Two months ago Helen decided to organise a Fleetville Junior School team for the British Schools Orienteering Championships. Since then they have been to events in places like Epping Forest, Verulamium, Rothamsted and High Wycombe, as well as having a coaching day in Highfield Park during half term.

Yesterday the team of 16 put in a fantastic performance and came away with three medals: third school in Girls Year 5, second school in Boys Year 6, and third place in the overall Primary Schools competition.

Some more photos here.

After the popularity of the Maprunner Guide to IOF Control Descriptions, you can now download three more items to help with your orienteering. These are guides to orienteering map symbols. Click on the images to see a full-size version. The files are jpg images that are designed for printing at A4 size. If you are having trouble then try right clicking and select "Save Link As...." to copy the file to your computer first.

The ISOM 2000 Map Symbols are those used for normal orienteering maps, generally at 1:10,000 or 1:15,000.

The BOF School Map Symbols are those used for school orienteering maps in Great Britain.

Please feel free to distribute these files unchanged or print them out for non-commercial use. Please contact me to discuss any other usage.

(From an article I posted to the O-Net in December 1996.)

John gives me an ideal opportunity to provide a tribute to Willie Rushton, who died recently. His book "Pigsticking, A Joy for Life" provides brief details of how to participate in nearly every sport imaginable, and includes a section on orienteering. I quote:

"...I thought it consisted solely of sprinting cross-country through the Pilgrim's Progress with only a despondent A-Z of Slough to bring you solace, a sport designed for clean-living militant Christians.