Mapping is the one of the most rewarding and enjoyable roles. Not only does it improve your navigation skills, but it can also provide you with a different and new type of orienteering challenge.  

The British Orienteering E-Learning Mapping Courses, Introduction to updating Forest Mapping and Introduction to Sprint and Urban Mapping , developed with the expertise of David Olivant (Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club) and the educational robustness  of Pauline Olivant (Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club) .

Both courses are based around learners having access to either of the two most widely used mapping programs, Open Orienteering Mapper and OCAD.

We strongly advise that you seek an experienced mapper as a mentor to support you through your journey towards being a competent mapper.

Both courses are based on updating an existing map and rather than creating a new map from a previously unmapped area.

Course objectives

• To provide an introduction and basic understanding of the processes involved in how to update and amend an existing Orienteering map.

The course content is designed to only address the course objective rather than attempting to cover the full scope of Mapping. As we recognise that Mapping is a skill that takes much time and practice to hone.

The course should only take around 45- 60 mins to complete and for the whole of May is only £6.00

To access the course and find out more information about our other E-Learning courses, please visit the E-Learning homepage.

Interested in learning about our other E-Learning courses on offer? Visit the E-Learning homepage and access information on all the other resources we provide.

AIRE and CLARO look forward to seeing you all at the British Middle Championships this coming weekend. 

You have entered in greater numbers than we anticipated, but we have adapted to cater for you all as best we can.  Both Danefield and Kilnsey Moor is a lovely places in the Spring sunshine and we really hope the weather is kind so that you can enjoy it at its best.  The technical woodland of Danefield is in sharp contrast to the fast open areas of Kilnsey.  You should enjoy some great orienteering on both days.  Str8 compasses is sponsoring a lot of prizes for the Northern Championships and the British Middles so run well and good luck.

Start times and final details are published, maps are printed and lots of equipment is ready to move.  No controls are out yet, but we have been busy at Kilnsey as you may be able to see from a picture.  There are a variety of crossing points on Kilnsey Moor – many of you will only encounter this one.  There are no stiles to cross at Danefield you’ll be relieved to know.

We will be able to accommodate you all in the parking areas for both events, but as always, it would help if you car shared as much as possible.  The Danefield field has remained in good condition throughout the winter, but as some rain has been forecast over the coming days we will have some tracking available.  Kilnsey has the delight of hard standing in the quarry.  We can’t promise that you will keep your feet dry, but at least cars should not get stuck in the mud as might have happened at some recent events.  We’re hoping that’s true for Danefield.  Definitely true for Kilnsey!

Anyone wanting to carry a club tent to Danefield, could reduce the distance to carry the tent by 800m by using the drop off point suggested in the event details.  It would need to be a rapid drop-off as there are often no parking bays available. They are all quite uneven, and the road is very narrow.  To get back to the parking field it is best to not attempt a 5 point turn but to drive in an anti-clockwise route with LH turns for 2.5k to get back to the parking field.  This should take no morfme than 5 minutes.

Have a great weekend.

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Full details on the British Middle Championships are available via this link. Visit the CLARO website for more details regarding the Northern Championships. Good luck to everyone taking part!

As agreed at the AGM 2023, from 1 May 2024 British Orienteering would like to offer an exclusive part-year Membership to new members.

New members are individuals who have not been members of British Orienteering in any of the previous four calendar years.

Part year membership fees 2024

Seniors – £10

Young adults – £7.50

Juniors – £3.00

Families – £25.00 (all members must be new members and not on the database to take up this offer).

No memberships will be merged with existing memberships.

Please note from 1 January 2025, any “new” members will need to renew their membership for 2025.

Find out more about how to join online today. 

Report by Ben Bardsley (Hertfordshire Orienteering Club)

Hertfordshire Orienteering Club (HH) were delighted to run its first face-to-face, on-the-night Street-O event since 2019.

Pre-lockdown, HH ran weekly Street-O events throughout Summer but when this became impossible in 2020, the Club started using the MapRun app to provide new Street-O events to members (if they could run locally): “DIY Street-O”.  These were very successful with thirty one new courses provided all around the county to cater for the desire to navigate whilst running.

The recent easing of lockdown gave us the opportunity to try an on-the-night event with all runners completing the same course on the same evening.  The big advantage of on-the-night orienteering (as well as the chance to catch up with friends) was the ability to withhold the map until timing start, as opposed to DIY Street-O where the map is printed at home and pre-planning the optimum route is possible.  By protecting the map in MapRun with a PIN, competitors didn’t see the map until they received the physical map from the Organiser meaning they had to plan their route with the clock running, re-introducing the skill of planning on-the-run back into the event. 

For this first event, in Harpenden South, we had eighteen competitors – a good first turnout at short notice – and a nice dry evening made for an enjoyable run, along with an opportunity for some welcome post-race route comparison and conversation.

Future events are already arranged for the upcoming weeks and an (almost) normal, very welcome Summer of Tuesday evening Street-O beckons.

What worked well?

• MapRun app has been a definite benefit, with a reassuring buzz as you reach a control and no need to carry a pen round to mark which controls you’ve visited. It also provides automated scoring and timing, and visibility of all runners’ routes. 
• The PIN was printed on the map, so on receipt at the start kite, runners entered the number into the App, the phone registered the start and off they went.  Some runners chose to use their watch to record their run (rather than carrying a phone), starting the watch at the point of map receipt, and downloading their run into MapRun when they got home.
• Using MapRun removed the need to take any equipment to the event (control boxes, spare dibbers, results printer etc) making life considerably easier for the Organiser whose principal job is to look after the maps until competitors are ready to start and count all the runners back safely back to the finish. 
• In line with British Orienteering Covid-19 guidance, all runners pre-registered using a simple map reservation system run by HH, with payments being taken for one or multiple events by bank transfer.  This gave the Organiser a list of participants and contact details in advance of the event; simpler than taking information on the night.

Were there any downsides?

• Running with a phone isn’t to everyone’s preference and not everyone has this option.  A GPS watch, with the facility to upload the GPX file into MapRun after the event was a good alternative for those who didn’t run with a phone.
• There were one or two glitches with phones briefly not connecting to the network, but these were the exception and short-lived.
• There is a bit of extra work for the Treasurer to manage all the extra bank payments, but that is partially offset by not having cash to bank after each event.

What might we do differently?

• Further simplifying online payments, especially for non-members – e.g., using a card reader at the start, using PayPal, etc.
• Updating our instructions to make the tech aspects of the event simpler for runners.
• Advertise more and return to using these Tuesday evening events to attract new members.