Final results are here and you can find the MapRun tracks and splits here

Considering what was happening all over the country last weekend – gales,
snowdrifts storms etc, the weather gods smiled kindly on Ripon for the morning of
our bike event. The first line of the carol ‘earth as hard as iron, water like a stone’
certainly applied at Ripon with both football & rugby fixtures frozen off but mountain
bikers are made of sterner stuff. The course area was set so as to cover parts not
used in recent bike O events with a shift to the east, this did involve crossing the A61
for many of you but we planned so that there were safe places to cross it. When
planning I avoided the muddiest BWs but on the day most of them were motorway
speed although as the morning progressed the BW near Markenfield Hall turned
sticky.

65 km was calculated as the optimum route, leading rider was M40 Nuno Cerqueira
– 425 points after his 35 penalties, 50k ridden; rolling back the years was BMBO
treasurer M50 Simon Coiley – 360, also rolling back even more years in 3 rd place
was M60 Tim Evans. First lady was W50 Claire Riley – 332, accompanied by Dave;
2 nd lady W60 Andrea Foster with Steve in tow, 3 rd W60 Sarah Slade – 260 with a well
judged 4 seconds to spare. Generation team was Ewan & Rik Thompson – 230. All
the controls were visited & no unanimity of route choice, which is how a well planned
event should look. The most efficient man was Tim who scored 9.16 pts/km, best
lady Andrea 9.09 pts/km.

Special mention to Simon Caldwell and Carmen Elphick who both rode the bike O &
then tackled the 60 min foot O running alongside the NYMBO event. This was the
second time we have combined bike O and foot O but it was the first time that a biker
entered the foot O by mistake and a biker who downloaded the foot O MapRun course;
thanks Tim and Claro for sorting this out.

Thank you the brave souls who turned out on a freezing day & were rewarded with a
glorious sunny morning with virtually no wind & firm tracks. Thanks also to Ripon
Rugby Club for hosting us and providing welcome refreshments after and Sean for
marshalling cars and Linda for registration.

Next event is at Ellerton Lake on 7 Feb – another nice warm café after your ride.
David Day Planner

Thanks to David Day for organising another excellent event!

Winter Poster 26-Nov-2025

**UPDATE: MapRUn download is now ready, forecast looks ok, MapRun QR code added below**

It looks like our first event of the year could involve wintry conditions! Make sure to prepare both bike and rider accordingly!!

We’ve over 40 entries and there’s still time to enter here  – there might be entry on the dayh available but it’s always better to guarantee your map by entering online.

Here are the start & finish locatons, MapRun will be ready to download on Friday and this post will be updated along with any additional instructions (if required).

sgtart and finish locations

One great way to start the new year is to enter the first NYMBO event of 2026!

Saturday January 10th 2026 – 2 hours – enter online here
33% off entries until midnight Monday 5th January
–>> Don’t forget to renew your annual BMBO membership <<–

Event centre: Ripon Rugby Club, Mallorie Park Drive, Ripon. HG4 2QD; GR 307 711.

Parking: There is some parking at the club but we need to leave spaces for the game later in the day, a marshal will direct cars when capacity is reached. There will be toilets, food & drink available in the clubhouse, please support the venue.

Course – see map below
The course will take in the city of Ripon & surrounding villages, it crosses 2 main roads – B6265 & A61; the course has been designed to provide safe crossing points, please observe the map notes for details. Most bridleways used have hard surfaces but there are some which do not, again the map shows which are best. We are using an A3 map to assist with navigation through the streets of Ripon.

The bike O will take place in conjunction with a MapRun+ foot O score using the orienteering map of Ripon City, 60 controls & time limits of 60, 90 or 120 mins. Entry details will be on the Claro Orienteering website.

Thanks to David Day for getting us underway this year, hope to see you there!

Ripon 10th January

You’ll find the MapRun results and tracks on the MapRun site here

Tim is working out a couple of changes for the final results, please let him know if anything is missing.

