All competitors are asked to familiarise themselves with the British Orienteering participant code of conduct available here

In line with current Welsh Government Guidance we recommend performing a lateral flow test before attending a SWOC event

South Wales Orienteering Club are delighted to have teamed up with the Outdoors Partnership to be able to offer free Orienteering events for under 25’s thanks to Winter of Wellbeing funding.

Hopefully we can get more people out exploring the great outdoors and discovering the fantastic benefits of orienteering.

The events are spread across south Wales between now and March 2022. Details for each event can be found in the events page.

You can expect a welcoming and beginner friendly event, suitable for families/kids of all ages. The beginner option (approx 2km) is always traffic free on surfaced paths. For anyone wanting more of a challenge, there are intermediate and expert courses which are further and venture off the path.

Winter of Wellbeing dates

Wednesday 29th December – Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Vale of Glamorgan

Sunday 9th January – Cyfarthfa Park, Merthyr Tydfil

Saturday 22nd January – Parc Penallta, Ystrad Mynach

Saturday 5th February – Bryngarw Country Park, Bridgend

Sunday 20th February – Llantrisant Forest

All events are risk assessed and organised in accordance with British Orienteering guidelines.

60 competitors took part in our SWOC league event on Saturday 23^rd October, and it was great to see some new faces as well as many familiar faces.

Blessed with dry weather and a pleasant temperature for running everyone could enjoy the glorious mature beech forest, although the fall of autumn leaves had covered many of the footpaths !

Thanks to Ben for creating the map, Annemieke for planning and setting out some challenging courses, to Graham Tough for doing the timing, Nick Dallimore and Adrian Moir for their results and entries support and Mark, Alice and Charles for collecting controls.

We hope to see you all again at Gwaelod-Y-Garth, near Taff’s Well, in November.

Nick

Congratulations to Gill Manning winning W70 and Alice Bedwell (BOK /SWOC) 1st in W60. Other notable SWOC results Clem 3rd in M60.

Photos from today

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Details for all rounds

You have 60 minutes, and a map with 25 checkpoints to visit. Your goal is to score points by visiting checkpoints. Score as many points as you can, and get back to the start within the time limit.

You can choose which checkpoints to visit, in any order, via any route. Speed is an advantage, but the fastest runner won’t necessarily come out on top. It’ll take smart planning to find the shortest route worth the most points.

Download the MapRun6 app to your phone to use as your timing chip and record your checkpoint visits, load the event using the app. We will provide you with the specially prepared map at the start.

Date	Area	Start location	Notes
15/9/21	Cardiff Bay	Norwegian Church ///woods.lanes.gazed	Parking free after 6pm
20/10/21	Rhiwbina	Deri Inn,CF14 6UH
17/11/21	Newport West	West side of Belle Vue Park	plenty of parking on Waterloo Road and adjacent streets ///risks.river.fled
15/12/21	Crickhowell	Main Car Park ///headings.sage.quit	SWOC Christmas Curry and Presentation Evening 20:30 – after the Crickhowell Maprun. Venue – Red Indigo Please book your place at the same time as entering Event 4.
19/01/22	Heath	Budd Electrical, Field Way (off Maes-Y Coed Road) . ///focus.shell.guard
16/2/22	Llandaff	Hailey Park car park South-west end of Radyr Road Llandaff North ///mirror.marked.tracks
16/3/22	Whitchurch	Penlline Road Pay and Display Car Park, Whitchurch ///paused.short.daisy	Parking/start/finish will all be in the car park behind The Plough on Penlline Rd in Whitchurch (what3words paused.short.daisy) and the pub for the evening will be The Plough.
20/4/22	Canton	Registration: Harvey St Car Park (CF5 1QW, ///sharp.adjust.easy , ST 163 766). Note: parking free after 18:00.

Mass start at 7 pm, there will be a briefing from the organiser at 6.55 however if you are new we recommend arriving early to ask any questions.

ENTRIES: Online at Fabian4. You can enter up until 6.55pm on the night (through fabian4) subject to map availability.

FEES – £3 Adults, (+£2 non-British Orienteering members), £1 U16 . U16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times who will also have to enter the event.

BRING – phone, torch, pen and hi viz to wear. Some paths may be muddy and slippery.

You will need a smartphone with the Maprun6 app or Garmin watch with Maprun6 installed, this is best done at home.

You will need to register with simple details. Then open the app and download the event. SWOC winter mapruns are in the folder UK/Wales/South Wales/2021. All you have to do on the night is identify yourself to the organiser, collect your map and start.

There is a guide to using MapRun here.

SAFETY- You take part at your own risk, you will be running/walking on public streets/paths with traffic. You MUST use crossing points where available to cross roads and stop, look and listen! Please be mindful of personal space/social distancing particularly at the start/finish of your run.

ACCESSIBILITY – We have previously had competitors enjoy these events using wheelchair/mobility scooter. Send us a message in advance and we can provide an annotated map with key obstacles (stairs/narrow gates) highlighted.

Detailed instructions:

You have 60 minutes, and a map with 30 checkpoints to visit.
Your goal: to score points by visiting checkpoints. Score as many points as you can, and get back to the start within the time limit.
You can choose which checkpoints to visit, in any order, via any route.
Checkpoints are mixture of road junctions and path junctions and have between 10 and 30 points awarded. Controls 1 – 10 are worth 10 pts, 11 – 20, 20 pts , 21 – 30 are 30pts . Penalties for being late back are 10pts per minute !!!
The event is timed and checkpoint visits recorded using the MapRun6 app. It helps to download the app and the event beforehand but we can provide full instructions before you start.

Results

Splits

80 competitors took part in the final round of the Park Series on some fun courses in the park despite having to avoid the dinosaurs who have invaded the park! Congratulations to everyone who ran it has been fantastic to see the improvement of some of the newer members throughout the series.

Thank-you to all of the SWOC members who have volunteered their time to organise/plan/help on the day and also Cardiff Council and Rhondda Cynon Taf Council for permission to use the Parks.

Orienteering continues! Our next events are:

September 11/12th Welsh Championships Weekend near Merthyr (short and junior courses available).

September 15th evening MapRuns resume! An evening 1 hour challenge around the streets, starting off with Cardiff Bay.

October 23rd Saturday, Mynydd Y Gaer nr Bridgend, a great event if you have enjoyed the Park races. Courses for novices/improvers and juniors

Full details of all of the above will be posted up on facebook and the website

Thanks to Jeremy for planning and organising.

Results

Splits

Start time 19.30

Teams Meeting – details to be circulated to members via email

Any agenda items please contact secretary@swoc.org.uk

Results

SplitTimes

We headed north for a slightly soggy round of the park series in Pontypridd. The compact nature of the park meant that there was quite a bit of twisting to get the medium distance in the traffic-free area. Sorry to anyone who got confused by 119 and 120 being the wrong way round, I need to double check the control codes! The long course ventured out into the town and common with some tricky route choices, congratulations to Marcus who was fastest and only two minutes behind the computer optimum time. Finally, penblwydd hapus Dafydd, who decided to celebrate his birthday Orienteering!

Thank you to Mark and Caroline for helping with registration etc and Andrew, Mark, Alice, Marcus, and Mark for collecting the controls and ensuring we didn’t get locked in!

The final round of the Park Series is in a fortnight at Bute Park, Cardiff or if you want to try a non-urban event there is a one hour score on the moorland of Clydach Terrace near Brynmawr on Saturday 21st August entries for both on fabian4

Clare