West Midlands Orienteering Association   

The West Midlands Junior Squad is holding an open training session for interested juniors on Sunday 22nd October at Hartshill Hayes Country Park, near Nuneaton. Juniors who are not currently a member of the squad are welcome to attend and benefit from the training on offer- you need to be a second year M/W12 or older, and be able to confidently and independently complete an Orange course (or above). The day will include several exercises to develop various aspects of orienteering technique, and finish with a fun race. Contact wmjsquad@gmail.com to find out more.

The squad holds regular training sessions and has its own website.

In September every member of the squad took part in the Junior Inter-regional Championships and in August ten members joined some of the Welsh squad on tour in Finland. 

Congratulations to West Midlands Junior Squad member Eden, who was part of the English team that won the Junior Home Internationals held in Sutton Park on 7th-8th October 2023.  Squad members Adam, Grace, Harriet and Kieran also volunteered in various roles over the weekend, supporting the event teams led by Harlequins and Octavian Droobers.

Read more, including a write up from Eden herself, on the WMJS website

The Ward Junior Home Internationals took place on two different parts of Sutton Park over the weekend of October 7th and 8th 2023.

Congratulations to overall winners England, who were closely challenged by Scotland. Ireland beat Wales to the Judith Wingham Trophy.

Results

The following individual day results are available:

• Team scores and breakdown
• Individual results
• Splits
• RouteGadget

England won the individual day, and going into the relay day, held a slender five point lead over Scotland for the Ward International Trophy.

The relay day results are:

• Relay results as PDF or HTML
• Splits
• RouteGadget

The team points breakdown was as follows:

Men: ENG 28 (16+12); SCO 24 (14+10); IRE 10 (6+4); WAL 10 (8+2)
Women: ENG 30 (16+14); SCO 22 (12+10); IRE 14 (8+6); WAL 0 (mp)

The total points for the relay day were: ENG 58; SCO 46; IRE 24; WAL 10, making England also the winners of the relay trophy.

The overall scores were: ENG 135; SCO 118; IRE 65; WAL 33.

Photos are available courtesy of Andy Johnson and Will Heap.

Ian Gamlen, the Event Co-ordinator, reports:

The Junior Home Internationals take place every year in early October. The top 12 male and 12 females in each of the age groups M/W14, M/W16 and M/W18’s from all the home nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland compete in a 2 day orienteering event with an Individual Day and a Relay Day. 

There are four trophies awarded at the JHIs

•             The Individual Trophy – awarded to the country with the most points in the Individual race.

•             The Relay Trophy – awarded to the country with the most points in the Relay.

•             The Ward International Trophy – awarded to the country with the highest overall points total.

•             The Judith Wingham Platter – awarded to the winner between Ireland and Wales.

This year the JHI was hosted by the West Midlands Orienteering Association on 7-8^th October 2023 with Harlequins Orienteering Club organising the Individual Day and Octavian Droobers organising the Relays. Sutton Park was the venue with residential accommodation at Beaudesert Outdoor Activity Centre.

In total 88 competitors took part supported by team managers from each of the home nations.

Adrian Bailey and Barry Elkington planned some challenging courses for the individual and relay races respectively, overseen by Richard Lewis from WRE who controlled both days. Peter Langmaid and I organised the individual day and Alistair Powell from OD organised the Relays.  

Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather we were able to have a very lively ceilidh and individual prize giving outside with live music from the Banjacs, a West Midlands band on the Saturday evening.

England won the individual day, and going into the relay day, held a slender five point lead over Scotland for the Ward International Trophy.

The total points for the relay day were: ENG 58; SCO 46; IRE 24; WAL 10, making England also the winners of the relay trophy.

The overall scores were: ENG 135; SCO 118; IRE 65; WAL 33, so England were awarded the Ward International Trophy and Ireland were awarded the Judith Wingham Platter.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make sure that the event was both challenging and enjoyable.

Ian Gamlen HOC – 2023 Event Co-ordinator

Notice of the WMOA AGM has been sent to all clubs for distribution to their members. It will be held on Monday 2nd October at 7-30pm at The Great Barr Hotel and also by ZOOM.

A  reminder that the WMOA  Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 2nd October at 7-30 pm at the Great Barr Hotel. For those not able to attend in person we are also planning to Zoom the meeting. If you would like to join the meeting via Zoom please let me know via secretary@wmoa.org.uk by Friday 29th September so that you can be forwarded the log in details.

For anyone attending the meeting at the hotel can you make sure that you register your car details on arrival at the reception.

Here is the Agenda for this year and the Minutes of last year’s meeting.

This year we will need a new  Vice Chairman, as Ray Collins is stepping down after many years in the post and we are still in need of a West Midlander Editor. Please consider whether you could take on one of these key roles in the running of the WMOA.

If you would like to be nominated for a position on the committee please let me know beforehand. Likewise any matters to be raised under AOB should be submitted at least 7 days prior to the meeting.

Hoping to see you at the AGM either in person or via Zoom link,

Carol Dredge, secretary@wmoa.org.uk

The League points have been updated after event five at Burton Dassett and the three way fight continues.

Wrekin are still in the lead with Octavian Droobers using their home advantage to move into second place just 58 points behind. Harlequins have slipped to third but will host the next event at Burlish top on the 19th November.

Orienteering is very fortunate to benefit from a massive volunteer effort that keeps costs of entry much lower than they would be otherwise and thus makes the sport more affordable to a wider audience. However, there is an anecdotal concern that our volunteers are getting tired and that with an ageing membership, clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to continue to provide activities that they would like to put on.

The Orienteering Foundation

Sound familiar? Worth looking at in more depth? The Orienteering Foundation is looking for people who would be willing to study this issue in the coming months.

Further details are here https://www.orienteeringfoundation.org.uk/volunteer-effort-project

The closing date for applications is 15/10/23.

The points for the West Midlands Urban league have been updated here following the first two events at Tamworth and Rugby.

All the categories are still wide open with two events to go and the best three to count. Congratulations to Eloise Lee (HOC) who is leading Women’s Open with 200 points and is the only West Midlander with a perfect score at this stage.

Harlequins are organising the third event in the series at Malvern on the 10th September and the final will be at Woodside on the 15th October, hosted by Wrekin Orienteers.

This will be held on Monday 2^nd October at 7.30pm at The Great Barr Hotel, B43 6HS. There will be an option to attend remotely via Zoom. The Agenda and the Zoom details will be sent via Club emails before the meeting.