Orienteering

Orienteering is a fun running sport, that involves navigating your way around a course using a specially drawn map.
There are courses for all ages and levels of experience.
There are local events run by the orienteering club Airienteers (AIRE) - check out the AIRE web site.

Many local youngsters have had a taste of orienteering through "Wharfedale Schools Orienteering" which has been running since 1999. In 2010 these sessions will be on: Wed 16th June - Ilkley Moor; Wed 23rd June - Hebers Ghyll; Wed 30th June -Ilkley Moor (score event) and Wed 7th July - Nell Bank Relays and presentation of awards.

Details

The sessions run from 4pm to 5.30pm and you can arrive or go any time between those two times. Sessions are open to any child of any age and they can bring their friends as well. Most importantly a parent or responsible adult must supervise their children throughout the session by keeping in visual contact or accompanying them around the courses. Children MUST NOT just be dropped off and left to be picked up later.

At the first two events there will be three beginner courses on offer (White, Yellow and Orange) and the third event will take the form of a 30 minute score event (there will be a White course as well). Children who do all 3 events in the series (or have events carried over from the previous year) will be awarded an eXplorer Challenge cloth badge and certificate. At each individual event children can do as many or as few courses as they wish. The Yellow course is a timed competitive course for all children to gain points related to their time against the fastest time on the course (see results below). And the 30 minute score will be the competitive element of the third event.

Cost is £1 and help will be available on the night. It would be useful to bring an A4 plastic see-through bag just in case it rains! A compass is useful but not essential.

Timed Yellow Course points system. The formula for points is that the course winner always gets 100 points. Other competitor points are calculated as winner's time divided by competitor's time multiplied by 100. We add all three events' points together to get an overall winner. Medals will be presented to all children gaining more than 100 points at the end of the series and there is a shield for the first Junior Ilkley Harrier who is 12 years old or younger. I am not sure how we will convert the score event into points yet, but we'll work something!!

Results of the 2009 timed Yellow courses on Ilkley Moor, Hebers Ghyll, and Middleton Woods (* penalties for missing/wrong controls - 5 mins is added to your time for each mistake)

See the 2008 results here.