Orienteering - club competition

[copepod]

For those outside the world of orienteering, the words Compass Sport Cup and Compass Sport Trophy don't mean much. They're inter club competitions for large and small clubs respectively. Yesterday was regional heat day. Regional heats have to be held outside regions of competing clubs, to lessen chance of unfair advantage by knowing mapped areas.

I know of at least 2 people with type 1 diabetes who competed yesterday. A young man from East Anglia ran at Sherwood Pines in Nottinghamshire, but sadly his club didn't get through to finals. I ran at Hamsterley Common in NE England, and my club will be competing at final in Lake District in October. The 2 others in the carshare contributed far more points than me, but it's a case of having people in all possible age / sex classes is the way to club success.

Please don't feel you have to compete in big competitions, unless you want to. People usually begin with small low key local events, and some never travel further to bigger events. There's always a choice of courses at each event. It's a sport where you compete at the level you feel comfortable.

 

[phoenix]

Can I add, it's a great sport with families. We used to go with our children from when the youngest was about 8 years old. It's a brilliant sport for fostering independence in a relatively safe environment. As Copepod says you don't have to join in the big competitions but even at those you can compete at your own level . I was never brilliant but I enjoyed myself, we spent some memorable weeks camping in the Lake District, Scotland and Yorkshire taking part in multi-day events)

I'd still do it now but it's not so easy to get involved here. My local club in France is totally oriented towards people who run at elite level with a few courses for children. They just don't have the same grass roots, all age, structure that's present in the UK (very much due to Chris Brasher and Chris Disley who also founded the London Marathon)

I started when I was about 30, in orienteering terms that made me a W21 (under 35) I am now 62 and, Ive just been going back down memory lane looking at the website of my old club.I still recognise names, people I knew when I was involved. Some of them are competing as M/W70s ,one lady who was a very active member of my club is still competing as a W90.

 

[copepod]

Really interesting to hear how different your local club in France [a major orienteering nation] is to most local clubs in UK [a very minor orienteering nation]. What's also good to know is that many parks, forestry areas etc have permanent courses, so you can buy a map from a cafe or office, or sometimes download from internet before you head to park, and find posts any time the area is open to public. I helped to set up a permanent orienteering course at Wandlebury Country Park just outside Cambridge, for example. Search at http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/pocs

For orienteering chat, www.nopesport.com forum is the main UK based one. www.attackpoint.org mainly uses English language, but dominated by North Americans, with a few Australians, Britons and Kiwis, plus Scandinavians who often have better English than native speakers.

 

[stuffedolive]

Hi Phoenix, Copepod,
Great to see someone championing Orienteering on here. I definitely agree it is a wonderful sport as you can participate att any age and any ability. It builds confidence in children and keeps grown up's minds and bodies active at the same time.

I started in 1999 trying to look for a sport we could all do as a family. I was still trying to be a cyclist while my wife and the children were dabbling in karate. Orienteering was a life-changing find. I will never forget my first 'multi-day', the 2000 Welsh 5 days and seeing 7-8 yr olds set off into the mist alone on a Welsh mountain confident in their skills to be able to navigate their course and return safely - I was blown away! I have never looked back.

In respect of the CompassSportCup, I competed at the Eastnor heat on Sunday - boy that was tough. See you in the Lake District in Oct - the JK is just a warm up ;-)

edit... apparently we didn't qualify for the final :-(

 

[phoenix]

I remember a very foggy day at the Long Mynd in Shropshire where my two children disappeared into the mist. As a mother it was a bit daunting but they came back quite happy.

I suspect that the local club where I live now is reflective of the area ie conservative. Participation in sport tends to be male and tends to be young.
That being said the local terrain is also difficult unless you are young and fit. We belong to a walking group and are probably amongst the youngest; Yesterday our walk had a climb of 332m within the first 3km (10.5mmol/l to 3.2mmol/l) Even on foot paths it was a bit more taxing than the New Forest which used to be my local terrain . I doubt very much that I'd be able to do much more than walk but I do miss the decision making and autonomy involved in orienteering.

 

[copepod]

Not sure if I'll be at CSC final near Kendal in October - depends on my other commitments and if my club actually needs anoth to run in "Green Women" class. Heather at Hamsterley was horrible - except in rare cut patches, it was anything up to thigh high, hiding holes, tracks, rocks etc. I couldn't run much, and still rolled a few times. Sadly, for my very fast skilled pump using friend who competed at Sherwood Pines, SUFFOC didn't get through to final.
I haven't got any of my own children, but I've taken my nieces on their first orienteering experiences, plus lots of primary school aged children when I ran activity birthday parties at a country park near Cambridge. It was lovely to see transformation from up to 15 children, usually around 7 or 8 years old, who have never used maps before through a quick map walk, learning symbols as they followed paths and looked to varying types of woodland and open ground on either side, then head off to individual posts, then mini triangular or longer courses, and end with a quick score competition - first group to find 4 or 5 or 6 points, depending on how long we had left and relative appeal of running and birthday tea
In all the times I coached orienteering to children, I never lost a child, but occasionally adults went missing, because they didn't listen to tips. When I ran a series of sessions for mental health service users, the only people who had difficulty were staff. One middle aged lady with long term mental health issues, who took to orienteering like a duck to water told me that she hadn't done any map reading since she was a Guide in her teenage years. The smile on her face when she realised other people looked up to her skills was wonderful, as she hadn't had the chance to shine for a long time.

I will be in Lakes for part of Easter weekend, but not at JK - its pretty expensive for a single person to get accomodation, so I'm camping a couple of nights with a group of friends in Langdale.