New to orienteering?

Check out our Getting Started guide for an introduction to the sport. Then learn more about the club, what it has to offer, particularly for juniors, and how to become a member. If you still have questions, feel free to contact us.

Chandler's Ford MapRun

By Webmaster, 5 February, 2024

The lastest MapRun is now available courtesy of Norman Wilson. This time, the venue is Hiltingbury and North Millers Dale in Chandler's Ford. Join us at 6:30 pm on Thursday 8th February outside Hiltingbury Leisure Centre and come to the pub afterwards, or run it at a time of your choosing over the next six months. If you plan to venture into the woods, there is a bit of mud around but, at least at the moment, it's still fairly firm under a sometimes slippy surface so shoes with a bit of grip are advisable.

SOC Level D - Rhinefield Sat 20th Jan 2024

By Terry Smith, 20 January, 2024
Attachment Size
Results by Class with Colour Standards (278.9 KB) 278.9 KB

Doug Greenwood

8 months 2 weeks ago

We hope you enjoyed the orienteering today at Rhinefield. We were fortunate to have a lovely dry day with the ice-cream van in attendance! The parking was tight, but hopefully that did not take away from the enjoyment of the day.

Many thanks to all those SOC members who helped make the day a success: our planner, Iain Robinson, for the challenging courses; Alastair, who managed the computing (on a new system) and produced the results in record time; and all the other helpers, some of whom held several jobs.

Lost property: A pair of black gloves were left at the start - please contact SOC if these are yours.

Annika & Doug Greenwood

Event
Rhinefield

Training event at Cadman’s Pool – 14 January 2024

By Rachel Robertson, 14 January, 2024

We had a very successful training event today, with 13 senior participants and a few juniors. The senior session started with a warm-up and some dynamic stretching exercises led by Christine Currie – and a reminder for many of us that this should be a regular part of our routine at orienteering events. 

The coaching focussed on pacing and bearings and was a great opportunity to improve our skills in a fun and friendly event away from the time pressures of a competition. We completed a total of 32 coaching loops between us, and feedback from the coaches and discussion with fellow participants was very useful. Meanwhile, Helen led the junior coaching session, which they started off in similar vein to the seniors by checking their 100 metre pace count. Then they practised map setting, thumbing and folding and checked some map symbols before doing a star exercise on a short course.

Thank you to Kevin for putting the seniors through their paces (literally), and to Helen, Colin, David and Christine for their part in running the event. I, for one, am looking forward to the second training session on 3 February. If you couldn’t make it today, do consider putting this in your diary.
 

Stephen Sutch

8 months 3 weeks ago

A big thanks to Kevin, Helen, David, Christine and Colin. That was a really good session to practice techniques and get immediate advice and feedback. The sun even came out to start the morning 😀

Kevin Bracher

8 months 3 weeks ago

SOC Training Activity. Cadman's Pool, Sunday 14th January 202

Today the Club put on a Training Activity from Cadman's Pool near Fritham.

We had 13 participants taking part. Ranging from three Juniors through to some reasonably experience orienteers, some with many years orienteering under their belts.

There were 5 coaches and one adult helping to run the session which lasted from 10:30 until 12:30. 

David & Christine Currie, Colin Hicks, Helen Wheelwright and Kevin Bracher were joined by Bill Davidson, They all contributed to the debriefs each participant had between the exercises and courses they ran.

The session started with a short warm up followed by stretching exercises led buy Christine.

Next we did a little pace counting and distance estimation exercise. The Youngsters joined Helen while the remainder were putt through their paces by the rest of the team.

Then it was onto running the various loops that had been planned. There were 6 senior loops and 3 beginner loops on offer plus extra loops planned by Helen.

The Loops range from just under 1K to around 2K in length and had legs where various techniques could be tried, ranging from bearings, handrailing, aiming off, identifying attack points and of course distance estimation.

As each participant returned they were debriefed on their runs. What went well/not so well, alternate options and were also encouraged to try different navigational tools and what benefits they may give.

The 13 participants tried over 30 different loops between them. Some while being shadowed by David, Christine or Bill.

The cool day encouraged them all to keep moving and try as many loops as they could.

The session ended with some of the participants helping to collect in the O Kites and stakes.

I hope all who took part enjoyed the session and learnt a few things on the way!

Our next Coaching Activity, open to all Club members, is planned for Sunday 3rd of February, from Eyworth Pond.

We are limited to a max of 15-18 participants so do not delay and check the club website for details. 

Julia Loring will be taking names for this activity.

I would lie to say thank you to all who took part and a big thanks to Colin, David, Christine, Helen and Bill for all their support.

Kevin

Matthew Chessum

8 months 3 weeks ago

I’d like to add my thanks to those above - a fantastic and very helpful morning. I learned so much and can’t wait to put my new techniques into practice when I’m next racing on the forest. Particular thanks to David for shadowing me around two loops: the immediate feedback made such a difference. Looking forward to more coaching sessions.