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. 

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

Last week we announced that Megan Carter-Davies would be delivering a webinar focusing on the Mental Challenges in Orienteering. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, this has now been cancelled. 

Please refer to the International Orienteering Federation's website for other webinars in the series that may be of interest.