News
News
Latest news
AIRE and CLARO look forward to seeing you all at the British Middle Championships this coming weekend.
You have entered in greater numbers than we anticipated, but we have adapted to cater for you all as best we can. Both Danefield and Kilnsey Moor is a lovely places in the Spring sunshine and we really hope the weather is kind so that you can enjoy it at its best. The technical woodland of Danefield is in sharp contrast to the fast open areas of Kilnsey. You should enjoy some great orienteering on both days. Str8 compasses is sponsoring a lot of prizes for the Northern Championships and the British Middles so run well and good luck.
Start times and final details are published, maps are printed and lots of equipment is ready to move. No controls are out yet, but we have been busy at Kilnsey as you may be able to see from a picture. There are a variety of crossing points on Kilnsey Moor – many of you will only encounter this one. There are no stiles to cross at Danefield you’ll be relieved to know.
We will be able to accommodate you all in the parking areas for both events, but as always, it would help if you car shared as much as possible. The Danefield field has remained in good condition throughout the winter, but as some rain has been forecast over the coming days we will have some tracking available. Kilnsey has the delight of hard standing in the quarry. We can’t promise that you will keep your feet dry, but at least cars should not get stuck in the mud as might have happened at some recent events. We’re hoping that’s true for Danefield. Definitely true for Kilnsey!
Anyone wanting to carry a club tent to Danefield, could reduce the distance to carry the tent by 800m by using the drop off point suggested in the event details. It would need to be a rapid drop-off as there are often no parking bays available. They are all quite uneven, and the road is very narrow. To get back to the parking field it is best to not attempt a 5 point turn but to drive in an anti-clockwise route with LH turns for 2.5k to get back to the parking field. This should take no morfme than 5 minutes.
Have a great weekend.
_________________________________________________________________
Full details on the British Middle Championships are available via this link. Visit the CLARO website for more details regarding the Northern Championships. Good luck to everyone taking part!
As agreed at the AGM 2023, from 1 May 2024 British Orienteering would like to offer an exclusive part-year Membership to new members.
New members are individuals who have not been members of British Orienteering in any of the previous four calendar years.
Part year membership fees 2024
Seniors – £10
Young adults – £7.50
Juniors – £3.00
Families – £25.00 (all members must be new members and not on the database to take up this offer).
No memberships will be merged with existing memberships.
Please note from 1 January 2025, any “new” members will need to renew their membership for 2025.
Find out more about how to join online today.
The GBR teams for the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) and the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) are announced.
The JWOC races are in Plzeň, Czechia from 1 - 6 July and the EYOC races are in Szczecin, Poland from 21 - 24 June.
All named athletes are selected to all disciplines at each competition.
In alphabetical order of surname, the JWOC team is:
|
JWOC Men M20 |
JWOC Women W20 |
|
Ben Gostick |
Ruth Gooch |
|
James Hammond |
Jocie Hilton |
|
Adam Methven |
Isobel Howard |
|
Thomas Rollins |
Daisy May McNamara |
|
Ben Squire |
Imogen Pieters |
|
Euan Tryner |
Freya Tryner |
Non-travelling reserves: Adam Barrie and Emma Crawford
In alphabetical order of surname, the EYOC team is:
| EYOC Men M18 | EYOC Women W18 |
| James Hammond | Ruth Gooch |
| Daniel Heppell | Heather High |
| Thomas Rollins | Jocie Hilton |
| Oliver Prince (subject to fitness) | Freya Tryner |
| Non-travelling reserve: Laurence Ward | Non-travelling reserve: Kate McLuckie |
| EYOC Men M16 | EYOC Women W16 |
| Finn Selmer Duguid | Emily Atkinson |
| Finlay McLuckie | Ella Baxter |
| Oscar Peel | Katie Buckley |
| Marcus Perry | Scarlett Kelly |
|
Non-travelling reserve 1: Ruari Cottier |
Non-travelling reserve 1: Anna Todd |
| Non-travelling reserve 2: Caspar Reynolds | Non-travelling reserve 2: Sophie Crawford |
Jennie Taylor Communications Officer caught up with Northern Ireland Orienteering Association Secretary and active Lagan Valley Orienteers member, Stephen Gilmore.
