We are excited to finally release the dates for this years fun evening race series. Thank-you to all who have volunteered to plan/organise.

Entries are now open and adhere to the current Government limits in place. Updates and full details can be found on the event page here

16th June Roath Park

30th June Forest Farm

14th July Hailey Park

28th July Heath Park

11th August Ynysangharad Park

25th August Bute Park

Assuming Covid restrictions allow.

NEW PERMANENT MapRun Courses.
5 new courses in Pontcanna Fields and Bute Park. 1 Long which uses both sides of the river, 2 medium and 2 short courses, each using only one side of the river as Blackweir Bridge is still closed. These are free do anytime events. Just download the app and give it a go.
Details on the Permanent courses page. 

‘Get Out & Go‘ is a series of short films to take beginners through all the basics to confidently try orienteering. All the skills and techniques shown in the films are easy to practice using our Anytime MapRun Courses.

The four films are titled Getting Started, Getting Going, Getting Confident and Getting Faster.

1. Getting Started gives information on orienteering maps, useful symbols to note, how courses are drawn, and what to look for at checkpoints or controls.  It also shows how to line up the map with features nearby, a key skill to help the novice orienteer set off in the right direction.
2. Getting Going covers more detail on the map, shows how to use a compass, simple route choices, how to use features other than paths as handrails, and when to cut corners.
3. Getting Confident gives tips on techniques that help build more confidence in navigational decisions. These include learning to take a sure route into a checkpoint, finding a safety net if you overshoot and using control descriptions to visualise the checkpoint.
4. Getting Faster demonstrates where to plan ahead, where to speed up and slow down and gives some tips on reading the map on the run.

Thank-you to Manchester and District Orienteering Club and GMOA for creating this fantastic resource

You can now listen to over 30 episodes of our podcast, The Run In.
It’s made with club orienteers in mind, and gives you a fun and chatty insight into the experiences of orienteers from the UK and beyond.

As a member of the GB team, Will brings his international experience, and as a journalist and commentator, Katherine gets to the heart of the guest’s story.

Recent highlights include:
– Georgia Jones (OROX) on pitching orienteering to newcomers whilst setting up the University of Exeter club
– Young star of international orienteering Simona Aebersold on getting really nervous before major races and how she distracts herself
– Kirstin Maxwell (RR) on trying to train with vitamin deficiencies, and finding new trails in lockdown
– Ben Mitchell (SBOC) tells us why he started mapping, and making maps for the JK 2021

New full-length episodes are released every fornight, and we have recently added some quick-fire “Sprint” episodes, meaning there’s something new to listen to every week.

You can listen on desktop via Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-run-in-2), or on your phone. We’re on most of the major podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict etc. Just search “The Run In”.

We’re also on social media: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/theruninpod), Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheRunInPod), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/therunin/).

We hope you enjoy listening!

Katherine Bett (SN) and Will Gardner (OD)

Following the successful event at the Blorenge we are restarting regular orienteering events with monthly proper orienteering events and evening street events using MapRun. Unless Welsh Government advice changes all events are restricted to 30 people with pre-entry only.

• Wed 16th Sept, SWOC AGM via Zoom
• Sat 19th Sept, Storey Arms local event
• Wed 23rd Sept, Maprun Event 1, St Mellons
• Sat 17th Oct, Draethen local event.
• Wed 21st Oct Maprun Event 2, Newport.
• Wed 19th Nov, Maprun Event 3, Cardiff.
• Sun 29th Nov, Kingswood Local.
• Wed 16th Dec, Maprun Event 4, Cardiff.
• Sun 27th Dec, Xmas Score, Cosmeston Country park.

New 1hr score MapRun. Map available on the MapRun page. Start is at Taffs Well Railway Station. The area covers Taffs Well, Gwaelod y Garth and Ty Rhiw.

This time its a sprint event around Llanishen Park in north Cardiff. Detailed instructions are on the map page

There is a new maprun event in the Maprun Archive Page . The event uses Cathays and Roath areas of Cardiff. It uses the new features of MapRunF which allows you to start your run at any control on the map. The control you start at is converted to the start/finish control and the old start/finish site become a normal control. To use this feature you need to be using the latest version of MarRunF. So if you live close enough to the area to use it as you daily exercise give it a go.

As you would expect all formal SWOC events are cancelled until restrictions on travel etc are lifted. There is an archive of MapRun events in the cardiff area which can be done on an individual basis at any time. The pdf’s for the papermaps are in the Events-Maprun Archive tab on the Website or you can just use the maps on the MapRun App. I will endeavour to convert some older events to MapRun as well.