British Orienteering are pleased to announce that the winner of the Development & Innovation of the Year Award is Oli Johnson & Dom Dakin from the South Yorkshire Orienteers.

The Development & Innovation of the Year Award celebrates the efforts an individual, group, or club has put into delivering a new programme or initiative which supports the growth of orienteering.

Oli Johnson & Dom Dakin (South Yorkshire Orienteers)

To celebrate SYO's 50th anniversary, Oli developed an orienteering course that followed the route of the Round Sheffield Walk – a 15 mile route through Sheffield's parks and woodlands! Designing a special map that joined up the entire route, the full 28km course was named the "Full Monty." It consisted of 50 controls and included 650m of climb and was made more accessible to less athletic club members, by being divided into eight smaller stages. Participants could compete the whole lot or as many stages as they wanted.

Dom was responsible for setting up the course as a MapRun activity and he also developed a website: “Round Sheffield Orienteer”, which included information about the different stages and a leader board.

Oli held a launch event, where we marketed the course to the local community. After the event the maps were available to purchase in a local running shop (which has proven to be very popular with running groups and members). A competition was held throughout the summer to see who could post the fastest time for the Full Monty and the different stages. The course is still available as a MapRun on the SYO website. The map itself is fabulous and a wonderfully innovative product in its own right!

Congratulations to both Oli and Dom on their award. Visit the South Yorkshire Orienteers website to learn more about the club.
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Inspired by Oli and Dom? Consider volunteering with your local club!

Volunteers are at the heart of orienteering. Without their support, the sport cannot continue to thrive. If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved, get in touch with your Club Committee and offer your support today.