The first Melton and Charnwood Schools orienteering race was held at the Melton Country Park on Tuesday 14 March. Nearly 350 Year 5 and Year 6 primary school children took part, representing ten schools.

Orienteering is an exciting outdoor adventure sport that exercises mind and body.  The aim is to navigate between checkpoints or controls marked on a special orienteering map.  There is no set route so the skill and fun come from trying to find the best way to go.  The event was put on by the Melton and Belvoir School Sports Development Manager, the South Charnwood Schools Sports Development Manager, Leicestershire Orienteering Club and the Healthy and Active Communities Team at Melton Borough Council.

Children took part in pairs or groups and were tasked with finding as many of the 29 controls that had been placed around the park by the orienteering club.  The locations of the controls were shown on the orienteering map given to each pair of children at the start of the race.  Pairs were set off at one-minute intervals and had to navigate to the finish in 30 minutes visiting as many of the controls as possible.  Each visit to a control scored ten points, and was recorded by an electronic device called a dibber.  Pairs who took more than 30 minutes lost five points for each minute late!

The competition was close with almost all of the children managing to navigate around the course quickly and return close to 30-minute target.  Ab Kettleby School ran out winners with four pairs of children placed in the top six (1^st, 3^rd, 4^th and 6^th).  Children from Rothley School came in 2^nd and 5^th, helping their school into second place.  Brownlow School were third.  The course was challenging but one pair of children managed to find 28 controls in under 30 minutes.  Another pair managed to find all 29 controls but took slightly longer than the 30-minute target.  However, everyone was a winner on the day, with lots of happy faces as the children reached the finish and discussed their runs with their classmates and their teachers..

The event was fully inclusive.  Participants included two children with a visual impairment who were provided an enlarged map, and were given an additional ten minutes to complete the course. Here is what one of the children had to say “We loved the adventure today! Lots of fun mud!  It was good exercise, finding the markers with friends was fun.  The dibbers were cool and the map was easy to read.  As a visually impaired student, we had help with a bigger map print out, extra time if we needed and there were lots of friendly staff around the route.  Strongly recommended for anyone who likes good honest outdoor fun!”

To find out more about orienteering visit the Leicestershire Orienteering website.  The club are running a series of events over the summer, including an event at Melton Country Park on Thursday 11th May with courses suitable for children and adults, and another at Castle Hill near Anstey on Tuesday 23 May.  Details of both events are on the orienteering club website and any questions can be directed to the club.  Later in the year, the club is hosting a national schools’ championships in Martinshaw Woods near Groby on Saturday 14 October.