RIP  The Dorset Schools Orienteering League

It is with regret that the WIM Committee have decided to discontinue the Dorset Schools Orienteering League with effect from the end of this school year.

The League began in the 1998-99 school year and has continued ever since until now, a span of some 17 years. However in recent years, as the pressure on teacher's hours has increased exponentially and paperwork, Risk Assessments, etc. have proliferated, and schools no longer attend events in minibuses, or outside school hours, and so most of our competitors in the last few years have in reality been junior members of WIM, WSX & SARUM, competing under their school name, rather than for a club. This year we have only had about 20 children competing regularly, although the informal events themselves have continued to be popular and well attended by adults and juniors alike.

So we've decided to discontinue the schools league as such, and replace it with a series of Saturday informal events during Autumn and Spring, starting around lunchtime and held in our smaller local areas, parks etc.

These events will be aimed at juniors’ members, novices and families. School groups will also be very welcome if they wish to take part. Each session, which will combine a coaching element, followed by a short informal event with courses from White to Light Green, with a relatively short start window, say between 2.00 & 2.30 pm.

We hope that this will be more beneficial to our membership, offering the chance of proper coaching together with the opportunity to put new ideas into practice with a run immediately afterwards.

The current Club League competition will continue, and use mainly the bigger, Sunday events for its scores.

The Dorset Schools Score Championships, which has run annually at the beginning of May since John Tilsley and I held the first event at Hyde House in 1997, will continue to be held. This event has regularly attracted decent numbers, usually around 100 or so and we hope that it will continue to flourish in future years.

Dick Keighley