Jan Kjellström
International Festival
of Orienteering 2025
South Yorkshire
18th April - 21st April
South Yorkshire 18th April - 21st April

Sprint ⬥ Friday 18th April 2025

Friday 18th April 2025

Sheffield City Centre

Based in the Peace Gardens in the heart of Sheffield City Centre, you don't get Sprints more central than this!

Competitors will explore the diverse urban terrain of the Steel City, passing through several centuries-worth of retail and industrial developments, as well as residential areas including the iconic Park Hill Flats, before finishing in the shadow of the Town Hall.

With intricate building shapes and passageways, mixed with fast running sections, but also some climb to contend with, Sheffield city centre offers the perfect sprint orienteering area.   

Charlotte Ward

Location & Travel

The area for the JK Sprint encompasses the majority of the City Centre, highlights of which include the Theatres, Fargate shopping area and Cathedral Quarter. The embargo also includes areas north and west of the Centre, such as Sheffield Hallam University's City Campus, Parkhill Flats, Victoria Quays Canal Basin, and recently regenerated areas around the River Don.

The Arena will be in the Peace Gardens (indicated below), with some facilities such as Enquiries inside the Silver Room of the adjacent Town Hall.

Sheffield is well served by public transport links: Sheffield Train Station is 700m away from the Arena, the nearest Tram Stop (Cathedral) is just 400m away, and most bus routes terminate in the Centre. See Travel South Yorkshire for more information. There will not be any designated parking for the Sprint: there are various car parks in the City Centre, as well as on-street parking bays.

Accommodation in the Embargo

Given that the JK25 Sprint is being held in Sheffield City Centre, it is inevitable that competitors and their families may be booking accommodation in the area embargoed for the event.

The nature of sprint competitions is that the controls are usually very obvious; the challenge is executing the routes between them. Seeing a few controls in the area is usually of very little help.

On the morning of the event we would ask competitors, in the spirit of fairness, not to wander around the competition area but to proceed straight to the Assembly area. The same applies to those arriving by public transport or parking close to the city centre. Having deposited bags and picked up your bib numbers, you should follow the taped route to your designated Start.

Previous Maps

Numerous sprint and urban events have occurred in Sheffield over the years, and maps can be seen on the SYO Routegadget. Urbans in 2019 and 2021 were the most recent events that visited parts of the JK Sprint area.

Officials

Planners - Pete Tryner & Tim Tett (SYO)

Controller - Ranald Macdonald (DVO)

Assistant Controller - Andy Preston (SYO)

Organisers - Susan Guy & Bronwen Doyle (SYO)