South Wales Coaching Day 2025 report
Kerina Lake reports on the highly successful Orienteering Foundation coaching day hosted by Swansea Bay Orienteering Club (SBOC) on 8th November 2025 at Merthyr Mawr.
From dawn to dusk it was an amazing sunny day down at Merthyr Mawr for the Orienteering Foundation coaching day.
In total 185 participants, coaches and helpers headed out into the dunes to take on exercises aimed at introducing, building and practicing Orienteering techniques.
We split into two groups with juniors from the South East, South West, Wales, East and West Midlands Squads tackling the north of the area with its mix of flat open and sloped woodland dunes in the morning, whilst Saxons, South Wales, Swansea Bay and individuals who signed up to the Orienteering Foundation coaching session headed south to take on the complex contours this area is best known for. After lunch we swapped round so everyone could have a go at navigating in the different terrains.
We finished the day - for those who had the energy, with a race up and down The Big Dipper - a very very large sand dune. It was wonderful to see 70 plus orienteers of all ages don their Dipper headbands and race off in a mass start. Kudos to them all - literally, it is a Strava segment!
It was a superb day - and one that didn’t end there, as many headed off west to take part in the Western Night League event at Briton Ferry Woods planned by Ben Mitchell, and the next day most were are back in the dunes and taking on the excellent courses planned by Megan Mitchell at Kenfig Burrows – a wonderful opportunity to put into practice all that was learned on Saturday.
All in all, it was a fun and memorable weekend and brilliant to see so many juniors out training together as well as seniors refocusing on their base skills and maybe learning a new trick or two. Well done to Swansea Bay Orienteering Club for hosting the coaching day and supporting this with three quality events to keep event the most energetic orienteer happy.