Author: Philip Baxter

The venue for the Event Safety Course being run by Helen on Wed 17 Jan is confirmed as the Derriaghy Room in the Lisburn Leisure Complex. Start time is 7.00 pm

Sadly there were not enough volunteers to make the planning course scheduled for Sat 13 Jan worth putting on. It has therefore been postponed. The Controllers Conference will still go ahead as planned. The WEE Planners Course offered by Helen on 21 Feb 18 is still on; if you want to attend please let Helen know via publicity@niorienteering.org.uk

Alongside the Controllers Course that NIOA are running over the weekend 13/14 Jan 2018 in Tollymore, I am offering a day’s worth of practical help in developing the skills used by planners of orienteering courses. I have space for a maximum of 6 willing participants who would like to understand how to move on from planning at WEE level. You don’t need to be a top class performance athlete, just someone with a small to medium amount of experience in very basic planning with the appetite to learn a bit more. The day will start at the Tollymore Mountain Centre Read More …

After last week’s run round the enchanted wonderland of Antrim Castle Gardens, the 2017 WENT series comes to an end this Wednesday in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park. We will be playing SnookerO for the last time but with a few seasonal additions. Meet in the top car park as usual at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm mass start, with a 45 minute time limit. Club members £2, visitors £4. As has become tradition, there will be a few festive treats at the end of the session so plan on staying a while and enjoying hot chocolate and little eats. There will Read More …

A good and mixed crowd enjoyed last week’s WENT in Ormeau Park – thanks to Helen for setting out the controls in my absence. This week we have the privilege of using Antrim Castle Gardens at night. The area is terrific for night orienteering, with a nice mix of parkland, tracks and wooded areas. It is well worth making the effort to get out to Antrim for the evening (it isn’t that far and you won’t need a passport); we’ll meet in the Clotworthy House car park (not the Antrim Forum one) at 7.00pm for the usual mass start at Read More …

Congratulations and commiserations to the intrepid 2 dozen who braved the weather last week in Lady Dixon Park. I hope we will be more fortunate this week as we return to Ormeau Park to continue with the SnookerO theme. The controls will not be in the same places as for WENT 1 and the challenge to get round them all may be a bit stiffer than usual. Meet in the main carpark at 7.00pm for a 7.30 mass start. £2 for members, £4 for guests – all are most welcome.

After a glorious evening in Botanic Gardens and the Queen’s campus, with a view of the spectacular poppy installation at the Ulster Museum, we return to SnookerO, this time at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park. Meet on Wednesday evening in the top car park at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm mass start as usual. Use the session to prepare for the WENT Finale, also in Dixon Park; will Santa’s elves and the gremlins get involved this year? Come and find out and be prepared for damp feet.

NIOA will be holding a Coaching Ideas Workshop on Monday 20th November in the Royal School Dungannon, starting at 7.30pm. If you are already a coach, thinking about becoming a coach, an athlete with ideas about what coaching should provide or just generally interested in how to improve orienteering training then this workshop is for you. All we ask is that, if you are already a coach, you bring an example or 2 of coaching exercises or drills that you have developed and that you are happy that other coaches can ‘re-invent’. If you are an athlete that has been Read More …

After last week’s splash experience in Musgrave Park (27 participants – keep it up) this week we are in Botanic Gardens and the QUB Campus. Meet outside the QUB library (beside the main car park) at 7.00pm for a 7.30 mass start as usual. No SnookerO this week – proper courses to take advantage of the urban terrain, but feet may yet get wet in the park. You should also get a great view of the Ulster Museum poppy cascade – brilliant.