Category: News

😃Lucky for you there are some extra maps available – just message organiser Rachel Reid, Rachel@nwoc.info and let her know what colour course you want to run. ☀The weather forecast is looking fine, so don’t miss out on this great event! 🌲NI Orienteering Colour Series #1 at Learmont Forest 📆Sat 1 March 🚗Good parking and facilities at Learmount Community Development Group. But for those travelling up from Lagan Valley Orienteers and Fermanagh Orienteers, think about car sharing. LVO have a car share WhatsApp group to help. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Newcomers and novice orienteers really welcome! There are courses suitable for all ages and Read More …

The Steve McGibbon Trophy is named in memory of a hugely respected orienteer and stalwart of Lagan Valley Orienteers, who unfortunately died in 2006 aged only 50. The Trophy will be awarded at the AGM, happening after the Club Meet on 8 March 2025 at Belvoir (at time of going to press), starting at approximately 1pm. Nominations received are presented to attendees, who then vote at the AGM. The trophy is not focused on competition performance, rather the award is considered as recognition of the person or group thought to have provided the most outstanding contribution to the club’s affairs Read More …

Thanks to all club members who have been out checking our forested maps. We have 40 maps with at least some woodland and of this 18 have now been checked. Some areas are still at least partly closed to the public so it has not yet been possible for club members to access these areas. You can see the update here. The good news is that although we do have damaged areas, in quite a few cases the damage is not quite as bad as at first thought. However we still have the following10 areas that need someone to check: Read More …

Due to some wild weather, we’re postponing our orienteering session by a week—now happening on Sunday 2 March instead of 23 February. But don’t worry—the adventure is still ON! Sign up by Tuesday 25 Feb to join us on the epic slopes of Meelmore. Expect muddy sprints, rock-hopping leaps, and marshy mayhem—because this is Running Wild after all! Oh, and bring spare clothes… because staying clean isn’t an option! Who’s ready to take on the challenge? Full details here: https://lvo.org.uk/allfixtures/running-wild-feb-25/ Or sign-up directly here: https://forms.office.com/r/Mb2pmEgqPB #RunningWild#Orienteering#AdventureAwaits

You should by now have seen the posting on the NIOA website announcing the start of the 2025 Colour Series with the event at Learmount Forest, hosted by NWOC (with entries closing at 21:30 next Sunday). That signals the start of a number of year-long league series. The NISeries runs over 7 events, with your best 4 to count, so it’s time to decide your target colour for the year. The other series is hCOW, specifically for LVO members, and runs over 8 events (the club’s Autumn Trophy is the extra one). It deals only with the TD5 courses (Brown Read More …

Notice is given of LVO’s 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on Saturday 8 March at 1pm. This meeting will be held in person after the morning’s Club Meet. Due to Storm Éowyn, we have had to move venue, but are currently looking into using Belvoir Forest as the Club Meet and AGM location and hope to confirm this soon. Club Meet details and sign-up can be found here: https://lvo.org.uk/allfixtures/club-meet-mar-25/ Any member wishing to bring an item of business is requested to contact the Club Secretary.

Last chance to enter! Entries for the NI Score Orienteering Championships close this Monday 10 February at midnight! Join us in Donard Forest on Saturday 15 February (1-2pm) and see how many controls you can visit in one hour (or 45 minutes for juniors!). Don’t miss out – Enter now: https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=15142 Full event details can be found here: https://lvo.org.uk/allfixtures/ni-score-champs-25/ NIOA Prize-giving and AGM will follow the Score event at 4pm in Kilmeggan Centre, Castlewellan.

Running Wild is taking on the mountains! Join us on Sunday 23 February, 11am-12.30pm for an epic orienteering session on the slopes of Meelmore! Get ready to dash through mud, leap off rocks, and bounce through marshes—it’s going to be wild! Don’t forget spare clothes, kids… because getting mucky is guaranteed! Who’s in? Full details can be found here or via the QR Code: https://lvo.org.uk/allfixtures/running-wild-feb-25/ And sign-up directly here: https://forms.office.com/r/Mb2pmEgqPB

It’s hard to comprehend the damage that Storm Éowyn has wrecked on Northern Irish forests until you see them for yourselves. To get a sense of what we are dealing with, Stephen Reid has produced an incredibly sad but unfortunately truthful video from Tardree Forest. As we are slowly allowed back into our woodlands, we are coming to terms with the fact that we will not be able to orienteer in some areas for the foreseeable future. We are currently undertaking an audit of our forest maps so that we have a full picture, but stories like 10,000 trees down Read More …

A week after Storm Éowyn it is apparent that some of our forested areas have been hit hard, but others have been pretty much unscathed. As a club we need an audit to work out how this will affect our fixture list, so we need “boots on the ground” to check over all our mapped woodlands. This is quite an extensive task so it’s necessary to mobilise the club. No special skills are required, other than basic experience of orienteering! So what is involved? Listed here are the various maps that need to be checked, so please look at the Read More …