OROX first term review
Back in October we approved a grant to help get the new Orienteering Runners of Exeter (OROX) university club off the ground. After their first term we catch up with club secretary Dan Jones to hear how things are going.
Thanks to the support of the Orienteering Foundation our first term has been more successful than our wildest dreams! We have accomplished everything we set out to do and more.
The equipment we have invested in, flags, compasses and peg markers, has allowed for a group of committed beginners to excel our expectations, picking up the skills quickly with many now confident enough to go out on Dartmoor courses independently.
Our biggest challenge that the Foundation’s grant helped us tackle has been paying for transport. It is one of our biggest costs to compensate drivers, but the grants have enabled us to pay for the first few trips until we had more financial savings. Due to the large number of enthusiastic beginners wanting to go to Dartmoor, we have even needed to open more spaces on top of OROX cars, which has been possible thanks to Michelle Spillar and Matt Atkins. With this combination, we have been able to extend the opportunity to everyone who is keen, including Athletics members, who have subsequently become committed members of OROX too.
Whether it has been one of several trips to events across Dartmoor, where one member Bertie Kingsley achieved 4th place on the Brown course at Mutters Moor most recently, or our new annual Christmas Trip, running across the Malvern Hills, our members have enjoyed Orienteering and all it has to offer.
We look forward to next term, with better weather, more members and more adventures! We have a packed timetable of events across the year in and around Devon with a plan to compete at Croydon Hill Gallopen, collaborate with Torquay Boy’s Grammar school and train with Bath and Bristol University. We are also investing in our first lot of stash – OROX jumpers – thanks to the Foundation’s grant.
Everyone at OROX would like to say a big thank you to the Orienteering Foundation for their support which has helped us deliver a great opportunity for Exeter students here to learn what Orienteering is all about.