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Share  Tweet Wednesday 27th March 2024

Countdown to JK 2024: Final Details

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.

Event programme

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.

Access the event programme

Day 1: Friday 29th March - Sprint at Loughborough University

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). 

Day 2: Saturday 30th March - Middle at Beaudesert

Day 3: Sunday 31st March - Long at Beaudesert

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!

Day 4: Monday 1st April - Relay at Stanton Moor

The final day of the Festival will take place at Stanton Moor. Another testing area and also in a new arena.

Share your experiences at the event

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!

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Share  Tweet Tuesday 26th March 2024

Updated JK embargoed area day 1

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.

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Share  Tweet Thursday 21st March 2024

Update in GBR team selection policies

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.

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Share  Tweet Monday 12th October 2020

Despite the torrential all-day rain, Interlopers held first event since lockdown

Report by Katherine Ivory, member of Interlopers (INT).

Interlopers Event held at Mortonhall on 3 October 2020. 

Kite drying post-quarantine.  Photo credit:  Katherine Ivory (Interlopers)  

Despite the torrential all-day rain, Interlopers held its first event since lockdown on Saturday 3 October, with a Level D event on the Mortonhall estate in South Edinburgh.  We were delighted to welcome back around eighty runners from a range of clubs for light-green, orange, and yellow courses. 

We had originally been hoping to hold our re-start event a month previously at Colinton Dell, but City of Edinburgh Council was not (and still is not) granting permission for any events in the public spaces they manage.  Instead we turned this set of courses (planned for May) into a virtual event using MaprunF, with competitors running in their own time over the course of a week.  The variable stances of landowners on holding events again has been a considerable issue for arranging our club’s programme now, and we were very grateful to the Mortonhall Camping and Caravan Park for granting us permission.

Covid risk management requirements meant of course some differences compared to how we had normally run a level-D ‘come and try it’ event.  Typically, these are informal, with competitors simply turning up on the day, and a lot of chat to welcome newcomers and catch up with friends.  For this event, all entries needed to be made in advance, via a simple online booking form in Googleforms which worked very well.  Payment was taken on the day in named envelopes.  We were happy to be able to open the event to everyone and anyone, rather than just our own club as would have been the case back in September.  It was great to see familiar faces from other local clubs as well as new recruits to Edinburgh University Orienteering Club, and some newcomers who had been looking for a new activity to try with other activities currently not happening. 

‘Social-distancing’ was the watch-phrase, and everyone was allocated a start time to avoid gatherings at the start.  Hand sanitiser was provided at registration, simple entry-fee drop-off and dibber collection if required, and download.  Runners were asked to hand-sanitise before picking up their map and running.  We also kept our volunteer count to a minimum to reduce the number of people on the ground.  Normally we would have been very active in helping newcomers, but instead offered online pre-event chats by Zoom, with a Power-point pack of photos of what to expect and showing what a dibber and control look like, for example). This worked very well.  Runners were able to take away their splits but otherwise, to avoid clustering, had to wait for these to go up online that evening on the Interlopers website (www.interlopers.org.uk).  To compensate a bit for the lack of opportunities for event-chat for club members, we had an online post-event Zoom social and quiz the following evening. 

Given the wet weather, kit-drying was very much required – but quarantining it for 72 hours as part of our risk-management measures.

Obviously, some entrants were unable to attend on the day, and we were extremely grateful to those who stayed away as requested if they had any symptoms.  We have now put all three courses into MaprunF in the Edinburgh O folder in the app, and on the Scottish Orienteering Association webpage here, and allow those who had to miss the event to still run the courses in their own time.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our first event since lock-down, braving the weather and mud for some orienteering again! As usual, this was a true club endeavour with a large number of Interloper volunteers working behind the scenes and on the day to make it happen.  We hope to hold our next event at Dechmont Law on Sunday 8 November.

Mortonhall start.  Credit: Katherine Ivory (INT)
Socially distanced starts.  Credit: Katherine Ivory (INT) 
The Finish.  Credit: Ken Daly (INT)
Participant running.  Credit: Ken Daly (INT)
The start box.  Credit: William Ivory (INT)
Finish head-to-head.  Credit: Ken Daly (INT)

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Celebrating the re-start 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?

Permanent Orienteering Courses are a great way to enjoy the outdoors in a socially distanced way.  Maybe you have downloaded a Permanent Orienteering and/or Virtual Orienteering Course and enjoyed it with your family?  However, you have been taking part in orienteering, share your experiences and inspire others. 

Send your news snippets and photos to Jennie Taylor Communications Officer.  
Email:  jtaylor@britishorienteering.org.uk 

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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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