Thanks to David Day for taking on an additional planning task for this series, here’s his report:

We hope you all enjoyed the facilities at Thorp Perrow Arboretum, thanks to the venue for allowing us to use their car park, café & toilets. There was even a Park Run but only Tim Evans was brave enough to complete both events. Thanks to Steve, Sarah & Richard for looking after the car parking & registration, enabling me to run the start.

Thanks also to Claire for coming to the rescue of an M70 who forgot his helmet [why do ladies have so much stuff in their handbags?]

The heavy overnight rain had affected the soft parts of the few bridleways that were used, snorkel gear apparently was required for one puddle, so I was told. Hopefully the high points scored for these BWs made those choices worthwhile. A flattish course resulted in lots of km ridden, most of the riding was on minor roads. Apologies for the road closure E of Burrill which I was not aware of, although looking at the tracks, some riders got through OK.

Top rider on the day was M50 Andy Gregg: 481, followed by Rob Mawer: 431, first M60 was Jonathan Purdy: 420; E bike winner was Steve Willis: 372 who claimed to have been distracted by the steam engine on the Wensleydale Railway & found his borrowed helmet a little tight. David Cowgill & Claire Riley won the Mixed 50: 327, Claire was just in front of Pamela Singleton W60 & Karen Blackburn W70: both 287. Only 1 Gen team today – Ewan & Rik Thompson: 273.
Whilst planning, no obvious route stood out but the E circuit had to be completed to make it worthwhile so many riders went S first, then anticlockwise around this loop, then picked off whatever they had time for towards the end. All controls were visited, I calculated that the optimum route would be ~ 65 km, Andy managed 58 km. However the most efficient riders were Peter Shelley who achieved 8.6 pts/km & female equivalent Karen Blackburn with 7.95 pts/km. There were only 5 riders who were not late but most of the latter were less than 5 mins over time so good judgement by them.

Lost property: set of front & rear black bike lights – contact David for return. Next event will be from Ripon Rugby Club on 10 Jan; only a few BWs but more hills can be expected.

Final plea – several riders do not have their correct mobile numbers or emergency contacts correct on BMBO website; we download the start list from this site, if you had to manually change your numbers at Thorp Perrow, your BMBO entry is incorrect – only the individual concerned can change it! Please make sure to do this when you renew you membership for 2026
David Day Planner

Details for Thorp Perrow on Saturday 6th December

Registration 0915 – 1015 | Starts 0930 – 1030 | 2 hour course

Parking information and course map in the previous post.

Here’s the start and finish locations and the MapRun QR code is underneath if you need it or you can follow the manual path
select event / UK / North Yorkshire / NYMBO / Summer 25 /select event / UK / North Yorkshire / NYMBO / Winter 25-26 /

Entry on the day: if you’ve not entered already but are keen to ride then we have about 7 spare maps available – first come, first served, £10 cash for adults.

Course map for 6th December at Thorp Perrow now available below

Our December bike O will be at Thorp Perrow, between Masham & Bedale.

You can enter the event here : better than black friday pricing with a 33% discount before midnight Monday  (just £5 for adult BMBO members)

Registration 0915 – 1015 | Starts 0930 – 1030 | 2 hour course

There is ample parking, please park at the W end of the car park nearest the road. Café & toilets are available to riders before & after the event; there is also a Park Run at Thorp Perrow, commencing 9am for the keenest bikers. At Thorp Perrow, Santa’s Grotto is open in December as well as the arboretum & bird of prey centre – see their website for details.

David Day has planned to use most of the minor roads in the area with a few bridleways to check out, mostly with firm surfaces. This will be your opportunity to avoid the Christmas shopping crowds & enjoy 2 hours of outdoor exercise prior to the big feast.

nb: the previously mentioned road closure affecting event access has now been lifted. 

6th December Blank Map

… and Saturday December 6th is now confirmed for Thorp Perrow, near Bedale! 

