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Written by John Methven, Berkshire Orienteers.
Berkshire Orienteers had the opportunity to collaborate with Beat the Street in the West Reading area for 6 weeks during September and October this year. More than 6,500 players took part covering nearly 80,000 miles between them.
Berkshire Orienteers worked with Beat The Street to provide a free MapRun activity in Prospect Park Reading towards the end of the six weeks. In addition, Berkshire Orienteers have provided a legacy MapRun score style event using the former Beat Box locations to encourage participants to continue their active journey.
What impact did Beat the Street have on Berkshire Orienteers?
Beat the Street has offered a fantastic opportunity to bring people, especially families, from the West Reading area into orienteering as an outdoor activity and hopefully as a sport if they get into it and start joining local and regional events. The Beat the Street game and orienteering have a lot in common: visiting control sites by using a map to find them and also visiting the sites in the shortest time possible. It was brilliant to link Beat the Street with the British Orienteering Find Your Way project which has similar aims nationally to encourage people (especially living in urban areas) to take up outdoor activities.
Our courses on Prospect Park have taken the activity off the streets and into the fields and woods of the park. This is a stepping stone towards orienteering in the many forests surrounding Reading and also into wilder areas.  
Images below: Participants get stuck into the orienteering activity made available by Berkshire Orienteers who worked in collaboration with Beat the Street/Intelligent Health. They were encouraged to take a selfie and take part in the MapRun competition where they could win a £25 voucher.
How did collaborating together with Beat the Street and Intelligent Health go?
Chloe and Jenny were really helpful and had lots of excellent ideas on how we could work together. Also, it is exciting following the celebration event at the end of the Beat the Street - Reading West game to use our virtual orienteering courses as a way to continue the legacy of the BTS game for the next 6 months and beyond. We are creating a new virtual orienteering course where there are 60 controls matching the former Beat Box locations. People will be able to compete via the MapRun app in visiting as many of these controls as they can in an hour – their time will be uploaded to a leader board of results, hopefully promoting many attempts from the BTS participants.
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More information about Beat the Street is available online.
British Orienteering via the Rules Group is inviting feedback from members on the orienteering rules it has drafted for 2024.
- Group was reconstituted during the year and has adopted a policy of annual review to supplement arising issues, This years theme has been "maintenance" so although the eagle eyed will find many wording changes these are essentially clarifications, removal of duplication/ redundant practices, and movement of clauses/ groups of clauses to places where the context is more appropriate rather than a change of intent So in general a Rule "Spring Cleaning " with the aim of being easier to use.
Please note, as a result there has been a significant change in the order and in the numbering of individual clauses – too many to be able to sensibly mark up.
- The draft rules are available here.
The key change is that the historical anomaly that Men's and Women's classes had different winning times is addressed. This is in line with the IOF (International Orienteering Federation) policy to equalise men’s and women’s winning times for all age classes and the results of this Summer's well supported consultation - a big thank you to all that contributed.
There are New Courses tables for Long Distance but not Middle and Sprint which were already "done"
The consultation is open until 12 December, 2023 and responses can be emailed to rules@britishorienteering.org.uk."
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published its 2024 Prohibited List. The
Prohibited List designates the substances and methods that are prohibited in sport.
Following an extensive consultation period by WADA, the 2024 Prohibited List was published on 27 September 2023. This gives athletes and support personnel sufficient time to make themselves aware of the changes, review any medications they use on Global DRO, and apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) if required before the updated List comes into effect on 1 January 2024.
Included on the 2024 List is the substance tramadol which will be banned in-
competition from 1 January 2024. Tramadol is an opioid analgesic and is classified as
a prescription only medicine in the UK. Tramadol misuse is of concern because of the
risks of physical dependence, opiate addiction, and overdose. It has led to it being a
controlled drug in many countries. If you are concerned about tramadol misuse, please
reach out to British Orienteering or speak to your doctor prior to the change in status on the
2024 Prohibited List.
Please visit UK Anti-Doping's website here to read a full summary of the changes on
the 2024 List.
The following resources are also available to read on WADA’s website:
• The full 2024 Prohibited List
• The WADA 2024 Summary of Major Modifications and Explanatory Notes
• The 2024 Monitoring Program which includes substances not currently on the
List but are being monitored by WADA for potential patterns of misuse in sport.
If you have any questions on the Prohibited List or a medication you may be using, please contact substance@ukad.org.uk.
You can also receive further information from our dedicated Anti-Doping Lead, pbrooke@britishorienteering.org.uk
The Find Your Way Project is a Sport England funded initiative to introduce young people and families to our sport, particularly those from socially disadvantaged areas.
It's key aim is to encourage people to be more active using orienteering and engage with their local green spaces through the fantastic app, MapRun.
The funding, separate from our National Governing Body Sport England funding, was successfully granted in late 2021 and offers British Orienteering the opportunity to reach new communities by creating local community and national partnerships, newly mapped areas and more courses and activities accessible to all.
Here, we showcase the benefits of the project from some of the the club's perspective.
East Pennine Orienteering Club
From attending local community events to promote the sport of orienteering, to building new partnerships allowing new schools to be mapped across their local area, East Pennine Orienteering Club have been able to use funding from the project to successfully promote events and expand on growth.
Download the PDF to read the full list of benefits.
Wimborne and Wessex Orienteers
Jason Falconer has co-ordinated the FYW Project across Dorset on behalf of Wimborne Orienteers and Wessex Orienteers since the Project began in 2021. In addition to making multiple connections with local community groups such as NHS Dorset, local GP's and Scout Leaders, the Project has reached many schools across the country.
Download the PDF to read the full list of benefits.
Dartford Orienteers and SAXONS Orienteering Club
Dartford Orienteers and SAXONS Orienteering Club have jointly worked on the FYW Project across London and Kent since 2019. In addition to working with national charities such as SENSE and MENCAP, they have forged quality links with local councils and Active Partnerships. The FYW Project has brought the neighbouring clubs closer with their joint work, opening up access to new areas, links with local School Games Organisers and creating a new Kent Schools Orienteering Newsletter.
Recently, Dartford Orienteers and SAXONS Orienteering Club have been awarded the British Schools Orienteering Competition in 2024, and thanks to FYW activities with Kent County Council at Shorne Woods, the usual participant entry fees at this location have been waived as a gesture of thanks from the council.
Download the PDF to read the full list of benefits.
FYW Project clubs have benefited from enhanced local partnerships e.g. working with local authorities and other similar organisations using their resources and contacts, social media assistance, promotion and resources, fully funded member and community training and free mapping of areas which the club can use for their own future events and training.
We are thankful to Sport England for such a fantastic opportunity to make our sport wider known across new communities, School and Active Partnerships and Local Authorities, and we are pleased to share how our FYW clubs have benefited from the funding-which continues into 2024!
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