Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre

Grid Reference

SU408157

Parking

The Outdoor Sports Centre is located in Southampton, just off the Avenue. The easiest parking (free) is available by The View Pub off Hill Lane, walk down the hill to the Reception building/start of the Permanent Course.
More info here: https://activenation.org.uk/venues/the-outdoor-sports-centre/

Maps available from

The Reception (next to the tennis courts) and free online from British Orienteering.

The map and courses are also available via the MapRun app under UK > Southampton > Permanent Courses > Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre. Or, if you are browsing this on a phone with MapRun already installed, use the following links: Easy | Improver | Medium | Score. MapRun allows you to use your smartphone to take part and to record where you went.

 

About

The Outdoor Sports Centre is a large open area in a big valley on the edge of Southampton. There are many sports pitches, tennis courts, play areas, an athletics track and a ski slope. The orienteering courses take you around the Sports Centre with the longer courses taking you into some wooded areas around the outside.

Courses

There are three Permanent Orienteering Courses at The Outdoor Sports Centre, designed for different skill and experience levels. They all start and finish at the same place – outside Reception / Building #1. Times are walking pace, distances are straight line measurements between controls.

COURSE 1, EASY, 25 – 30 minutes, 1.5 Km, map scale 1:5000

(Equivalent to a ‘Yellow’ orienteering event course – beginners and juniors); this is along paths with the only decisions being which path to take next. A compass is not necessary. This course is suitable for wheelchairs and off-road buggies.

COURSE 2, IMPROVER , 35 – 40 mins,  2.4 Km, map scale 1:5000 

(Equivalent to an ‘Orange’ orienteering course event – for competitors who have tried the sport before. Controls are often just off tracks / paths and short cuts can be an advantage); familiarity with Orienteering maps and simple compass work is an advantage. 

COURSE 3, MEDIUM , 45 – 50 minutes,  3.7 Km, scale 1:5000

(Equivalent to a ‘Light Green’ orienteering event course – some experience of maps and compass reading will help); it is possible to find the controls from the paths but more fun to use a simple compass and navigate from one control to next.

COURSE 4 - MapRun Score, 60 minutes, distance up to you, scale 1:5000

Designed to be used with the MapRun app (see above). How many of the 29 controls can you find in an hour? You choose the route and which controls you want to find. Can you get them all in an hour? Don't be back late! This course uses all the control the other courses use, so some may be easier or harder to find. Don't worry if one is too difficult, skip to the next one. 

Map

The map was updated in 2016 and is a typical modern, waterproof, Orienteering map. The scale is large so there is a lot of detail which you would not see on a regular OS map.