Wim History

Founded in 1970, Wimborne Orienteers is a small but active orienteering club on the eastern edge of the South West Region (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 Event (The Winter Warmer), a Level C colour coded event as part of the South West Orienteering League and also a number of smaller scale. Local Informal Level D events with a more limited range of colour coded courses: many of these events are preceded by Coaching sessions. 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. During the Covid outbreaks, most of our level D events have been replaced by MapRun courses.

The club host a number of social events (Club Dinner, Barbecue etc.) throughout the year. The club newsletter, Waffle, is continuallly updated online.

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.

From 1998, the club ran the Dorset Schools Orienteering League, which was open to any schools in Dorset (and also S Wilts and W Hants). Participation from schools dwindled over the years and so in 2015 the club suspended the league and from September 2015 replaced Schools League events with more informal Coaching and Training events.

The annual Dorset Schools Orienteering Championship will however, continue to be held every May, either at Moors Valley or Avon Heath Country Park.

In summer 1999 we established a permanent orienteering course at Moors Valley Country Park with the aid of a lottery grant. There are 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 map  and course are regularly updated as the forest and country park evolve. The Moors Valley Challenge is  to visit all of these sites in the fastest possible time.

Within Moors Valley, a permanent MTBO course which extends into the Ringwood North forest was opened  2011. 

Many other permanent courses  have been developed over the last few years - see the Permanent Courses section of the website for further details.

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.

 

 

Last Updated Monday, January 2nd 2022