The final preparations are well under way ahead of this year's Jan Kjellström
International Festival of Orienteering 2024!
The teams will be out over the next couple of days setting up the arenas ready to receive you for a cracking good weekend of top-quality orienteering.
The weather gods have been less than kind, so we recommend you put on your best O shoes that give you the best grip.
Please note that version 6 of the programme is the latest (and hopefully last) version to be published. It went live yesterday, so please check it out, especially if you are coming in a campervan on Day 4 as the parking instructions have been changed.
Please note that the embargo area for Day 1 has been reduced.
Loughborough is now an established, and still testing, area. Day 1 will be a World Ranking event (WRE).
PreO will take place in urban terrain and there will also be an opportunity for participants to try out Biathlon Orienteering at the event (this will also be available on Days 2 and 3 of the Festival).
Beaudesert has been used for many major events, though arena is a new location and the owners are a little nervous at what to expect. Please make this an enjoyable experience for them. We want them to invite us back!
The final day of the Festival will take place at Stanton Moor. Another testing area and also in a new arena.
If you are on social media, please do not forget to tag us in your posts via Facebook, X and Instagram @britishorienteering. The hashtag for the event is #TheJK2024.
Finally, thank you to everyone involved in the production of this event. We hope you have a great weekend!
The embargo area for Day 1 of the JK has been reduced.
The updated embargoed area can be viewed here.
An area of the South West has been removed which contains the Burleigh Court hotel. However, anyone staying there involved in the JK should drive out to the main road and re-enter the campus through the Epinal Way entrance to get to the event.
They should of course avoid entering the embargoed area at all times.
All the latest information about this weekends JK can be found on the JK website.
If you are interested in representing GBR, please read on!
The Foot O selection policies have been updated. Now included are the availability forms for athletes, which you should use to to declare your interest in being selected for GBR teams at international competitions this summer.
More details can be found here: www.britishorienteering.org.uk/Selection
Note that the process to select the World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) team is different to the others, with different deadlines, so please read that part of the policy carefully if you are interested in racing for GBR at WUOC.
Between the ages of 12 and 18, we lose approximately half of our junior orienteers. There is a significant drop off from the age of 14. Whilst a level of drop-off is to be expected in any sport during this turbulent time in young people’s lives this rapid decline is something we can’t ignore.
Individuals fall out of the sport at all levels but more so at the base of the pyramid. They may never make a British Orienteering talent squad or even a Junior Regional Squad but every single junior matters.
Some might argue that we must be patient and that those who drop out come back when they are older. We know that orienteering is a cross generation sport and often people will return to orienteering when they have had children themselves. Whilst this may be true, not everyone comes back. My view is let’s try to keep as many young orienteers engaged and having positive, social experiences of our sport so those coming back are a bonus, not a necessity.
Over the past few months, we have spent some time researching the reasons why we lose so many juniors. Feedback consistently identifies 3 key areas that we have to get right:
In England, the development team have introduced the new British Orienteering Youth Away Days, courtesy of Sport England funding, as the first step in a wider ambition to stem the flow of young orienteers out of the sport.
The Youth Away Days are the first part of a wider plan to better engage juniors in the sport so they stay and enjoy orienteering throughout their lives. Our plans are based on our 4 C’s of youth retention:
Communication – youth driven and targeted communication to engage, encourage and inspire regular participation in orienteering
Community – helping our young people develop a strong social connection and sense of belonging in the sport
Competition – providing regular appropriate competition for young people at all stages of the orienteering participation continuum
Celebration – recognising achievement in the sport and generating a sense of pride
Much of this work can only be achieved at a local level. And there is good work being done by some across the country. A key focus for the England development team over the next few years will be to work with clubs to improve retention of members and regular participants with juniors a key part of this.
However, there are also several actions we can take on a more national basis to provide a better experience for our young orienteers. As a sport, we can provide a better experience for juniors by understanding their needs and meeting them at events and in competition. As well as providing social, developmental and rewarding experiences. Initial plans are being discussed and my hope is that the Youth Away days will give us more insight into the best ways to address this nationally.
Juniors attending the Youth Away Days will get the opportunity to improve their orienteering with the help of British Orienteering licensed coaches. They will spend time with other young orienteers developing their communication and teamwork skills, critical skills for them to integrate into our volunteer workforce. We will also be looking to them to provide a voice for junior orienteers in the plans that we develop.
If you would like to be involved in the first Youth Away Days in October as a coach or have a young orienteer keen for another opportunity to improve their orienteering then contact Tim Herod therod@britishorienteering.org.uk for more info.
Broader thoughts on youth retention? Let me know canthony@britishorienteering.org.uk.