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.
The 2021 Virtual Coaching Conference continued this week with three further sessions providing great insights for coaches and clubs across the country. So far, the live viewing figures for the first seven sessions is nearly 500.
Following the success of the conference so far, we are pleased to announce an additional session onto the programme.
Titled ‘What is a Coach? A look at what modern coaching entails’ Join an expert panel to discuss;
The panel for the evening includes:
The session takes place on Tuesday 2nd February, 19:30 – 21:00
Register Here The session will be delivered via Zoom
Don’t forget there are two exciting sessions taking place next week with registrations still open.
Tuesday 26th January @ 19:30 Using Virtual Platforms for Coaching
Register here Delivered through Go To Webinar
Thursday 28th January @ 19:30 Simulating Sweden
Register here Delivered through Go To Webinar
For further details of all the sessions visit the conference webpage: www.britishorienteering.org.uk/coachingconference2021
The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) recently announced that Covid-19 impacts meant that the Sprint World Orienteering Championships (WOC) scheduled for Denmark in 2020 was postponed until 2022, and that Russia was no longer able to stage the 2021 European Orienteering Championships in Sprint (Sprint EOC).
Other announcements alongside this included the cancellation of the entire World Cup programme for 2020, and that the move of Denmark Sprint WOC to 2022 also meant the intention to move the date of Sprint WOC in Edinburgh from 2022 until 2024.
Since those announcements, the IOF have been working hard with member federations and event organisers on a revised approach for these major events. They have now been able to announce some further changes to the international calendar for 2021.
Specifically, the Czech organisers of the Forest WOC for 2021 have agreed to add Sprint WOC races to the overall programme in July. They will stage the current disciplines of Individual Sprint and Mixed Sprint Relay, with the debut of the new Knock-Out Sprint discipline remaining scheduled for Denmark Sprint WOC in 2022.
In addition, the Swiss organisers of World Cup Round 1 in May 2021 have agreed to re-arrange their programme and incorporate EOC into the competition. That competition will now include all three Sprint Disciplines of Individual Sprint, Knock-Out Sprint, and Mixed Sprint Relay.
Alongside these changes, IOF have announced updates to the remainder of the 2021 World Cup programme to better balance the overall calendar. World Cup Round 2 (forest races in Sweden) moves from the previous date of immediately before Jukola in June to take place in August instead, and World Cup Round 3 in Italy will now include a Mixed Sprint Relay.
Further details of the inclusion of sprint competitions within the 2021 World Championships are at https://orienteering.sport/nokian-tyres-world-orienteering-championships-2021-to-include-sprint-competitions/, and more information on the revised World Cup programme is at https://orienteering.sport/world-cup-2021-a-balanced-program/.
These further announcements are good news for international sprint athletes in particular, who were facing the prospect of no World Championships in Sprint until 2022 (the last was in 2018), as well as the uncertainty around Sprint EOC for 2021. British Orienteering would like to express thanks to the IOF for their perseverance in seeking solutions, and to the various event organisers for their flexibility in making it possible for suitable alternatives to be found.