WIMBORNE ORIENTEERS

Founded in 1970, Wimborne Orienteers is a small but active orienteering club on the eastern edge of the South Wes tRegion (SWOA), covering most of East and North Dorset from Ringwood in the east to Wimborne and up as far as Blandford & Gillingham in the North. We also have a number of active members in South and West Dorset, formerly covered by WEYOR. Areas mapped range from Bovington Heath in the West of the county through to areas on the western fringes of the New Forest. 

Every year we hold our annual Regional (Badge) Event, a District (Level C colour coded) event as part of the SW Galoppen series and also a number of smaller scale Local Informal Level D events with a more limited range of colour coded courses. Also annual are the Boxing Day Canter, a mass start Score event held every year on December 26th, and the Furrow Hoppers Relay, an unusual relay format held in the summer.

The club host a number of social events (Club Dinner, Barbecue etc.) throughout the year. The club newsletter, Waffle , appears six times a year.

We have very close links with our neighbouring club WSX, and operate  shared monthly club evenings which offer a range of orienteering training and coaching activities.

In September 1998, the club started the Dorset Schools Orienteering League, open to any schools in Dorset (and also S Wilts and W Hants) - current League Tables and information can be found in the schools' section. 

In summer 1999 we established a permanent orienteering course at Moors Valley Country Park with the aid of a lottery grant. There are now over 40 control sites of varying difficulty including some more technical controls sites to provide a useful & challenging training run for the expert as well as the existing courses for novice and improver. The Moors Valley Challenge  is currently to visit all of these sites in the fastest possible time - contact John Warren for an updated copy of the map.

A  permanent Trail-Orienteering course was completed in January 2004, although this is currently closed awaiting an update after felling in 2010 disrupted the course. A permanent MTBO course was opened  2011.

During most of the year except July & August, we hold regular beginners coaching sessions for novices and beginners in conjunction with Moors Valley Country Park, usually on the second Saturday of every month. More details are available from the Moors Valley Visitors Centre.

During the lighter months (March-October) WIM & WSX jointly run  weekly Community Orienteering sessions based at Parkstone Girls GS

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Last Updated Monday, November 07, 2011