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British Orienteering is proud to reaffirm our commitment to clean sport
by backing UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign from 13 - 17 May.
Clean Sport Week is UKAD’s national awareness week championing clean sport,
education and anti-doping initiatives with sports across the UK.
This year’s Clean Sport Week theme is “Journey to the Podium”. Throughout the
week, UKAD will be showcasing the importance of the clean sport journey through the
lens of athletes and the elite sport community. Anti-doping should be a key part of
every athlete and support personnel’s journey – it should never be an afterthought.
Clean sport is an essential part of our athletes’ journeys to the podium / in professional
sport. It takes a lifetime of work, commitment and a network of support to help athletes
perform at the very top. This effort can be taken away in a moment by doping.
Creating a culture of clean sport is essential for the health and welfare of our athletes
and the integrity of Orienteering.
We all have a responsibility to keep sport clean, to raise awareness of anti-doping and
to celebrate the successes of athletes - through hard work, determination and by
competing clean.
We encourage anyone in our sporting community that would like to learn more about
anti-doping to sign up to UKAD’s Clean Sport Hub where there are free education
courses for athletes, students, coaches and practitioners.
Follow @ukantidoping on social media to see a range of educational and exciting
content throughout the week. To find out more about UKAD’s Clean Sport Week
initiative click here.
For anyone who works in sport, don’t miss UKAD’s Clean Sport Week event on
Tuesday 14 March, taking place on the Loughborough University campus. The event
will focus on the para-athlete’s journey to the podium. You can register your interest in
attending here.
Clean Sport Week
British Orienteering is delighted to announce the GBR team selected to race at the World University Orienteering Championships.
The World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) are held every two years, with the 2024 GBR team competing in Bankso, Bulgaria from 1 to 5 August.
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) selects and enters the team, working in partnership with British Orienteering. The team announcement can be found on the BUCS website.
Women's Team:
Rachel Brown (University of Edinburgh)
Fiona Bunn (University of Edinburgh)
Eilidh Campbell (University of Edinburgh)
Isobel Howard (University of Edinburgh)
Niamh Hunter (University of Edinburgh)
Laura King (Uppsala University)
Men's Team:
Jim Bailey (University of Edinburgh)
David Bunn (University of Edinburgh)
Euan Tryner (University of Edinburgh)
Peter Molloy (University of Cambridge)
Freddie Carcas (Boise State University)
Eddie Narbett (Bradley University)
The Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2024 (WOC 2024), which will take place in Edinburgh from 12-16 July 2024, is delighted to announce Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal as the Official Charity Partner of the event.
The Heart of Scotland Appeal works towards research and community projects in Scotland aimed at reducing the number of people affected by heart diseases. Currently 48 people a day die from cardiovascular disease in Scotland.
The partnership with WOC 2024 aims to raise awareness of the risks of heart diseases amongst the orienteering community, promoting heart health through exercise. The partnership will also help raise funds and awareness for the Heart of Scotland appeal, with all money raised distributed to research projects across Scotland.
The partnership will also be looking to explore opportunities for people to fundraise and take part in the WOC Tour – the amateur races running during WOC 2024. Additionally, various social media collaborations and storytelling activities will help raise awareness of the great work the charity do, in the build up to and during the World Championships in July.
“Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal are delighted to be the official charity partner of the World Orienteering Championships 2024 in Edinburgh. Heart diseases are unfortunately prevalent in Scotland; however, we know that orienteering is a great form of cardiovascular exercise that works out both your heart and your mind,” said Mary Campbell, Director of Income Generation at Heart Research UK.
“Getting outside and trying orienteering, whether in the Scottish countryside or your local town or city, can really benefit both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness, both of which are key to increasing your heart’s strength, reducing your blood pressure, and resting heart rate. We are dedicated to doing all we can to raise awareness of the impact of heart diseases on families up and down the country. The money raised through this partnership will be spent right here in Scotland on lifesaving medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart diseases.”
WOC 2024 Event Director Andy Mitchelmore said of the partnership: “Orienteering is a great form of exercise for all ages and the perfect sport for helping heart health. This is why we felt that a partnership with Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal was such a great fit with WOC 2024 and why we are delighted to have them on board as our Official Charity Partner.”
“We hope we can work together to raise awareness about the work they do in Scotland and help raise funds to support their projects across Scotland. We know the orienteering community will get behind the charity and in July Edinburgh will welcome the orienteering community from around the world, whilst at the same time raising funds for this fantastic cause.”
WOC 2024 is organised by Scottish 6 Days Orienteering in conjunction with Scottish Orienteering, British Orienteering and the International Orienteering Federation, with primary event partners EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, and The City of Edinburgh Council.
To find out more about WOC 2024 visit the official website. Sign up to the WOC Tour here, and for Heart Research UK’s Heart of Scotland Appeal visit their website.
Kirsten Maxwell and Mairi Eades of Team GB with the Heart Research UK mascot
Next week the selected eleven members of the Great Britain Trail Orienteering team will make their way to the European Trail Orienteering Championships in Finland.
