UEA orienteering

[m4rk]

Has there ever been a UEA (uni of east anglia) orienteering club?

[HOCOLITE]

Looks like its time for you to set one up. Get a few interested people from x country, tell them O ,makes their training much more fun. Then you've got your O club and you can compete at BUSA. Well it's slightly more complex than that but ask GG cos he did it.

[SeanC]

I think there might have been in about 1985. My brother used to go orienteering with a crowd from UEA. Pretty sure they arrived in a minibus to some events, but I'm not sure if they were an official club or not. (not sure if this is much help unless your doing a project on the history of university O clubs )

[PorkyFatBoy]

I'll have a rummage through the back issues of "Points East" that are in my study (part of the SUFFOC Archive) to see if I can find anything. As both the Norwich and Colchester campuses (campi ) are mapped, it would surprise me if there wasn't at some point.

[SeanC]

My brother tells me:

"There was an orienteering club called UEAOK. It never had many members though, maybe 4 or 5, but it was involved with Norwich orienteering club as well."

He was there between 1984 and 1987.

[Schnitzy]

M4RK, are you at UEA (or going to UEA)? If so my sister is studying there and I'm sure if her arm is twisted and other orienteers are there then she would be happy to help set up a Uni club / restart one.

Also the campus's of Norwich and Colchester are both mapped but they are not part of the same University. The Colchester campus is the University of Essex, which did have an O club many, many years ago (early 80's I think, my dad still has the sweatshirt!)not sure about UEA though.

[Red Adder]

Both UEA and Essex Uni had clubs at some time in the eighties if some of my results from that era are to be believed. Many uni's did so then but no longer do so. I was in Keele UOC for a year, we had about 15-20 members, (at least one other is recently active) did regular training runs about the campus and organised a proper event there and went to several events by car and minibus. "Driving" the latter earned me the award for service to transport at the annual dinner, but that's another story.

[m4rk]

Im at uea, just starting my 2nd year. glen richardson in NOR has taken me to a few evens with some other people, but to start a club (i think) needs 20 signitures of people who would join.

thanks for the replies; if i think i can get enough people and it wont be too much time/effort then i guess it would be a good idea!

[paddy]

when we reformed last year we were told that there would never be any checks to see if the 25 people who given us their signature and student number had actually joined the club too. Just a mere obligation wrtten into the constitution to try and deter random clubs being brought before the union council. Id say yours would be similar...

[Rookie]

that'll be 20 signitures for a club registered with your uni/union but you could set up a BOF closed club for £30 on your own and/or with a few xc converts.

Did you run at BUSA this year?
If not I don't see why you couldn't go as just one competitor even if there isn't a club. The Uni/Union might pay your entrty fee, you can score BUSA points for the uni with just one competitor, Loughborough managed to get some orienteering points this year..

[Andy.T]

I would have to say set up a UEA club. I personally set up the Manchester University club and it has been a steep learning curve.

I used several XC members to set it up under the idea that when I found someone more suitable then I would replace them. But watch out, at our social one XC member was trying to sell XC to the small O crowd!!

Get in contact with the local club - there may well be some members of the uni that are already orienteering. This is the first place to look.

Our club got granted a special status 'phase one'. Basically we only need 10 members but we get no funding. If we perform well, then we get given funding during the year - when you set up your team, negiogate with the Athletic Union (or the body in the UEA that controls sport). They may well be happy to allow this (a non funded team in return for some results - a good deal!).

Also market it to the less fit. We aim to get most of our members from this area with low level fitness training, and do promotion outside of freshers week.

Right thats my spiel - but there is a postgrad of UEA I think that competed in the last BUSA - it would be worth tracking him down.