You can enter the event here – and more details will be posted during the next 2 weeks. Sorry for the delay to the people who had enquired about where it was likely to be!

Thanks to David Day for sorting this out!

Here’s the updated poster version of the winter series:

Winter Poster 26-Nov-2025

NYMBO Winter Series – Darley – 8th November

29 riders turned out for the opening event of the 2025/26 NYMBO Winter League, held from the Wellington Inn in the heart of Nidderdale. For the first time, the event was organised in conjunction with CLARO Orienteers, who were running the first of their MapRun+ events. These score events are completed on foot and use a smaller map with a completely different set of controls to the NYMBO course.

MapRun results including tracks can be found here

The last time NYMBO visited the Wellington Inn was back in 2014, when the challenging terrain meant the top score fell below 400 points out of a possible 525 – despite the area being a similar size to other two-hour events.

When planning this year’s map, it was a challenge deciding how best to contain the area. South of the Nidd, the riding is deceptively tough: a dense network of quiet lanes and old drovers’ tracks criss-cross numerous tributaries, with very little flat ground. North of the river, the terrain is easier to interpret, rising steeply to the high point at Brimham Rocks. The river itself divides the area, forcing riders to make strategic choices about if – and how – to link the two halves via the limited crossing points.

Unlike the 2014 event, this year’s map included the bridleways north of Summerbridge and excluded Hampsthwaite to the East. Recent improvements to some of these northern tracks have made them more predictable in wetter weather and therefore more enjoyable to ride.

After a damp week, the event day began bright and mild, with mid-morning rain clouds thankfully clearing. Despite some recent rain after my recce of the area, the ground conditions were reasonable and the riding never felt too heavy. Most riders returned to the finish mud-splattered but smiling.

Topping the results table with 325 points was Andy Gregg, who chose a route focused on the southeast corner of the map, tactically dropping control 25 at Reynard’s Crag. The first lady was Carmen Elphick, who opted to stay south of the Nidd.

Reviewing the GPS tracks showed that most riders concentrated on the southeast, collecting the mainly tarmac controls around Kettlesing, Tang, and Birstwith. Others explored the southwest corner, while a few hardy souls pushed north to enjoy the long descent past control 27.

Clearly, this is a demanding area that would take more than a mere mortal to clear within two hours. It would be interesting to see how riders would fare in a three-hour version – perhaps a contender for a future summer event.

Finalised results including splits can be found here

The next event will take place on 6th December in [location TBD], planned by Tim Evans.

Menwith Hill

Details for Darley on Saturday 8th November

Registration 0915 – 1015 | Starts 0930 – 1030 | 2 hour course

Please park at the top of the car park away from the pub itself (especially if you’re not staying for pub food after your ride). Course map in the previous post.

Here’s the start and finish locations and the MapRun QR code is underneath if you need it or you can follow the manual path
select event / UK / North Yorkshire / NYMBO / Summer 25 /select event / UK / North Yorkshire / NYMBO / Winter 25-26 /

Not had time to enter? We’ll have about 8 maps for entry on the day if you just want to turn up at the pub!!

Start Finish

QR Code

NYMBO Winter Series – Darley – 8th November – 2 hours – Wellington Inn

Only a short gap this year between the final league event and the start of our winter series!

First event is on Saturday 8th November at The Wellington Inn, Darley (HG3 2QQ)

As usual for winter events, it’s a 2 hour format.

REGISTRATION 0915 – 1015 | STARTS BETWEEN 0930 – 1030

Online event booking is open now – 33% discounts available until midnight Monday 3rd (yes, that’s a third off the entry price which keeps an ADULT BMBO EARLY ENTRY AT JUST £5

Online entry by Thursday 6th is £7.50 for BMBO members and £9.50 for Adult day riders. Entry on the day will be £10 (to keep things nice and simple). Enter early!!

Here’s the course map, still a bit to do on marking the tracks but the area will be unchanged so it gives you a good idea of terrain and distance.

Hope to see you there!

20251108-CourseMap