York Area Schools Orienteering Summer League - 2008

This summer the local orienteering club, Eborienteers, are running their 9th annual Summer League for primary and secondary school children. Each year over 200 school children take part. The intention of the League is to provide an opportunity for children from the York and Selby area to enjoy having a go at “real” orienteering in an environment outside their school grounds. Where possible the children will be building on skills they have gained by initial practice on courses within their own school grounds.

The 6 summer league events are designed to be appropriate for beginners and children who have done some orienteering before. This is achieved by having most of the controls in locations that are relatively easy to find. This will enable beginners to achieve some success, while children who are good runners and who are developing map reading skills should gain considerable success!

Schools may wish to try just one event close to them or they may like to compete in several events. In the Summer League each child’s best 3 scores count in both the individual and team competitions. So schools who wish to be competitive would need to attend at least 3 events out of the 6. Each child competes only against those children in his or her age group. Age groups run from Year 4 up to Year 13 with medals for the first three in each class (boys and girls are separate).

Experienced children usually compete individually but new starters are welcome to compete in pairs. We do aim to have adults on hand at these events to help those schools who are new to the sport.

All planning and organising of these events is done by Eborienteers. The club has a wealth of experience in running orienteering events for children.

Event Details

• Start times 4:00 to 5:00pm.
• You will need to arrive about 15 mins before your first start time to organise the children with their control cards and go through the map with them.
• All events are “score” events. The children have a map with 20 controls on. They have to find as many controls as they can in any order and be back within the 40 minute deadline. If they find all 20 controls they would achieve a maximum score of 300 points.
• There are penalty points for being late (5 points deducted per minute).
• Controls which are further away or are harder to find will be worth more points.
• Entry fee £1 per child, whether solo or in pairs. (Every child will have their own specially prepared map.)
• Children should come dressed to run. A tracksuit is ideal.
• A school can bring any number of pupils to an event, but we suggest that between 2 and 12 is manageable.
• Orienteering is equally suitable to boys and girls.
• Compasses can be useful but only for those who have been trained to use them.
• The courses are subsequently used by adult and club orienteers who start between 5.00 pm and 6.30pm. Any adults connected to competing schools are welcome to have a run themselves. The adult courses have an additional 10 controls which are more difficult.
• Teachers who wish to go round with any of their children for training purposes are welcome to do so but the children must be declared “non-competitive” for the competitions whenever this happens.

Schools' League Details

• There are both individual and team (school) competitions in different age-groups
• Each child's best 3 results from the 6 events are added to give their league score
• Results and league positions will be emailed to schools regularly and published on the Eborienteers website, www.eborienteers.org.uk.

Organiser: Martin Andrews

If you would like to take part in one or more of the events this summer, could you please complete the reply form and return it to me by Friday 25th April. I am happy to accept e-mail replies (complete the form and copy or attach it to an email). Final details of events will be sent out to all schools that enter, prior to the first event.