Primary and Secondary Schools - York and Selby Area

Each summer the local orienteering club, Eborienteers, run an orienteering summer league for primary and secondary school children. This coming summer will be the 5th year that the league has been in operation. The idea of the league is to introduce children to the sport of orienteering and provide an opportunity for children to experience 'proper' orienteering in an environment outside their own school grounds. Schools may wish to try out orienteering by coming to a single event or they may wish to 'compete' by taking part in at least 3 events. No previous experience is required and we aim to have adults on hand to provide support and tuition for those new to the sport. However talking children through the ideas involved beforehand and looking at an orienteering map does increase their awareness.

Children can take part individually or in pairs and the teacher is welcome to go round with children, although this would render their participation non-competitive. All courses are kept open until 7.00pm for any adults (parents, teachers etc.) who might like to have a go after the children have finished.

Orienteering is a challenging sport that combines the ability to run over a period of time with the skill of reading a map. It makes a significant contribution to the 'Outdoor and Adventurous' activity section of the PE curriculum.

All the planning and organisation of these events is done by Eborienteers. Children just need to come dressed to run - a tracksuit is ideal.

The events take the form of a 'Score Event' where the children are given a map and have 40 minutes to find as many controls as they can in that time. There are different point values for different controls, depending on how hard they are to find. There is a penalty for being late back!

Most schools who attend bring between 2 and 12 children to events - it is equally suitable for boys and girls.

Events run between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm with 'start' times between 4.00 pm and 5.15 pm. Early starters can be finished around 5.00pm.

The league will be based on the best 3 results from 6 events. League competition is on an individual basis and there is an overall school competition.

We do make a charge of 50p per child to cover the cost of printing the maps.

Another orienteering event to consider:
Wednesday June 11th - Inter Schools Orienteering Competition for 13's and under and 11's and under at Duncombe Park. This is always an enjoyable competition that takes place in wonderful surroundings

Martyn Andrews