Report by Peter Guillaume CompassSport Cup Coordinator

On Sunday 15 March 2020, at what was the last go at formal orienteering for some time over 1,800 competitors from 67 clubs took part in the CompassSport Cup qualifying rounds. Excluding the cancelled Harlequins event, ten clubs of the twenty-six which made the Final did not qualify in 2019, so providing a good turnover.

The largest field of the day was at the East Pennine event at Fixby and Bradley where 496 competitors took part. South Yorkshire continued their run of qualifying for the Final with 74 competitors, with Airienteers taking second place and Derwent Valley third. In the Trophy, home team East Potteries qualified for the Final after missing out in 2019 with Nottingham in second place, qualifying for the first time for since 2011.

North Gloucester hosted the South West round with 389 Competitors competing in the Forest of Dean. Bristol was once gain the Cup winners with Wimborne winning the Trophy round and Southampton in second place also qualifying for the Final.

Two hundred and ninety competitors ran at the event organised by London Orienteering Klub (LOK) on Hampstead Heath, where South London with a good turnout of 59 competitors pipped Southdowns Orienteers (SO) who have qualified in the Cup for the previous four years. Guildford qualified easily in the Trophy competition.

In the Lake District West, Cumberland defeated the home club, Lakeland to make the Final with regular Finalists South Ribble winning the Trophy, in both cases by a small margin of only nine points.

In Scotland St. Andrews Glasgow hosted the event at Errochty with regular winners Forth Valley claiming the Cup Final qualification and Edinburgh second, also qualifying. In the Trophy Interlopers were winners and Moravian qualified, the first time since 1989 and Inverness also qualifying, the first time since 1988.

The smallest turnout for the day was at the South Midlands event at Aspley Heath but provided a close finish in the Cup where Leicestershire beat the home team by just 10 points. Essex Stragglers qualified for the Trophy Final. Aspley heath had an entry limit of 250.

Great thanks are due once again to the clubs, officials and club volunteers who gave a great deal of time to hold six successful events and to Harlequins who had everything in place for their event to be thwarted by the weather.

All the clubs from the cancelled round have been given a bye to the Final.

Cup Qualifiers: Octavian Droobers, South Yorkshire Orienteers, Airienteers, Derwent Valley, West Cumberland, Leicestershire, Forth Valley, Edinburgh and South London.

Trophy Qualifiers: Wrekin, Walton Chasers, Potteries, Eryri, City of Birmingham, Harlequins, Potteries, Nottingham, South Ribble, Essex Stragglers, Interlopers, Moravian, Inverness, Wimborne, Southampton and Guilford.

A full set of results can be viewed here.

The planned date for the Final is on Sunday 18 October 2020, organised by Octavian Droobers and City of Birmingham Orienteering Club at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield.