News
Archive of News and Information stored under the News category.
Brighton GPS courses
GPS enabled courses are now live, these are part of the Southern England GPS Orienteering League as well as the Southdowns GPS League.
Final details are available here, scroll down to download courses and control descriptions. The MapRun files can be found in the UK/Sussex/BCR12 folder. For league purposes the courses should be completed by December 31st.
Autumn Club Nights
Club nights return on Tuesday September 29th. As with the Summer Trail Runs these are being run under current SO safety guidelines and British Orienteering's Code of Conduct:
i) Participating in groups of six or less
ii) Pre-registering a start time slot using this Doodle Poll
iii) Printing your own map
The list of forthcoming activities are shown below, each week's activity will be published here a day or so beforehand.
Brighton City Race goes virtual for 2020
Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, the Brighton City Race as we know it will not run in 2020. However for those of you wanting your Brighton experience it is being included in the 2020 Southern England GPS Orienteering League - watch out for further details. In 2021, the race will no doubt return to the Lanes which have been revamped since their last use in 2018. The Brighton Society describes the additions here.
Southdowns Orienteers AGM 2020
The club AGM will be held online on Friday 16th October at 7pm. All are welcome to participate.
Zoom meeting details will be shared nearer the time.
Wildgoose Wood test event
Our first event under the new Covid-secure guidelines will take place on Saturday Sept 12th. Please read the event details carefully and in particular note:
The event is only open to SO club members
All participants must adhere to the BOF Covid code of conduct
Pre-entry only and entries have now closed Entry List
Payment will be via a contactless card reader at the event
Orienteering restart
Following British Orienteering's guidance that the sport can restart from August 1st the club's committee have discussed plans for restarting. It was felt inappropriate to consider holding events in public parks at this time and so the remaining Park-O fixtures have been cancelled. It is hoped though to hold some SOG-type events from October, so watch this space for further news.
Permanent Orienteering Courses
Desperate to get back into orienteering as lockdown eases?
Looking for a new outdoor activity for today’s weird world?
Permanent Orienteering Courses might be something to try.
Watch the BOF video to see what its like
Courses are available locally near Horsham, Crawley, Brighton and Eastbourne – more details here
These courses cater for all ages, levels of experience, fitness and skill. All have options for buggies and wheelchairs.
Evening Trail Runs
The regular summer evening trail runs are starting again but with some changes to allow compliance with Government rules. Notably:
i) No groups of more than 6
ii) Social distancing to be maintained between runners
iii) Please print and bring your own map
To facilitate i) a Doodle poll has been set up where you can book a slot on a Thursday evening, if you would like to run with others. Note that if 6 individuals/households have already signed up for a slot you will have to choose another.
Tilgate Colour Coded MapRun
For those members that "don't do score or sprint" here is a more traditional colour coded 'event' set up for MapRun. See previous news items for instructions on using MapRunF and please read the safety advice. Short brown, green and orange courses have been set up - details can be found on the list of available runs page.
Southdowns 10mile Trail Challenge
The latest MapRun offering is a more extreme linear course using a combined Wolstonbury/Newtimber/Devil's Dyke map. Two courses are on offer the main one being approximately 10 miles long (actual distance), the shorter one 6 miles. Although aimed at runners there are route choices to be made and some simple navigation. See previous news items on using MapRun or a GPS devise to record your run and advice on safety.
2020 Annual general meeting postponed
Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, the Southdowns Orienteers Annual General Meeting planned to take place in June 2020 has been postponed. It is hoped that the meeting will take place, subject to the easing of the current COVID-19 restrictions, later in the year.
GPS Orienteering
As of today (May 13th) we are allowed to travel further afield to participate in solo outdoor exercise. Although it will be some time before organised events as we know them will take place again the club has, and will continue to, set up some alternatives. A number of MapRun courses have already been devised - these are designed to be used with a GPS-enabled smartphone App and tell you when you have reached the control point. Some early participants have found that phone GPS reception can be problematic and significantly worse than the watches that many of us use. As an alternative to using a phone you can just record your route with a watch and then email the club captain who can manually upload a .gpx file.
Solo events with MapRunF
While individuals are still encouraged to go out and exercise alone (or with close family members) I am setting up some events that can be done solo using a smartphone's GPS capability. If you want to participate in this you will need to download the MapRunF App from the usual places. See instructions below on how to use the App. Please also read the following advice on behaving responsibly when participating in these activities. Two hints: 1) Best to download the event at home or where there is a good phone signal 2) Sometime you need to loiter at a control site for some seconds for the GPS to pick up the fact that you are there.
Lockdown Orienteering 24th-26th AprilFantastic weekend of Sprint Orineteering and other online entertainment from the comfort of your sofa.....
After the great success of Lockdown Orienteering this Easter the Lockdown team are putting together another event for us to enjoy. All sorts of challenges featured in the first event- catching features, route choice games, running wild, Photo O, streetview orienteering, trail O, Quiz O etc. 500 competitors took part including several from SO and also some world champions.
Register your interest here.
Any questions then ask Will Heap and I'll do my best to help.
Karen's Photo Challenge
Karen Ashworth has set us all a problem to tackle. Here are nine photographs taken from somewhere on Devil's Dyke, all you have to do is identify from where the photos were taken. Mark down the your locations on a blank map and send to Karen (safety@southdowns-orienteers.org.uk). Answers to follow in due course. Note that rumours that she took the photos whilst completing the solo MapRun course are unfounded.