Sport and physical activity provide immediate mental health and social benefits, while having a long-term positive impact on our physical health and Orienteering is extremely well placed to provide a socially distanced and exciting activity for all ages.

To help you with getting active this Autumn and embrace the outdoors, British Orienteering has designed a new set of FREE downloadable activities for families to do at home, in the garden or in your local green spaces. Match Autumn colour markers with something you can find in nature of that colour. Or explore your local green spaces and learn in the outdoors by identifying specific trees as highlighted on your activity sheet or create courses with our handy tree Orienteering markers.

There are also over 500 Permanent Orienteering Courses across the UK providing families with opportunities of discovering the outdoors in a socially distanced way.  Some clubs have also developed these virtually, so you can simply complete courses with your GPS smartphone or watch. Permanent and Virtual Orienteering Courses can be completed at any time, and at your own pace. You just need to download a map and away you go!

Check out the British Orienteering Get Active page for autumn inspiration and downloadable FREE orienteering activity resources children can do at home or in the garden and find further details about the competition.

To further encourage young people and families to Get Active this Autumn in a safe environment, British Orienteering has partnered with www.BrightBikeLights.com to give you the opportunity of winning prizes such as one of the latest Ferei Headlamp (worth £94) helping to continue to stay active and enjoy even more orienteering when the dark winter nights set in.  

To enter all you have to do is share your photographs of you and/or your family Orienteering to British Orienteering’s Facebook page or Twitter accounts using the hashtag #getactivethisautumn

Whether you are a member or non-member of British Orienteering, families and specifically those under 21 years old are invited to take part in these Orienteering activities between now and the 30 November 2020. Entries shared with us on Twitter and Facebook will automatically entered into the free photo competition.  Terms and conditions apply.

British Orienteering want you to have fun this Autumn, and enjoy and share in the fun that orienteering can provide at a time that suits you within the government COVID19 restrictions in the area where you live.

To find out more visit:  www.britishorienteering.org.uk/Get_Active

Howard Blackman, Business Development Officer, says: “This course aims to provide for both current and prospective event organisers and planners an overview of the safety requirements and issues that may arise in staging an orienteering event. It has a particular focus on risk management and the means of controlling risks at acceptable levels. We anticipate that those undertaking the course will have had previous experience in carrying out risk assessments.”

This interactive activity is focused on supporting the learner to understand how to identify, access and control to an acceptable level the risks involved with an event.

This eLearning course is currently cost-free until 31 December 2020, from the 1 January 2021 the price will be £10.00. 

The course will take approximately an hour to complete and you will also receive the following:

• Certificate
• Authorised to be a key official at a British Orienteering registered event
• Quick links to supporting resources, forms and policies

To access the course, click here to set up your login for our eLearning platform, then select the course from the menu. If you are a British Orienteering member, please note that you will need to set up a login when you access the eLearning platform rather than using your British Orienteering login.  Perfect for the approaching dark nights!

If you have any ideas on other modules that British Orienteering could develop please email:  hblackman@britishorienteering.org.uk

Terry Smith Acting Chair Map Advisory Group, says:  

“The stated aim of the Mapping Awards is to encourage and recognise high standards of mapping. Some opportunities for improvement that the judges identified include adhering to the British Orienteering Rules for mapping and using the British Orienteering symbol sets, improving generalisation and getting the scale correct.”

“The judges found it exceedingly difficult to differentiate between many of the maps submitted for several of the trophies. All those who submitted maps should be immensely proud of their achievements.”

“The judges would like to send their appreciation and congratulations to all entries for the high standard this year.”