Kilnsey is complicated for other reasons.  We learned at JK 2016 that relying on a field for parking in March/April is not a good idea.  Emergency arrangements were needed just before that event when it was clear that a nicely sloping parking field with top access and a lower exit used for maybe a thousand cars for the Kilnsey Show in the summer would just be too wet in March/April.  Threshfield Quarry is massive and can swallow up lots of cars on hard ground.  But it means a long walk to a start and from a finish.  It was thought that this would put a lot of people off, though in the end it didn’t.  Cars for the event easily fitted into the quarry with hardly any hold ups even though much of the parking near the quarry entrance was initially taken up by Fellsman Hilke competitors returning from their event.

Kilnsey South rises to 450m.  With a north wind and rain it can be a serious concern.  Competitors were warned when the event was first advertised that a waterproof hooded top might be compulsory.  A few days before the event all competitors were informed that such tops would be compulsory.  It was very cold on the day when the start team went off to set up and early starting helpers went off at 10 o’clock.  Later starters were a bit luckier.

The area is used for farming sheep and cattle.  This gives two problems.  There are lots of walls and fences to keep the animals where they should be, and where would the animals be on the day of the event?  To a non-farmer, the latter seems simple, but farmers often don’t know where their animals will have to be, as it depends on the weather, the progress of lambing and so many other jobs that have to be done.

Yorkshire Dales walls and fences are big and they need big stiles to cross them where there are no gates.  Competitors on the longer courses were treated to a variety of ladder stiles, milk crate steps, a crawl through and a specially built step stile near the end capable of taking 700 plus competitors at a rate of 4 or 5 a minute.

The highlights of the day came as the first competitors returned smiling and giving very positive comments about their courses and the arrangements.  At the same time the weather started to improve.  And then when it improved further the ice cream van started doing business and it was warm enough for competitors to be standing around looking at results and discussing their courses.

CLARO is a small club and this was the biggest event the club had ever taken on.  Some much appreciated help came from elsewhere, but members rose to the challenge and did an excellent job on the day.  For the rest of the year the club will revert to hosting evening and family events with regionals in June and September.  This will be a relative rest before helping with the JK in 2025.

Northern Championships 2024 results. 

Kilnsey planner Vicky Bailey's perspective

Planning on Kilnsey was a challenge for all the practical reasons Mike has mentioned, but also because as planners we had two hard acts to follow in the shape of 2016’s epic acts-of-God JK and AIRE’s sunny summer special in 2018. It seemed appropriate then that our event served up something in between; on the day, a moderately grim start melting into a modestly mild finish; in the lead up, a catalogue of every other available weather, never friendly enough for shorts but nothing so hostile that it saw us off the hill. No sun, no hail strikes, but come the day: a sunburst of primroses.

With the assembly area already fixed we were limited with how much we could vary from AIRE’s event, which had used the same quarry for car parking. Early efforts to find a novel start location were quickly abandoned – you didn’t want a longer walk to the start, did you? But for the finish we gambled on a short walk back to assembly for the fun of a combined finish with the White and Yellow courses in the caravan park. This also left us with a little more length in the courses, which meant a better share of Kilnsey proper for the shortest senior courses before the inevitable march off the hill. For the longer courses, Mike and Chris’s efforts with permissions and crossing points opened up access to additional areas not used since the JK – a big help for keeping things fresh. Planning tactics evolved over the thrashing-out process. Our early strategy of avoiding long legs crossing the walls resulted in somewhat bland Middle-style courses that lacked “story”. In the end, using the walls to set up macro route choices provided better structure, and made for some entertaining post-race analysis on Routegadget. Every crossing point was worth it, Mike, honest!

The most memorable part of planning at Kilnsey has been the efforts undertaken by so many volunteers to overcome its challenges. Fathomless feats of endurance and ingenuity! An alphabetised schedule of animal-dependent crossing point logistics. A 60kg sheep-proof control marking solution! Dauntless control collectors taking on longer loops than their original courses and a map layout for every permutation of scale and paper size. The amount of time and care that goes into these events is in equal parts scary and inspiring. My tip for anyone considering taking on something similar is to get yourself a co-planner. Find one who always finds time to be slightly less busy when you are super busy; who has a seemingly exhaustible supply of patience, and a very good recipe for flapjack – then no amount of trans-Pennine weather tantrums and late-night PDF checking can get you down for long!

David Williams, the planner, identified a possible field for the arena, which we had never used previously; the field just to the south of the one we eventually used.   This allowed him to use the best of the area. He structured the courses Jan–March 2023 at the same time coordinating with Tony Thornley producing the completely revised map off new LIDAR data. By this time a year ago to allow review in competition condition the courses were more or less fully planned and controlled. Having had input during April 2023 from David Bowman assistant planner and Mark Garside (WCH) controller. Subsequently courses and map were given constant minor amendments and updates to take account of the storms, wet conditions and middle distance RWT rule changes.

The parking field has become a regular for us over the past 15 years, when we hold Regional events at Danefield.  We knew it was well drained.  It has coped admirably with the cars for all previous events.  We’ve checked it regularly throughout this very wet winter, and never had any doubts about it coping, despite having to accommodate three times the number of vehicles we have previously.  It meant quite a long walk to the arena, but we knew it was 100% reliable.

