The government has issued new guidance for the national lockdown in England, which comes into force on Tuesday 5 January.
The guidance states that:
All organised orienteering activities, including events, competitions, leagues and coaching, are therefore suspended with immediate effect (except for orienteering for disabled people, on which we will provide further information in due course).
POCs and VOCs can still be used for individual exercise. Courses should be registered with British Orienteering as activities to provide insurance cover for the club and planner. They must not be used for competitions or leagues.
We would recommend that you add any courses on to the British Orienteering POC portal via your club POC Manager or contact nweir@britishorienteering.org.uk
The full national lockdown: stay at home guidelines are available on the UK government website.
Guidance for orienteering clubs
Up to date support and guidance for UK orienteering clubs is available via our COVID page.
The First Minister has today announced that Tier 4 restrictions have been brought forward to the 20 December 2020.
However, the guidance that the Welsh Executive has published is clear that people who live in Tier 4 areas must not travel out of their Tier 4 area other than for legally permitted reasons, and that people who live in Tier 4 areas must not leave or be outside of their home except where they have a specific purpose or ‘reasonable excuse’.
For those living in a Tier 4 area, unlimited outdoor exercise is still permitted, including in parks and the countryside. Exercise must be alone, or in a public outdoor place with your household, support bubble, or one other person. Exercise should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your Tier 4 area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space).
Orienteers are obviously required to comply with the new restrictions and with other government guidance.
British Orienteering will the guidance as further details of the new restrictions become available.
Sunday 1st August - Saturday 7 August 2021
The 23rd Scottish 6 Days Orienteering event will be held in Lochaber between the 1st and 7th August 2021 (immediately following O-Ringen in Sweden). Lochaber is a scenic area in the Scottish Highlands, including Fort William, the outdoor capital of Scotland and Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK.
Get excited and get busy planning your trip for the 23rd Scottish 6 Days multi-day holiday event. It promises to be a highlight in the orienteering calendar this year!
Full event details and information can be found on the Scottish 6 Days website.
Entries opened on the 1 January 2021.
Be sure to secure your entry and take advantage of the early entry prices available until the end of January.
Entry information can be found here.
Check out this promotional video.
To find out more visit: www.scottish6days.com
In the men's sprint today, Sasha Chepelin ran a great race, from a late start, to finish in 5th, 17 seconds behind the eventual winner, Olli Ojanaho (Finland) and just 7 seconds behind bronze placed, Joey Hadorn (Switzerland).
The course was technical, with many intricate route choice legs that provided a challenge for the athletes. Sasha said "A steady and secure race overall, but with a few small misses which cost me a really nice result, but the podium is already well beyond what I was hoping for at the sprint race. I really didn't put much effort into geeking nor hours into training for the discipline. In the end, it was a case of planning ahead and taking the foot off the gas frequently, and I think that suited many forest specialists very well, including me!"
Alex Carcas and Ali Masson were within one second of each other, finishing 24th and 25th respectively. Both said they had good runs, but they both saw places afterwards where they could have saved time. Harrison McCartney finished in 80th, with only two and a half minutes separating the top 100.
In the girl's sprint race, Cecilie Anderson ran a strong race against a very competitive field to finish in 20th, +1:26 on the time of the eventual winner, Simona Aebersold (Switzerland). Alice Rigby followed in 27th after a solid and stable race. Finally, Chloe Potter ran into 52nd place.
The complexity of the course and high density of the controls made mistakes very easy to make. Unfortunately, due to this, Fiona Bunn, still recovering from illness, and Nathan Lawson saw missed punches, but no doubt they will be looking to bounce back strongly later in the week.
Full results can be found here. The athletes are having a deserved rest day with the long race next on Friday.
Credit - Aidan Rigby