ERYRI

[Homer]

Anyone from Eryri on here?

I have a week in North Wales upcoming so I thought I'd check the fixture list for any orienteering opportunities. ERYRI have a couple of events listed. One is listed as cancelled which is a shame. The other appears to be on but there is no information (location, timings, etc) on their website. In fact there is very little on their website at all. How are they expecting anyone to turn up? Is there a secret website that I'm not aware about? I've tried Facebook and can't think what else to try...

[redpossum]

Info on Eryri is a little sparse but they do have a Public Group on Facebook which appears to be more active than their website and lists upcoming events.
The group is called 'Eryri Orienteers' and here is a link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1199308484093430

[Homer]

Thanks for the reply. I've just had a look at the details of the Bangor night event linked from a Facebook post. No idea how anyone who hasn't joined their Facebook page is meant to find out about the event? However, the whole A4 sheet of safety instructions is just too much for me. I think we'll organise our own thing.

[Arnold]

I'm a bit worried about Welsh orienteering in general. Was it MWO that recently shut down, and even the South Wales clubs don't seem to be blessed with large attendances.

It's a shame really as there is some really cracking terrain there, much of which I would assume is still left to be discovered.

[Dewi]

Hi, MWOC did indeed fold, which was a great shame. If you are in the South Wales area SBOC have a full calendar of events listed from league events, sprint events, map runs, park O and trail challenges.

https://sboc.org.uk/events

Another fab limestone area event on 27th Oct that is opposite the 2 new areas used at Croeso, so you can look across from OFD at those areas from the summer again.

If you fancy a sand dune double header then there is a night event in Merthyr Mawr (if you had fun at Croeso at MM try it at night!), then league (Y, Or, LG, Gr, Blue) at Whiteford Burrows (just off there now to pick some sloes for sloe gin ) at the end of Nov.

[SeanC]

ERYRL were ahead of us in 4th place in last year's Compass Sport Trophy final so they can't be doing that bad. Looking at their public Facebook page it is very active for an orienteering club with lots of people contributing, and their regular training includes stuff like this on 12th May.

"For this week's Thursday training session we will be practicing full technical difficulty orienteering on the fantastic mountain terrain above Pen y Pass."

Sounds rather good... though I don't think it would work as well round my way, substituting 'Trosley Country Park' for 'Pen y Pass'

So basically their website is giving a somewhat misleading impression. I wonder if the O foundation can give out grants for a new easier to maintain website which should help their publicity, and travelling orienteers from other clubs?

Websites are very top down though, and not interactive, so maybe given their small size /limited volunteers and somewhat isolated location they have the right approach prioritising social media communication over their website?

[Homer]

I'm a bit worried about Welsh orienteering in general. Was it MWO that recently shut down, and even the South Wales clubs don't seem to be blessed with large attendances.

It's a shame really as there is some really cracking terrain there, much of which I would assume is still left to be discovered.

Yes, I agree, particularly North (and maybe mid) Wales. The South, however, seem to be doing OK based on the excellent 6 Day event they have just organised. It's a real shame that the 2020 Welsh 6 Days didn't happen due to Covid. That was due to be in North Wales and would surely have given a boost to development. The areas must have been mapped and the planning well advanced so I don't understand why this work wasn't used for the 2024 event?

[Dewi]

There were 2 areas in the South that we had been trying to get access for 10+ years - Carreg Goch and Cribarth and Croeso allowed for mapping, access etc to be handled/funded for them.

Watch this space - Croeso 2028 - Snowdonia area - early scoping ongoing. I too was looking forward to a Sprint race around Portmeirion in 2020.

[redpossum]

I think one of the problems with orienteering in Mid and North Wales is that there are no large centres of population in Mid and North Wales like there are in the South. As such members tend to be scattered and low in numbers.
MWOC (formerly POW) covered a large area and relied on a few members to organise everything and, of course, as they get older tend to 'retire' and not get replaced.
In my 40 years of orienteering I can remember a number of clubs which no longer exist - Alyn, Offa's Dyke Raiders (ODR), the original POW (Powys Orienteers not MWOC), SHORC (Sarn Helen Orienteering and Running Club) and TROT (based in the SW). There were also the University clubs ABER, Bangor Backwoodsmen (BB) and UWIST.
Unless some enthusiastic orienteers move there it is unlikely they will reappear.

[SeanC]

Question, what happens to the orienteering areas formerly covered by MWOC? Are the former MWOC areas being divided up between SBOC, SWOC, DEE, HOC, ERYRI? I'm ex ABER and still have friends there, so on a personal level it would be good to see even occasional orienteering in mid-wales as an excuse to go back to Aber.

I quite understand though that the population of the MWOC catchment was probably a tenth of that of a typical orienteering club, and they did well keeping going as long as they did.

[redpossum]

At the moment MWOC is 'mothballed' so still officially exists though not in practice.
WRE have been looking into the possibility of using one or two of the areas near the Shropshire border and, I believe, SWOC are using one of their areas near Builth Wells in the near future.