Stephen Gilmore says: “You may have heard of ‘Beat the Street’ which came to the greater Belfast area last autumn. It’s now back again this year and Lagan Valley Orienteers have formed a partnership with Beat the Street to encourage active participation with a grant from Active Belfast.”
Please tell us, Stephen, what is ‘Beat the Street’?
Stephen continues: “It could be best described to an orienteer as a gigantic semi-permanent urban score course with electronic punching.
Gigantic refers to the game area which covers most of Belfast and stretches out to Lisburn, Newtownabbey and Holywood.
It is a semi-permanent course and the controls are out for a 7 week period between Wednesday 13 September and Wednesday 1 November 2017.
It is a score course with around 400 controls which are placed in the urban environment. You can start and finish at any control. The first control does not count, but every control you visit thereafter is worth 10 points each.
Electronic punching is used but not SI or Emit. Credit card sized Beat the Street cards are freely available from Leisure Centres, Libraries and Tesco along with free Beat the Street maps. These are also being distributed to schools in the area and Lagan Valley Orienteers have a stock. The controls are about the size of a shoe box, mounted mostly on lampposts. When the card is touched against the control it beeps, or burps or makes another rude noise which kids love! The boxes are linked to the internet so that the visit is recorded on-line within seconds.”
This all sounds great! How are Lagan Valley Orienteers linking in with Beat the Street?
Stephen explains: “Okay, so Lagan Valley Orienteers are linking with Beat the Street in a number of ways.
Beat the Street can, of course, be used for an individual personal training challenge to visit every control.
When you register your Beat the Street card you basically select your school or organisation. Lagan Valley Orienteers is also listed as an organisation to choose and this lets the score be added to the club’s total. You can then see all the scores and how you fare in the overall league table.
Beat the Street will promote the Wednesday Evening Events (WEE) Series and in turn as the WEE Series progresses Lagan Valley Orienteers will promote Beat the Street.”
I understand that Lagan Valley Orienteers will be running informal orienteering activities on Sunday afternoons for a number of weeks, starting this Sunday?
“Yes, during the challenge Lagan Valley Orienteers will be providing informal score activities on Sunday afternoons from the 17 September through to 28 October each starting at 3.00pm. These activities will be held from a suitable point such as a café. Organisers are still needed for these activities. This is generally an easy role which requires hardly any orienteering experience and involves simply choosing a café in an area which can be surrounded by controls. Importantly also making sure the management are happy to host the activity, of course! The Organiser will then begin the score activity by giving a friendly briefing to everyone participating prior to them setting off in a mass start. Initially, the Beat the Street maps will be used. However, towards the end of the time, we would like to be using orienteering maps with the Beat the Street controls marked accurately on them.
From Sunday 5 November Lagan Valley Orienteers plan to continue with the momentum we have already built up. We are hoping to use urban orienteering maps with a similar score format. However, following a recent demonstration in Lisburn, we have been shown an easier way to have an urban score activity without using SI. This alternative way has a question with a multiple choice answer at each control site. For example, when arriving at the control participants will be faced with a question to answer. The question could be something like: ‘What’s the number displayed on the lamp post at this control?’ The participant will have to choose the correct answer from the multiple choice list of answers. For example, multiple choice answers could be listed as being: a) 12, b) 16 or c) 24. The participant will then choose the answer and then move to the next control on the map.
One other thing I would like to highlight if I can is that I am personally delighted that Lagan Valley Orienteers have been awarded a grant for additional urban mapping and coaching to supplement their existing map of Belfast. The mapping team is currently working on an area of North Belfast and soon will move to cover an area of East Belfast.”
Thank you Stephen – this all sounds great! Best wishes to you and all Lagan Valley Orienteers as you roll out these orienteering activities over the next weeks.
The challenge continues and takes place over the next 7 weeks through to Wednesday 1 November 2017.
The Beat the Street website is now LIVE and you can find out more details and how to get involved here.
Juls Hanvey Northern Ireland Active Clubs Officer says: “We are really excited to kick off this project making orienteering accessible to so many. Looking forward to watching it grow and change into the autumn and the lead up to our North and East Belfast Community Orienteering Hubs after the Beat the Street challenge.”
Scholes Mill, Old Coach Road, Tansley, Matlock, DE4 5FY
Tel: 01629 583037, Email: info@britishorienteering.org.uk
Registered in England & Wales No:1606472