Last year by March the original assembly field was in prime condition.  This year we did a final check three weeks before the event, just before the map proofs were ready to be printed.  There was a strong chance the field would never drain sufficiently to take vehicles and 900+ pairs of feet.  This was when our brilliant hosts, Sue and Howard Cliff really came into their own.  They suggested we use the paddock and agreed to build us the bridge across the ditch leading to it.  It proved the best of arenas.  The grass didn’t cut up, and it was more compact than the original field which doubtless helped create the splendid atmosphere of the event.

The change of assembly field resulted in a few slight last-minute adjustments to the map, but did not affect the planning of the courses apart from the run-in.

We were able to pull the event off just using Aire members, which made recruitment and organising a good deal simpler than is often the case for a Major event.  From what I saw and heard on the day, all the teams did a pretty seamless job. 

At Danefield we were delighted to hear so many compliments about the courses and the organisation.  The rain held off, although a little more sunshine and a warm wind from the south would have been appreciated. I guess you can’t have everything.

We were pleased to see that both Rob and Lindsey King’s String Course and Maze were well used.

Results from the British Middle Championships 2024. 

Aire’s next large-scale events are the Sprint and Urban events in Leeds on 6–7 July 2024.

And the Dales Weekend in the Malham area on 14–15 September 2024.

39 representatives from Clubs and Associations navigated their way from throughout the UK to The Studio in Leeds to attend British Orienteering’s Club and Association Conference last Saturday on 14 October 2017. 

With delegates helping themselves to tea and coffee on arrival, Judith Holt, British Orienteering Chair proceeded to open the conference with a warm welcome to everyone attending this year’s conference. 

The theme of this year’s conference was focused on exploring how Clubs, Associations and the Board, steering groups and staff of British Orienteering can best work together to implement the participation and competition aspects of the Strategic Plan.

The Conference ran as a forum with the opportunity for clubs and associations to better understand the strategy and contribute their views and thoughts on the future of orienteering competitions. Delegates were asked to think about actions and activities which should take us through the next 2-3 years moving us towards longer-term goals.

A summary of priorities of the Strategic Plan Objectives were then discussed and the following highlighted:

• RETAIN – practices currently taking place and which should continue to do so
• MODIFY – changes to existing practices that will better help meet strategic objectives
• NEW – new actions not currently taking place.

The Conference then went on to discuss Local Competition.

Craig Anthony, Head of Development presented the room with some interesting statistics about local competition.

• Local events make up 80% of all events
• 30% of members have not participated at regional level or above
• 55% of respondents say they would go orienteering more often if events or activities were closer to home or work
•  55% of respondents say they would go orienteering more often if there were more regular events and activities

Are you a local orienteer?  Discussion groups then took place and delegates were asked to think about how we can better design local orienteering to meet the needs of local orienteers. Interesting discussions followed and each group presented their views.

Please note: All feedback collected from this session and throughout the day will be collated and made available on the website shortly.

Craig went on to introduce and welcome Roger Dillion, Brand Owner of the Sporteeering APP.

Roger went on to present an overview of how the Sporteering APP powered by Polaris Bikewear had been developed over the last 2 years and how it is split into 2 parts; a Phone APP working on iOS and Android and a Planning Portal which is web-based and works on any web-enabled device.

Roger went to explain that the Phone APP concept creates a scoring and timing system that records location. The 2 methods for recording position are done by scanning a prepositioned the QR code and by taking the current GPS location. 

As Technology advances there are greater opportunities to use this type of application and can be used to fit into orienteering.

Roger went on to say that there currently approximately 700 fixed or permanent courses throughout the UK managed by local Orienteering clubs. Some are used a little and some a lot. However, how do we know? If the courses were digitised on the Sporteering™ Platform then a steady stream of data will flow in, for example, age, gender, time of year. Also, if a control goes missing it could be seen by its lack of use. The APP can also be used to drive income streams to the clubs and the sites that adopt them. With access to user data, better courses can be created perhaps in more accessible areas – “Urban adventure trails” or inner-city parks.

Judith thanked Roger for presenting the conference with some definite ‘food for thought’. 

Judith then brought everyone’s attention to section 2.3 of the Strategic Plan and the objective to “Ensure competitions are available for competitors of all abilities in a simple to understand hierarchy.” 

Delegates were then asked to work in groups and discussed the following questions:

The conference then moved on to discuss developing Event Volunteers.

Judith Holt, Chair or British Orienteering, said: “It was good to hear members from different clubs and associations sharing ideas. The Club and Association Conference is an important annual opportunity for members, staff and directors to share ideas. We should be starting to think about our 2018 conference now, so if you have any suggestions please let us have them now and send to info@britishorienteering.org.uk  Suggestion will be equally welcome whether you attended the conference or not.”

A full set of presentation slides from this year’s conference are available here.  Notes from Local Competition discussions are here, feedback from Competition for the Established Orienteer can be found here and notes from the Developing Event Volunteers discussions here.

British Orienteering would like to say thank you to all who attended this year’s conference and for spending time contributing to the discussions focused on the theme of Competition within the Strategic Plan.

In the meantime, please send all suggestions for the 2018 Association and Club Conference to info@britishorienteering.org.uk or post to British Orienteering, National Office, Scholes Mill, Old Coach Road, Tansley, Matlock. DE4 5FY.

If you would like to find out more about the Sporteering APP please contact National Office at info@britishorienteering.org.uk who will be able to put you in touch with Roger Dillon.