terrain. There is no doubt that one of the attractions of the White Rose is that the campsite means that you can park your car or campervan on Friday evening, knowing that you don’t need to move it again till Monday. Other accommodation options are available including numerous guest houses, B&B's, fully serviced campsites and youth hostels.
Click here, to read a review of the highly successful WR2007 night, event from the October 2007 edition of Compass Sport. White Rose 2008 will be remembered for wet weather and mud and this short feature taken from Ebor’s Club magazine gives a planner's perspective on a memorable weekend.
Look out for the White Rose Competition in Compass Sport in early 2009 and the opportunity to win two entries for the entire weekend – worth nearly £90.
In 2009, the event will return to Dalby – “the Yorkshire forest “- 3200 hectares of mixed forest on the southern slopes of the North York Moors National Park. The southern part of the forest is divided by a number of valleys creating a 'Rigg and Dale' landscape whilst to the north the forest sits on the upland plateau.
Although comprising mostly pines and spruces there are many broadleaf trees such as oak, beech, ash, alder and hazel both in the valleys and on the 'Riggs'.
The focus for White Rose 2009 will be the eastern part of Dalby, including Wyddale Forest, Bickley, Broadhead, Blanket Rigg and Troutsdale Moor. The area is mainly afforested and is bisected by the deep valley of White Beck, a feeder of the infant river Derwent. Much of this terrain has not been used for orienteering races since the early 80’s.
We are also fortunate in having reached agreement for an excellent event centre, campsite and assembly in a 7 hectare grass meadow at Ebberston Common and expect that all courses and activities will be based at or close to here. Ebberston Common is located 14km NW of Scarborough and 11km NE of Pickering.
White Rose 2009 will provide two top quality regional events on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th where aggregate times are used for the award of White Rose Trophies. The start arrangements for the two regional events will be simple with flexible timings. We will be using the new course structure at White Rose 2009 – for details see INVITATION page.
As in previous years, there will then be a fast and furious team score event on Monday 31st August. Entries for this will be open to all, and teams need not all be members of the same club. The planning emphasis of the team score will be fun, short but technical with teams of top competitors being easily able to visit all controls within the time limit.
The White Rose Mountain Bike Score event will be held on Monday 31st, timed so that the super-fit and super-enthusiastic can compete in the MTBO event after their day 3 team score run. MTBO competitors can ride individually or in pairs.
Once again, White Rose 2009 will include an informal night score event on the Saturday night. With mass start at 21:00 hrs, the 30 minute format provides a great alternative view of the forest in the mid evening – close to the campsite.
Finally in 2009, we are planning to introduce an informal sprint on Friday evening and an informal hill race on Saturday afternoon.
We intend that (if possible) the start and finish for all races will be in or very close to the assembly area/camp site providing the essential social element to the overall weekend. An event barbecue will be provided on Sunday evening, and the event marquee, furnished with tables and chairs and will available on both Saturday and Sunday evening for informal social activities.