British Orienteering is creating an exciting new role to address the increasing environmental, economic and regulatory challenges we face in securing access to the countryside for orienteering. This new position will be part-time for three days per week and can be carried out remotely or at British Orienteering’s National Office in Matlock. 

You will be a knowledgeable, enthusiastic and passionate advocate for the sport of orienteering. You will have a professional understanding of the importance of access to the countryside, with relevant technical, legal and environmental knowledge, and experience of putting this knowledge into practice. 

You will not be afraid to experiment and will develop new initiatives in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, including landowners, environmental organisations, other NGBs, and voluntary and special interest groups. The role requires excellent interpersonal and organisational skills, with the aim of providing a modern, responsive and effective service delivering good quality access to the countryside for the sport including clubs and associations. 

This is a demanding, varied and rewarding role. If you are committed to the positive benefits of sport and access to the outdoors, as well as to promoting sustainable and responsible use of the countryside, we would like to hear from you. 

Access and Environmental Officer - Job Description

To apply, please complete and return the documents below to:   rgamble@britishorienteering.org.uk 

Thriving Clubs for a New Generation are at the heart of the new British Orienteering Strategy to strengthen the sport in this country. It will allow us to engage with a new generation via a thriving club network.

British Orienteering believes that if we change perceptions about orienteering, improve accessibility and deliver engaging fun experiences, more people will become hooked on the sport.

Once engaged, clear pathways to progress in competitor or volunteering will enable people to enjoy the sport for life.

The four focus areas of the Strategic Plan are:

• Change the perception.
• Create engaging experiences.
• Strengthen lifelong pathways.
• Provide foundations for success.

“Thriving Clubs for a New Generation” will be formally launched at the AGM on Wednesday, 21 April 2021 and we will be consulting further with the membership and key stakeholders.

Read the Full Strategy here

Call to Action

British Orienteering is keen to hear from you as we turn Thriving Clubs for a New Generation into reality.

• How can this strategy benefit your club, new and existing orienteers in your local area?
• What ideas do you have to support the news strategic priorities?
• What is working well for you that we could share?
• Would you be interested to be involved in a focus group?

All views are valued and we will factor them into our thinking as we take our sport and the plan forward.

Please click here to fill out the survey and help us to collect as many views as possible or send your comments to insight@britishorienteering.org.uk.

On Friday 14 May, athletes from a total of 28 Nations met in St-Blaise for the Knock-out Sprint Qualification races. It is a community which lies a few kilometers east of the European Orienteering Championships main city on the Lake of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The finish arena of the competition was located directly on the shore of the lake at the local boat harbour.

The race was divided into three start heats each for the men and the women. 12 athletes could qualify from each heat for the final races. Three athletes represented Great Britain, Thomas Wilson and Jo Shepherd finished 24th and 25th respectively and unfortunately missed out on the Quarter Finals. GBR Megan Carter- Davies finished 4th in her heat and progressed to the Quarter Finals which took place yesterday (Saturday 15 May).

Megan raced in Quarter Final 1 and finished 2nd to move into the Semi-Finals later in the day.  Faced with a strong field she ran a solid race but failed to make the Final.

The qualification race for the athletes was a little over 3 kilometers long with 50 meters climb. 20 control points had to be found in a running time of less than a quarter of an hour. Longer sections between the individual controls were equally challenging for the participants as were the technically difficult passages in the narrow alleyways and roads of the village with the character of an Italian little town. Beginning rain created slippery conditions in the women’s race and added to the challenge.

The first two places in the Semi-Finals heats secured a ticket for the final of the best 6 athletes. There were almost two kilometres to be covered per round and between 12 and 19 control points to be found. The constant contact with the opponents and the many changes of directions ensured that full concentration was required to advance another round.

The final of the Knock-out Sprint was the second of three medal decisions at the EGK European Orienteering Championships (EOC) 2021 on Saturday. In rainy and nasty weather conditions in Neuchâtel, the Swiss Matthias Kyburz for the men and Tove Alexandersson for the women showed convincing races.

Tove Alexandersson (SWE) and Simona Aebersold (SUI) demonstrated their skills in the women’s competition right from the start. They were the fastest athletes in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and ultimately in the finals. The Swede won the final race with an eight-second lead over the Swiss with a running time of just over seven minutes. The Norwegian Benjaminsen completed the podium 18 seconds behind.

The decision was much narrower in the men’s Final. Winner Kyburz was only one second ahead of his team-mate Hadorn; third placed Norwegian Fosser was only three seconds behind the gold medalist. There were almost three medals in sight for the EOC host country Switzerland. Ricardo Rancan only missed the podium by a second in fourth place and was awarded an EOC 2021 diploma.

Yannick Michiels did not qualify for the finals of the six best men. The Belgian who was considered a favourite for a medal was surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-final.

The format of the Knock-out sprints in orienteering is still young. The discipline also celebrated its inauguration at the European championships. On Final day of the Knock-out Sprints yesterday, the 36 best athletes were at the start who had recommended themselves for the finals in the qualifying races the previous day.

A full overview and results can be found here.

Watch slideshow from the Knock-out Sprints here.

The government has issued new guidance for the national lockdown in England, which comes into force on Tuesday 5 January.

The guidance states that:

• Outdoor exercise is still permitted but should be limited to once per day.
• You can exercise in a public outdoor place:
  • by yourself.
  • with the people you live with.
  • with your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one).
  • in a childcare bubble where providing childcare.
  • or, when on your own, with one person from another household.
• Outdoor exercise should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space). If you need to travel you should stay local – meaning avoiding travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live – and look to reduce the number of journeys you make overall.
• All outdoor sports clubs, centres, venues and facilities will close, alongside indoor facilities.
• Organised outdoor sport for disabled people is allowed to continue, and we will provide further detail on this once we have information from the Government.

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

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.