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In an extremely exciting development, the IOF have today announced that the World Orienteering Championships 2024, which is taking place from 12-16 July 2024 in Edinburgh, will be broadcast live via eurovisionsport.com in France, Germany and the UK.
The news comes as the International Orienteering Federation, IOF, has entered a partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s leading alliance for public service media.
This means that even if you are unable to attend the event as a spectator or participant in the WOC Tour 2024, you will be able to follow and support Team GB by watching all the live action for free! All you need to do is sign up to access the coverage.
Follow the action together as a club!
Get involved in the spirit of WOC 2024 from wherever you are based by setting up a WOC 2024 watch party for your club members! It’s a great opportunity to see Team GB in action as the events unfold and support the national team as they embark on the competition.
Can’t wait until WOC 2024? Highlights from other International Competitions starts this weekend.
That’s right, from 25 May you will be able to catch all the highlights from the Orienteering World Cup Round 1 in Switzerland! Watch the event live via IOF TV.
You will be able to watch back on how our athletes navigated the course around the ‘railway central’ of Switzerland – Olten. Here is the full upcoming programme of orienteering events that will be broadcast:
2024 International Orienteering Programme
May 25-26
Orienteering World Cup Round 1, Switzerland – highlights only
June 1-2
Orienteering World Cup Round 2, Italy – highlights only
July 12-16
World Orienteering Championships, Scotland – live broadcast
August 17-20
European Orienteering Championships, World Cup Round 3, Hungary – highlights only
September 26-29, Finland
Orienteering World Cup Round 4, Finland – highlights only
For full details, please read the IOF's press release.
The International Orienteering season is finally upon us! This week the selected athletes for Team GB will travel to Switzerland for World Cup Round 1. Here is a reminder of who will be representing the squad and how you can watch the competition online.
Event programme
Friday 24 May: KO Qualification
Start times are yet to be confirmed but it is likely the Men's teams will commence the race at 2pm and the Women at 2:50pm. All times CEST (UTC +2)
Representing Team GB are:
- Ralph Street
- Jonny Crickmore
- Freddie Carcas
- Nathan Lawson
- Peter Hodkinson
- Will Gardner
- Megan Carter-Davies
- Grace Molloy
- Charlotte Ward
- Fiona Bunn
- Cecilie Andersen
- Rachel Brown
Saturday 25 May: KO Sprint Final
Sunday 26 May: Individual Sprint- First Start 12:03
- Ralph Street
- Jonny Crickmore
- Freddie Carcas
- Nathan Lawson
- Peter Hodkinson
- Will Gardner
- Megan Carter-Davies
- Grace Molloy
- Charlotte Ward
- Fiona Bunn
- Cecilie Andersen
- Rachel Brown
- Mairi Eades
Good luck to each and every one of our athletes, we are very excited for the start of the international season and cannot wait to see all that it brings!
How to catch the action
Visit the IOF's website to learn more about how you can catch all the action from the event. Or, simply follow this link to IOF TV to choose which package you wish to purchase.
Are you passionate about our sport and want to contribute to the way competitions are officiated and delivered? This is a fantastic opportunity to influence the development of our competition rules and support our dedicated volunteer officials.
Open Positions:
We are currently seeking two Chairs:
- Chair of the Rules Group
- Chair of the Officials Group
Responsibilities:
Both Groups report to the Events & Competitions Committee, and as Chair, you will (in summary):
- Lead and coordinate the efforts of your respective group.
- Work closely with volunteers and stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation and evolution of competition rules and officials' standards.
Why Join Us?
- Impact: Your contributions will directly affect the delivery and quality of competitions.
- Collaboration: Work with a team of passionate volunteers dedicated to the sport.
- Development: Help in the continuous improvement and development of rules and officiating standards.
If you are interested in taking on a leadership role and making a significant impact on our sport, we encourage you to apply for one of these exciting opportunities.
Please see the Job Description for further details.
If you are interested?
Please send an email to Howard Blackman (hblackman@britishorienteering.org.uk) stating your interest, a note to explain your motivation and experience.
Expressions of interest should arrive before 28 June 2024
Report by Amy Curtis member of Bristol Orienteering Klub
During the summer, Bristol Orienteering Klub (BOK) organised a very successful series of Junior Sprint Virtual Orienteering Courses using mobile phone technology.
History will doubtless remember 2020 for the onset of the Corona virus pandemic: in the Orienteering World, we will remember it as a time where our experience of orienteering changed and widened.
For a while, there was no orienteering at all but then members started using their local Permanent Orienteering Courses (POCs) or their old kept maps of local areas to challenge themselves, but this wasn’t quite enough and so it quickly developed from a ripple to a typhoon of activity throughout BOK members.
One of our BOK members, Scott Bailey started using and sharing the Norwegian GPS virtual orienteering App “UsynligO” (Norwegian for invisible orienteering) which was already very widespread and well used in Scandinavia and which BOK embraced. He presented a webinar with British Orienteering on Virtual Orienteering using the UsynligO App which was well watched and as a result the App has also been taken up by some other clubs.
