The "Articles" section of the website is seldom used since COVID and probably there will now be no more new ones (we use "News" and "Competition Reports").

This is a list for reference of the articles since we started, with the year they were published. You can still see them in the traditional layout via the link at the top of the page.

A clip from one of the previous maps provided for World Cup Round 1

Orienteering World Cup 2025

The senior international meetings of 2025 are:

• World Cup Round 1: Idre Fjall, Sweden, 19th-22nd June, (Long, Middle and Relay)
• World Champs: Kuopio, Finland, 8th-12th July, (Middle, Long, Relay)
• World Games, Chengdu, China, 8th-11th August, (Middle, Sprint, Sprint Relay)
• European Champs (World Cup Round 2): Hasselt, Belgium, 27th-31st August, (Sprint Relay, Knockout Sprint, Sprint)
• World Cup Final: Uster, Switzerland, 26th-28th September, (Sprint, Sprint Relay, Knockout Sprint)

The first timing point in the Women's Relay Last Leg at the World Cup Final, screengrab from IOF TV

The last leg in a tight race at the front of major relays is arguably as pressured as anything in orienteering.

The last race of the 2024 Senior International Season was the Women's Relay. It was the final race of the World Cup, it was a Finnish forest and the first four runners to start the last leg were the athletes of the first teams of the big four orienteering countries: Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Finland. It was very appropriate as these runners had figured so prominently during the 2024 season in similar situations, with many really impressive runs. And, this being orienteering, the occasional miss or mishap. What a demonstration of skill and resilience!

The curious thing is that in a sport where teams can vary their last leg runners, and where many runners are considered more forest focused or more sprint focused, these four athletes are all-rounders and have all been reliably trusted with the last leg by their coaches in all the big races this year.

It was the same runners who ran the last leg of the World Champs Sprint Relay in Edinburgh, where three took the medal places. They took the medal places at the European Champs Relays in Hungary. Three of them were in the six contesting the Knockout Sprint Final at the World Champs. They have done more "first to cross the line" racing in really important situations, against each other, than anyone else this year.

The 2024 World Orienteering Champs are in Edinburgh

In July 2024 (very probably 12th-16th) the World Championship Orienteering Races in Individual Sprint, Sprint Relay, and Knockout Sprint will be decided. They're in Edinburgh. Although that is a long way away for many people it is not so far for prospective competitors, so it may be fun to look at possible stepping stones for GB athletes. They will surely have done this already.

Let's name the recent World Cup Races in Czechia as the first stone. There there were both forest and sprint races; the sprints being the first at this level since last year's World Champs, whilst the forest races were the last ones at that level until after Edinburgh.

One of this year's trophies, from the World Championships Bulletin-4

On Wednesday 12th July the racing in the 2023 World Champs (WOC) begins. The Champs are at Flims-Laax in the mountain canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. The competition will be top-notch and the scenery will be stunning.

Chris Smithard, last year's Senior Men's winner, pictured in the JK Sprint.

In the UK there are several “leagues” scoring over multiple races. The League that appeals to many runners in the open and top junior classes is concentrated in the main Spring season when most UK forests are at their best. Runners enjoy taking part in the top quality races where there are large fields and strong runners.

It is called the UK Elite Orienteering League. In 2019 the League will run for the fifth time. The races are within two months over five weekends, from a sprint race in early March to the British Champs in early May. The included weekends for 2019 are the Northern Championships Weekend, the Lakes Spring Weekend including the Red Rose Classic, the Scottish Spring, the JK Festival, and the British (Long) Championships. All but the last weekend include multiple scoring races. (The final league positions are best six scores from earlier rounds plus the final race.)

Image: Matt Speake, photo by Karl Orud for WOC 2019 Norway

It is a quiet time for the international orienteering calendar. In Britain we must wait until next year for major events (except for one - the Southern Championships are on November 25th - with On The Red Line staff involved.)

So we look ahead to next year's calendar. The World Championships (WOC) are just the forest disciplines, as the new way of alternating forest and sprint begins. They are in Norway, so will be different from recent experience in Baltic countries. It is not a year for the biennial European Championships. And as in 2018 there are plenty of athletes aiming for the selections for World Cup Round 1 and the World Champs.

Capri, the World Champs 2023 Mascot, on stage at the World Champs 2022

The sprint racing that has filled the international calendar so far this year is done. This week it's the second round of the 2022 World Cup, the European Championships. All races are in tough forest in Estonia: long (classic), middle and relay races.

Fourteen athletes are in the British Team, seven women and seven men. It's a larger and also much less experienced team than went to the (Sprint) World Championships in Denmark in June.

Congratulations to Rachel Brown, Chloe Potter, Peter Molloy and Joe Woodley who make World Cup debuts. Rachel and Peter are W/M20.

The GB team who were "fourth nation" at World Cup Round 1, photo:Rob Lines

There are eight athletes, four men and four women, running for GB at this year's World Championships in Denmark. The races are the sprint disciplines: individual sprint, knockout sprint and sprint relay..

There are three race days.

• Sunday 26th June - Sprint Relay, in Kolding (where the Event Centre is)
• Tuesday 28th June - Knockout Sprint, in Fredericia
• Thursday 30th June - Individual Sprint, in Vejle

All the GB athletes raced in World Cup Round 1 in Sweden last month, and the photos below are from that competition. Thanks to Rob Lines for most of them. Rob's gallery of orienteering photographs is on Flickr.

Part of the terrain for this year's JK Middle Race (mapper squad member Ben Mitchell)

The "JK", the biggest annual festival in the UK orienteering calendar, held every year at Easter, is back and upon us. We really missed it in 2020 and 2021. This year the Welsh Association are hosting, and some of the areas used are the same as in 2014 when they previously hosted.. How's the winter training gone? Have you got everything planned out and have you read through 37 pages of programme? How did you fare on your big weekends in the Winter and early Spring?

Event Programme (Version 6)

Our report on the most recent JK, in 2019.

from British Orienteering website, image: mapper Dave Peel.

With the weather set fair, the British Long Distance Champs are on Saturday March 26th, using an area new to orienteering south-west of London. There's a strong field including 59 names on the M21E startlist. The course is 16.6km with 815m climb; with the recommended winning time of 90-100 minutes. There are 18 entries on W21E for 11.3km with 495m climb and a winning time of 70-80 minutes.

The British Relays are the following day, using the same arena.

The British NIghts and the British Middles have taken place, the former in the very opposite of fair weather.