The Government published its roadmap on 22 February for the gradual and staged easing of lockdown restrictions in England. Restrictions will be eased across all areas of England at the same time.

British Orienteering welcomes the key message that from 29 March, formally organised outdoor sports – for adults and under 18s - can restart and will not be subject to the gathering limits, but should be compliant with guidance issued by national governing bodies.

British Orienteering will issue a further update once further Government guidance for sport has become available. In the meantime, you can visit our COVID-19 Safe Orienteering webpage for further information.

Nominations are now open for the 2020 Volunteer, Club, Coach and Mapping Awards!

2020 was a very different year for all. British Orienteering are extremely proud of how the orienteering community has responded to the challenges and excited to celebrate those who stepped up, thought outside the box and got creative during this period.

Nominations are open until Sunday 7 March 2021.

Anyone can submit a nomination, so if someone in your club or community has had a positive impact on your orienteering experience this year, we would like to hear about it!

Nomination forms can be downloaded using the links below and should be submitted electronically to info@britishorienteering.org.uk by the closing date.

Awards will be presented for the following categories. 

• Club of the Year
• University Club of the Year
• Coach of the Year
• Volunteer of the Year
• Young Volunteer of the Year
• Silva Award
• Bonington Trophy*

Time is running out for any licensed coaches to secure a funded place on the Safeguarding and Protecting Children workshops.

Six workshops have already taken place, four by UK Coaching and two by sportscotland, with very positive reviews. 127 coaches have so far signed up for the UK Coaching course and after additional courses were added, only 16 places remain.

Funded places are only available until the end of March 2021 and after that time, coaches will need to fund their own tutor-led course to remain licensed.

In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, for active coaches to remained licensed from 1 June 2021, depending on who they coach, they will need to complete the following requirements.

• Young people - It is a requirement to have tutor-led training to be a licensed coach.
• Adults - It is required to complete an appropriate on-line safeguarding module.
• Adults at risk – It is strongly advised that they attend an on-line self-led adult safeguarding training.

The training should be updated every three years. After three years, following an initial tutor-led course, the refresher can be an online module.

Tutor-led training – for coaches training young people

Due to the current restrictions and the difficulties in accessing tutor-led workshops, British Orienteering has secured a number of Orienteer only, online Safeguarding & Protecting Children tutor-led workshops.

The workshops, delivered by UK Coaching, usually cost £30 per person.  However British Orienteering will be covering the cost for those attending this course before the end of March 2021. Each course is restricted to 12 people and lasts for 2 ½ hours.

Who can register?  A licensed coach (including those whose first aid qualification that has lapsed since March 2020) or currently doing a coach qualification.

To register please follow this link:  Safeguarding and Protecting Children Registration.
Select your preferred and second choice dates for the workshop. Places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis and places will be confirmed via an email from Peter Brooke.

Online Safeguarding Module

Should coaches only work with adults, you will need to complete an appropriate on-line safeguarding module. There are a number of courses available including the Safeguarding Adults course delivered by UK Coaching costing £16.99 per person or other self-led online workshops delivered by the NSPCC which can be claimed back via British Orienteering on submission of the certificate and receipt. Those with access to the Educare platform, will also be able to take the course on this system until 19 March 2021.

British Orienteering will only cover those courses delivered before the end of March 2021 on submission of a certificate of attendance and expenses claim.

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.