Orienteering Championship Navigates to Northumberland
Competitors on the Day
Northumberland recently hosted the prestigious British Schools Orienteering Championships at Druridge Bay County Park – thanks to a sports development programme that has been run in the Morpeth area.
The event was held organised by Blyth Valley Arts and the Northumberland Schools Orienteering Association.
Around 800 youngsters from all over Great Britain took part and against strong opposition achieved some first rate results. Amongst these were girls from Chantry Middle School in Morpeth who took silver position in the girls’ year six class, narrowly beaten by BernardistonHallPrep School from Suffolk.
Chantry also took bronze position in the girls’ year seven class and there were good positions achieved by students from King Edward VI School in Morpeth and Ponteland Middle School.
Inclusive Participation
The Northumberland event also broke new ground as it included a sport ability category, allowing youngsters with additional needs to compete at a national standard – including pupils from CollingwoodSchool in Morpeth.
Andrew Tunnah, cultural development officer at Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure said: “It was fantastic that around 125 athletes from Northumberland were able to take part in the event this year, as previously distances and cost of travelling to the national championship have been prohibitive. The local orienteering programme that we have been running over the past five years has been very successful, and this is illustrated by the great success achieved by local schools on the day.”
The schools orienteering programme has been run by Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure and the former Castle Morpeth Borough Council and the Northumberland Schools Orienteering Association with around 800 year four, five, six and seven pupils from first and middle schools across the Morpeth area.
John Crosby, regional orienteering development officer, added: “Through this initiative we have been able to raise participation levels in orienteering within the county. Pupils were offered two coaching sessions in their school, teaching them the fundamentals of orienteering. They then went on to compete at the regional finals. Being offered the opportunity to host this year’s regional event was fantastic, and the students achieved some amazing results, particularly considering that they had not competed at this level before.”
Pre-Event Training & Entertainment
Before the championships a training event took place on Saturday 21st November at Woodhorn Colliery Museum and Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, followed by a pasta party with live music during the evening organised by the Blyth Valley Sport and Recreation Trust.
Chantry Middle School offered overnight accommodation for 200 competing youngsters on the Saturday night.
The event was organised by Northumbrian Schools Orienteering association, Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure Trust and Newcastle and Tyneside Orienteers, with funding from Ashington School Sports Partnership and Northumberland Sport. The organisers would also like to thank Blyth Valley Sport and Recreation Trust and Druridge Bay Country Park
