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.
There is now just one weekend left (two races) in the 2018 UK Orienteering League. The final races are the Southern Night Championships and the Southern Championships, to be held on 24th/25th November, hosted by Guildford Orienteers and Southern Navigators.
Martin Ward, the UKOL Coordinator, says:
"The overall 2018 UKOL season will then be complete, with winners determined by their 11 best scores from the 22 race series. In theory, a score of 550 is the maximum possible this year, but nobody has achieved that yet. Two competitors are very close though - Christine Kiddier (W65, Border Liners) and Donald Moir (M85, Leicester) are both on 549 points, and will certainly win their respective age categories.
The 2018 season was reduced from 12 counting races to 11, following the cancellation of two of the races earlier in the year. The Edinburgh City race was cancelled as a consequence of very icy (and therefore dangerous) conditions in Edinburgh on race day, while the Midland Championships at Belvoir Castle also fell victim to the winter weather, with deep snow preventing the event from taking place.
In the inter-club competition, current leaders are Bristol (BOK), who won the league last year. While in theory, the second placed team, South Yorkshire (SYO) could challenge them, it seems highly unlikely given that the final race weekend is in the South. Chasing third place in the club league are Southdowns (SO), Thames Valley (TVOC), West Cumberland (WCOC) and Deeside (DEE), all of whom are very close on points currently. You'd expect SO and TVOC to both have lots of runners at the Southern Champs weekend, so it'll be a close battle.
The 2019 UKOL season starts not long after the New Year. The first races are in Royal Deeside, Scotland, on the weekend of 23rd and 24th February. Race 1 is the British Night Championships and race 2 a Scottish Orienteering League competition, and both will be on top quality Scottish forest terrain.
The UK Orienteering League features some of the best orienteering competitions around the country. Thanks again to all the clubs and volunteers that host the events and make it possible!"
Useful links: