Event overview

British Night Championships 2026

HH are proud to host the British Night Championships 2026 on Egypt Woods together with Jennings and Hangings Woods. To make a weekend of it, there is also a Middle distance daytime National level race on essentially the same area on Sunday 8th. Courses are being planned so that little will appear familiar, even to those on the longest courses on both days.

Event Information

Details of BNOC 2026 and the National event (our annual Ace of Herts) are on the HH website. This page provides the headlines, or what you need to know at this stage. The webpages will evolve over time and will represent our current plans. The provisional timetable is:

• By end September - entries open
• Mid January - entries close
• 2 weeks before - The webpages become final details. There is a Print button on the webpage if you prefer paper or PDF. We will email all entrants when details become final and if necessary for significant changes thereafter. Once details become final there will be a change log at the top of the page, so it is always worth a quick check of that.

Event Outline

There are more details on the HH website. This is intended to be enough for you to decide you want to come!

• Saturday 7 February 2026, starts from 18:16 to approximately 19:45, allocated for all classes based on rankings. We aim to have prizegiving at about 21:30.
• Egypt Woods is a mixed commercial woodland on either side of a broad valley, with a variety of contour features. It is mostly very runnable, though with bracken and brashings in some areas. There are relatively few paths and at night, many of them will be less distinct.
• Note that the published embargoed area is slightly too large, we will not be using the Southern part.
• Event Centre near Beaconsfield SL1 8PH. There is good motorway access from M25, M40 or M4 and public transport links to Beaconsfield or Slough. Heathrow airport is half an hour's drive. There are many options for  accommodation and food in the area. We plan to have the usual catering van(s) in the event centre.
• All classes and estimated winning times as for British Night Orienteering Championships rules section 5.
• Area remapped 2025 by Simon Errington using LiDAR data. Map scales 1:10000 for all except M/W65+ classes who will have 1:7500. 5m contours.
• Entries will be through SI Entries, opening 1 October 2025, closing mid January.
• SI timing system including SIAC. Timed start, flyby finish. Interim results (including we hope from radio controls part-way through the course) will be published to the internet, updated every few minutes. Elite runners may be required to carry a GPS tracker.
• Competitors must have headtorch and spare, whistle, plus appropriate clothing for the weather conditions eg cagoules may be compulsory. There will be a kit check on leaving the event centre field.

For the Sunday Middle event, a few things are different:

• Sunday 8 February, starts 10:30-12:30, choice of start times, courses close 14:00. Punching start. No GPS tracking nor part-way results published.
• Courses from White to Black including Very Short Green. Shortest technical courses will have 1:7500 maps, most courses 1:10000.
• Online entries stay open until 30 minutes before last start.
• Kit as normal for a forest event. No kit check.

Event Core Team

HH unless stated

Weekend organisers: Mike Bennett and Alan Rosen

Planners: Alan Rosen and Helen Marsden

Controller: Neil Crickmore (SO)

Safety Officer: Hedley Calderbank