Introduction

These are:

Compass Sport Trophy

This is a whole club event. The Trophy is competed for by small clubs while the Cup is for big clubs (like Devon). The regional heat tends to be competed in the spring, usually against other South West clubs but sometimes against those from South Wales.

To maximise our chance of success, we try to gather as large a team as we can so that we can represent both genders across all age categories and earn more points.

Anyone and everyone within the club can run...but there's a catch. You run the prescribed course for your age and gender and this might not be the exact course you usually run. Despite this, we've had some good results in recent years.

Yvette Baker Trophy

This is for juniors. It's named after one of the most successful British orienteers. The local heat tends to occur at an event with a strong regional profile like a Galoppen (South West League) event.

In 2016, we qualified for the final in Hertfordshire in July and our captain Chris Hasler drove everyone there in a minibus. Read more

Relays

Relay formats explained

JK relays

These are held annually on the last day of the JK (Jan Kjellstrom) festival. The JK is a four day event held every year over the Easter weekend.

Article: 2014 relays at Pwll Dhu (when we had several teams)

The British Championships relays

These are held in May and rotate annually between the various UK regions. In 2015, we fielded two teams because being in the Forest of Dean, they were relatively local. In 2019 they will be in the Leeds area.

Summer relays

The SWOA relays series is one of the most social forms of orienteering, offering members the opportunity to compete together in a more relaxed setting than at the JK and other large events. A post-run review in a local pub or while car-sharing also proves a very effective way to debrief and unwind afterwards. Most of the relays have age and gender handicapping, which enables men and women, girls and boys to join up and run in the sun together.

The series is run by other clubs in the South West, usually over six consecutive Sundays across June and July. QO have done well in the last few years, typically finishing 2nd or 3rd out of the nine south west clubs eligible to compete. Read more about the 2018 series

Our captain

Our club captain Chris Hasler has over the years organised teams for the one-off events and co-ordinated our relay series efforts, with the help of "on-the-day" captains.

Jeff Pakes