Belvoir Orienteering Festival report
Earlier in the year we made an award to the Belvoir Cricket & Countryside Trust, a that inspires children to lead happy, healthy, active lives through sport and countryside education. You can see more background on the grant award here. The BCCT Orienteering Festival and Family Fun Day was held on Sunday 16 June. Read on for their report.
The event was planned as a one-hour score course around the private grounds of the Belvoir Castle Estate. As this was the first orienteering festival held by the BCCT, and we had limited resources to help with the orienteering, we felt that this format would appeal to the widest possible cross-section of potential participants. We did not focus on one particular demographic, such as families, runners or orienteers, but tried to cater for all with one course. This seemed to work well, as described below.
Although the western part of the area had been used for orienteering before, the eastern part had never been used. Therefore, a new map was drawn to ISOM 2017-2 standard by experienced orienteers (although these individuals were less experienced at mapping, so this experience contributed to the development of their mapping skills). The map covers an area of approximately 6km2 (3km x 2km).
No simple entry system was available to the BCCT, so entries were made on the day. A Facebook event was set-up, which had ~80 responses. Owing to the uncertainty in numbers, we decided to have 200 maps printed. We charged £10 per map.
Owing to the broad and inclusive approach taken in planning, the score course was designed to include a “short route” of approximately 3km, with 14 controls numbered 1-14. Prior to starting, it was "suggested" that families could use this route as a way to see some of the best parts of the estate grounds. Controls were hung so they were highly visible. Many of these controls could be seen from the previous control, especially at the start of the course. Many of these controls were also hung on interesting features, such as statues. In addition, the remaining 16 controls were randomly numbered. The planning measured one route for all 30 controls to be ~10km, which would provide a route planning and running challenge for more experienced orienteers.
The festival was augmented by other activities, including tri-golf, archery, kwik-cricket and croquet, which were provided for free. The registration was at the cricket pavilion, which was also the location of a BBQ and a bar, which was open all day (also serving teas and coffees).
On the day, between 50 and 60 people came and participated in the orienteering. This number included one group with a child in a wheelchair. 50-60 is a great number for this event, but most were families of three-four, so we only “sold” 16 maps - without the Orienteering Foundation’s support, this number would have meant that the event would have made a loss. Nonetheless, the orienteering was enjoyed immensely by all those that took part. The DVO club chairperson also came to observe on the day and help where needed.
Once registered, each participant group was walked to the start by one of six orienteering helpers that were present. The start was located on the edge of the cricket ground, so this short walk allowed each group to be briefed on the event and provided an opportunity to ask additional questions following registration. Further information was provided at the start to reinforce key messages. No-one struggled with the navigation. Most families found 10-16 controls in the hour available. Two runners, one of whom orienteers, found all 30 controls. Both were over the time limit, one by two minutes and one by 15.
Everyone stayed after the orienteering and enjoyed socialising and discussing various aspects of orienteering. Great feedback was received. Examples include:
- One lady, the wife of an ex-NOC orienteer stated that she had no idea how much fun orienteering was, and would have encouraged all her friends to come if she had known.
- The person who manned the bar stated how much fun it was, and promised to bring a lady’s cricket team to the next event.
- One quote received was: “Such a fabulous set up and so well organised. Thank you to all who made this possible”.
- One lady asked about further orienteering opportunities and was referred to LEI. She attended the next LEI summer league event with five children and their parents.
- Another family who enquired about orienteering have subsequently used Open Orienteering Map to make a map of their village for use at a children’s birthday party in the summer.
You can see a 2 minute video of the day below.
The BCCT are currently discussing how to use the experience of the event to offer more orienteering opportunities. The following are being considered or discussed internally:
- Re-running the event with the unused maps. A re-run event would consider a revised marketing and publicity strategy to increase numbers. We would also look to schedule this event better as we think that clashes with Father’s Day and the National Urban event in Sheffield may have had an effect on numbers.
- Building additional links with the Melton and Belvoir School Sport Physical Activity Network (SSPAN). Discussion has been held regarding using the Belvoir Castle Estate for the Melton and Belvoir Schools Orienteering Championships. This event has been held in a country park in Melton Mowbray for the last two years with >350 children taking part. However, one school has raised safeguarding concerns regarding the country park, and use of the private estate might alleviate these concerns. The SSPAN School Development Manager was shadowed around an orienteering event after the BCCT orienteering festival and is highly-interested in more development of the sport in the area.
- Building more orienteering into the programme of sport and countryside education to children provided by the BCCT. A specific plan for this is to be discussed.
- Developing greater links with the orienteering community. Again, specific plans for this are to be discussed but the estate offers excellent opportunities to act as a hub for orienteering, (i.e. a regional location where training could be undertaken on an area with permissions and available maps, alongside facilities available through the BCCT pavilion), or acting as a host for events that can be challenging to put on elsewhere, such as MTBO or the Harvester Relays.
You can find out more about the Belvoir Cricket and Countryside Trust on their website, Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter.
