So,

• For any non-fee charging virtual activities which does not form part of a league or table of results or does not see results published in some way, these can continue to be registered as activities.
• We won’t change how we charge/chase levy payments.
• If a club has the paid VOC event open for a period of time, they only register the start date. The club can advertise the event longer on their website etc.
• If a club wishes to record it as a Level C, they must follow the criteria for that standard, no exceptions.
• If a club wants to keep the VOC open longer term, they should add it to the POC/VOC portal after the event or activity has closed.

POC/VOC Portal Adaptations

We are streamlining the approval process for the Portal. Currently additions or amendments can take up to 5 working days to be approved. POC managers will shortly be able to manage their own approvals with a back-up proofing process by British Orienteering admin.

There are now 793 (POCS & VOCS) listed on the portal compared to 574 at the start of the summer - an increase of 38%. This demonstrates a significant increase in the provision of accessible and beginner friendly Orienteering courses available across the UK and the numbers and download/participation stats continue to reflect all your excellent development! Hopefully echoed in your own clubs download figures – overall, the figures for Jun to Nov are approximately 3 times higher than in 2019 and participation for smaller groups (6 and below) is almost 5 times higher than 2019.

To reinforce all the good work in this area, in the new year we will be working on a complete rebrand and redesign of the portal page to create a standalone slicker and friendlier version that will and allow courses to be better displayed with the clubs facts and information for participants, as well as for example adding in steps to improve our privacy and liability messages and a user issue log and so on.
 

Events & Activities

It will come as no surprise that after a recovery in September and October, events and participation in November 2020 has fallen greatly due to increased restrictions throughout the whole of the UK.

In part due to the issue of obtaining access from landowners for larger events, regional events continue to be hit harder by the effects of Covid-19, however local events are still down for example, in November 2020 there was 36 local events logged (about a third of that in 2019 which had 116 events).

The number of activities organised in Aug-Oct 2020 was similar to the previous year, in part due to virtual orienteering activity - but this has dropped in November, to 72% of 2019.

We have access to MapRunF stats, and Nov has seen downloads reach an all-time high. With 541 downloads, West Yorkshire had the highest number of regional MapRuns recorded in the UK. Other regions with high MapRunF usage were Scotland 451, Cumbria 451, Dorset 206, Gloucestershire 246 and Thames Valley 204 with drop offs for previous high position holders like Derbyshire. There are a number of regions who in November have really got on board with using this app, namely, Manchester, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South London and Surrey. Steady climbers in recent months are Lancashire, Leicestershire, West Anglia, Essex and London NE.

Any questions or for more information on any of the above please do get in touch with the team at British Orienteering - but amongst everything there is certainly some positive messages to add to the Christmas cheer and keep our spirits up as we move towards the new year, where we shall no doubt have to continue to be adaptable and flexible in response to the situation around us. Do also keep an eye out for lots of festive Orienteering fun activities and resources in the countdown to Christmas.