Junior Development
Routes to Success
Orienteering is an international sport, can take you all the way from St Albans to Scotland, and beyond. You can orienteer individually, for your club, region, or even for your country.
Local
You can take part in any event run by the club without being a member. We run monthly Saturday Series events which are a great place to start.
Club
Why not become a member and join in with our monthly training events? You can also compete in annual club competitions. We will contact you to see if you want to take part in these. We have two competitions specifically for Juniors.
Yvette Baker – This is a fun event, where you can run any course you’re happy to run, and score points for your club. All clubs take part in a Regional Heat and then if the team does well you can compete in the Final.
Peter Palmer Relay – A very fun 6-person relay that starts at 5am… in the dark! Do not worry the older more experienced runners take these legs with the younger runners competing in the early morning light.
Regional
Other clubs put on events all around the country – and you’re welcome to go along to them. Our closest clubs are HAVOC, CHIG, LOK, SLOW, TVOC. Our Fixtures list includes events from nearby clubs as well as large regional and national events. Check it out here.
South East Junior Squad (SEJS)
The South East Junior Squad is aimed at juniors in the 14-18 age groups who want to improve their orienteering, train regularly with other juniors, have fun and make new orienteering friends. They meet once a month and sometimes have weekends away for training or competitions, such as the annual Junior Inter-Regional Championships (JIRCS), which takes place in September, where all the regional squads around the country compete against each other. Here is the link to the SEJS website for more information.
Once a member of SEJS you are eligible for selections to the summer orienteering tours run by JROS (Junior Regionals Orienteering Squads). These tours are a highlight of the orienteering calendar for many juniors (Lagganlia for M/W14’s, Deeside for M/W16’s, Stockholm for M/W18’s and Gothenburg for M/W20’s) and are a great way to meet juniors from all over the country. More information about the tours can be found on the JROS website.
National
There are quite a few big competitions in the year, some of which are selections for things like the squads and national teams. These events also have a great atmosphere, so are well worth attending. Two of these events are…
JK Weekend
Held over the Easter weekend every year, it’s a great event, with a Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay – all in 4 days! Link here
British Championships
Anyone can attend these races that happen throughout the year. There’s Sprint, Middle, Long, Night & Relays. Information will come via the newsletter and the fixtures page.