The competition takes place in Turku from 8–12 May 2024, so we caught up with current top ranking GBR member John Kewley (Manchester & District Orienteering Club), Graham Urquhart (Octavian Droobers) and Iain Phillips (Leicestershire Orienteering Club), to learn more about their expectations ahead of the event, and how they became involved in Trail Orienteering.
Ahead of this year’s competition can you share in your own words what your aspirations are and what you are most excited about ahead of the European Trail Orienteering Championships?
Iain Phillips: As I’m selected for TempO my main aspiration is in the TempO qualifying round hoping for a performance that will be close to the top 18 that are taken forward to the final. I also hope to make one of the GB relay teams, so I can take part in the combined PreO/TempO tournament. I would love to run the final leg as I think I can perform well under the time pressure that comes with that position.
TrailO is about accurate interpretation of maps to terrain and TempO does this at speed, so thinking time distinguishes the best from the rest. To me this is the purest form of TrailO. PreO is also a valid discipline, prioritising accuracy of interpretation of complex terrain over simple speed, but there’s still a time limit. I will join the public PreO races at ETOC, which are on the same courses as the main championship and hope to compare well with the rest of the team.
John Kewley: My aspirations will be to qualify for the TempO Final, get a top 25 place in PreO and compete for the podium in the TrailO Relay; but like all forms of orienteering, your position depends not only on your performance but that of others, so we’ll see how that goes.
Graham Urquhart: This is a chance to compete with the best in high quality competitions on great Finnish terrain. I am keen to improve on my results at WTOC last year where I just missed out on a top 10 in PreO and made the podium in the relay.
I am also competing in Tempo for the first time at this level which will present a completely different challenge focusing on accuracy as quickly as possible.
How did you become involved in Trail Orienteering?
Iain: My first TrailO event was at the JK in 2014. I was part of the club running the footO event and my duties and run were complete quite early, whereas my daughter was working on download for many more hours. I needed to kill time so entered the novice PreO tournament and was hooked. I continued at the White Rose that year and met Peter and Christine Roberts who helped me out a lot. We helped out at the JK in 2015 and met John Kewley.
After a silver medal performance at the JK in 2016, I started taking part in International Competitions. Somewhat surprisingly I was selected for ETOC in 2018 in Slovakia, and then again in 2020 (cancelled because of the pandemic) 2022 (also for WTOC) and now, 2024.
John: My Uncle Jim Young (LOC) got me interested in Orienteering when I was 14 although I concentrated for many years on Mountain Orienteering like the OMM.
I was doing the H21E course at the Swiss 6 Days for Swiss Mountain Marathon training and saw there was a TrailO class so, without knowing what it was, I entered it thinking it would be extra physical training. Instead, I found it a very interesting technical challenge, enjoyed it and won. I returned to GBR a few years later and tried it a couple of times, but in those days BOF only sent Physically Challenged competitors (who double up in Open Class). In 2009 this changed, so I took it more seriously and have been in the British Team ever since.
Graham: As with many P-Class competitors, I was a foot orienteer and became too disabled to continue in FootO. This meant I at least had the basic map skills to build on.
I discovered TrailO through the races alongside the JK, and I first tried PreO abroad when attending WTOC in Sweden as a spectator and doing the public FootO races. Once I became P-class it became possible to get selected to compete internationally.
What advice would you give to individuals who might want to get involved in Trail Orienteering?
Iain: Go to events, ask questions, and get help. I didn’t do enough of this. If there’s time, ask someone to show you around the course afterwards. Offer to collect controls so you can see where they are in the terrain.
TrailO is about understanding maps accurately at speed, so look at maps and terrain, look for the interesting detail in contour shapes, distinguish between similar features, see how a side view of terrain compares with the top-down picture a map gives. Practice standing still and navigating through the terrain by sight to particular features, follow the land shapes, boulders, vegetation, pits and depressions as you navigate to where a control site may be.
John: The classic form “PreO” is great technical training for heads-up orienteering in highly technical terrain so is ideal training for all levels of orienteering.
TempO on the other hand is a great one for a family to see if the kids can beat their parents (this usually happens a good number of years before they can beat them at FootO).
Graham: Trail Orienteering is designed to reduce the physical elements of orienteering and focus on the map reading. As a result, it is way to continue to compete on equal terms if you have a physical disability and to continue to enjoy some of the challenges of FootO. But regardless of this it is also a great way to refine and measure your map reading skills in support of competing in other disciplines.
The key to starting is to get experience in events and find someone help mentor you to understand the challenges. As a start, the virtual TempO events provide many training events and regular competitions and can help you understand the sort of problems you will face in physical events.
ETOC 2024 takes place from 8-12 May 2024. We wish all of the team the very best of luck at the competition. Check out our Facebook for the latest updates throughout the competition, or learn more about Trail Orienteering here.
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