British Orienteering

Staging an Event

Organising an event can be done by two or three people if the event is small; larger events will require a team of volunteers.

Organisers of events are responsible for:

  • Organising the event prior to, during, and after the actual race(s); not just between the start and finish

  • The safety & welfare of participants and members of the public in the event area including the completion of a risk assessment, risk management and, if appropriate, contingency plans

  • Ensuring land permission, event registration, access, car parking, assembly area, volunteer helpers, publicity timescales and courses are planned and organised

  • Ensuring the equipment used including electronic punching, clocks etc is organised and working

  • Informing the British Orienteering National Office of all incidents/accidents involving personal injury and/or property damage; reports must be made as soon as possible after the incident and at the latest within 7 days – failure to do so may invalidate the Public Liability Insurance Cover.

The organiser or the club responsible for the event may delegate tasks to others and this often includes passing the planning of courses to another person.

The person planning the course(s) is responsible for:

  • Planning courses to meet the needs of the target participants or in accordance with the competition rules

  • Choosing control sites and preparing control descriptions

  • Ensuring the course challenges participants and differentiates between participants with different levels of ability

Training & support

All event officials are required to attend an Event Safety Workshop, other than that training and mentoring is usually provided by your club or association.

Event Safety workshop

Provides event volunteers with an overview of safety and welfare issues that may arise when staging an orienteering event. The training provides knowledge of the procedures and policies that exist, the practical measures used to manage risk and what to do in the event of an accident or incident occurring.

Basic Event Delivery Guide and Workshop

The Basic Event Guide and accompanying workshop provide a guide and framework for organisers of local events. The guide draws from the official roles of Organisers and Planners and offers practical tips and hints to help volunteers, with the help of a mentor, to deliver safe and successful events.  Clubs are welcome to adapt the guide and workshop to suit their needs. The pack can be found under training in the Resource Library. 


Event Equipment 

British Orienteering stores an array of equipment at their office in Matlock that can be hired out by clubs or major event organisers, if you wish to hire any equipment you will need to complete the attached Hire request form and send this back to Jwright@britishorienteering.org.uk

PS- The form is not the most up to date stock list and the amount we have may not reflect the same as what is shown on the form, we will be updating the stock list in due course and will provide more accurate figures in the near future.

Please click here to view the equipment calendar, this will be updated as and when clubs/organisers send in their agreement forms, please only use this to view rather than to add your dates in, bookings can only be confirmed through a completed hire agreement sent to the above email.