With many members taking new-found time during lockdown to map new areas and update older maps, we were able to use our library of georeferenced maps to rapidly produce a plethora of virtual events. We now have a very large mapping team with highly developed skills in digital mapping technology and many members surprised at their new-found ability to not only download a mobile phone App, but also to successfully navigate the App and even enjoy its technology!
At least 29 different virtual orienteering events were made available over the lockdown period – generally one a week, and it has proved an effective and safe way to maintain orienteering training, skills, races and series/leagues.
Accurate figures are not available for the Virtual Orienteering Courses (VOCs), which have continued throughout the summer months. However, we know that participation exceeded 300 runs by late July and is now probably considerably greater.
By the beginning of the school summer holidays, there were enough local areas mapped to the correct specification to add them to UsynligO that Jamie Hayward who leads BOK Juniors set up a brand-new, local challenge, open to any juniors (and seniors!) in the area.
The events were based in the many wonderful parks in and around Bristol and courses were planned so that roads and trickier terrains were avoided for the junior routes. Most were within a larger map available as a virtual urban race, so that families could making a whole day of it!
Using the UsynligO App, maps could be printed from home and then the course run in your own time, using your own smartphone to record the checkpoints you've visited.
Names and times were added to a scoreboard, so there was a little bit of friendly competition which was communicated via our weekly email newsletter. There were eight events in total and the top four scores on one standard of course counted.
We advertised and promoted the new BOK Junior Summer Series both to all our members, and to other local running groups and families with an interest in outdoor sports and health.
Three courses were offered for each week in each location. The White course was recommended for primary aged juniors who have limited experience of orienteering with very easy to follow line features like paths, fences and hedges between controls no more than 100m apart; the Yellow course for experienced primary aged juniors, newcomers and younger teens with easy to follow line features, but where they might have to make decisions between controls and where some corner cutting might be fastest; and the Micro-sprint for experienced juniors and adults who fancied a new challenge with a variety of difficulty where it does not follow line features with some more challenging terrain and route choices.
Clear and precise instructions were provided about how to download and use the App and then users encouraged to print off their chosen map, go to the location, upload the app following the way to the start and then turn up the sound and Go! As simple as that!!
Each time you hit a virtual control; your phone makes a jingle that tells you you've found the correct one. Depending on your phone GPS, this can sometimes take a few seconds, but there is also a noise for finding the wrong control which makes it easier to distinguish. As you reach the Finish, you will get a fanfare sound. It’s so fun it always makes you raise your arms in cheer! You are done! UslynligO saves your result and BOK added it to their score sheet.
Encouragingly, this summer series attracted and included a number of runners not previously involved with BOK events.
The leading competitors were:
White Course:
1. Tessa Johnson
2. Rachel Dudman
3. Laurie Taylor
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Yellow Course:
1. Daniel Wareing
2 (Joint). Isla Overy and Connie Rogers
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Micro-Sprint Course:
1. Marcus Perry
2. Megan Wareing
3. Rachel Peatfield
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Both Rachels and Laurie are newcomers to the sport. Laurie, who is 8 years old and just going into year 4 had never orienteered or even heard of BOK before, but until lockdown he was doing parkrun each week. He does hillwalking with his family, so he was already involved to some degree with map reading and he had also used his navigation skills in his Beavers group.
We are hoping that Laurie and both Rachels will join us at some of our restart events and hopefully join BOK Juniors.
"I've enjoyed orienteering as I don't like just going for a run, but love the challenge of map reading and running the route on my own."
"I haven't done much orienteering before but have enjoyed having a go at the yellow courses."
Daniel won the yellow course!
“We have really enjoyed the Junior Summer Series with Usynligo. We were doing the Virtual Orienteering Courses already and enjoying exploring some new places, but the junior series gave the kids some races they could do on their own. It has been a good focus for our exercise other than walking the dog!“
We are supremely proud and happy with how engaged BOK members have been in working together to keep orienteering alive and running during this strange time and thrilled to have been able to introduce the sport to newcomers which we welcome with open arms.
"A silver lining is perhaps that we are reminded that orienteering is not just about formal events; there is also technical training, coaching, the social side and generally having fun. As events return it is certainly my hope that these virtual orienteering activities will continue in parallel.”
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Are you and your club celebrating the re-starting of orienteering?
What activities or events has your club organised? Have you recently attended a re-start event? Was it your second or third? How did you find it?
Maybe you have downloaded a Permanent Orienteering and/or Virtual Orienteering Course and enjoyed it with your family? Or you have recently enjoyed taking part in a local MapRun course or even designed your own MapRun course for members of your club to take part in?
However, you have been taking part in orienteering, share your experiences with others who may not have re-started orienteering at their club yet.
Share your orienteering news and send your snippets, and photos to Jennie Taylor Communications Officer for publishing on the British Orienteering website. Email: jtaylor@britishorienteering.org.uk
Or share direct on social media channels - don't forget to tag British Orienteering into your posts.
Facebook: @britishorienteering
Twitter: @GBRorienteering
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To view the current British Orienteering Guidance visit:
https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/COVID19_Safe_Orienteering
#StaySafe
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