Dorset Summer MapRun Summer League 2025 Details
WSX & WIM will be running a series of summer events using the same format as we used successfully in 2024.
The 2025 summer programme will consist of:
1) A Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League, consisting of 6 events each with a duration over a calendar month starting in April and ending in September
2) A Dorset 2025 Summer League consisting of 6 physical events with one physical event held every month, either at the weekend or a weekday evening, starting in April and ending in September
3) The physical events in May & June will include free family “have a go” events in conjunction with Dorset Council’s Get Active Outdoors Programme.
The Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League and Dorset 2025 Summer League will be run & organised jointly by WSX & WIM with WSX organising 3 MapRun events and 3 physical events in April, July & September and WIM organising 3 MapRun events and 3 physical events in May, June & August.
Rob Mills from WIM will act as the overall co-ordinator for the 2025 Dorset Summer MapRun League and 2025 Dorset Summer League.
Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League
The Dorset 2025 MapRun Summer League will run over calendar month blocks from start of April to end of September, giving 6 events in total.
Competitors will be able to run the course at any time in the one-month window for their result to count for the league. The course format for all 6 events will be a 60-minute score.
Scoring will be as previous MapRun leagues with first place getting 50 points, second place 49 points, etc. The best 4 scores will count for the league. Planners of league events will be awarded 49 points but only for one event in the Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League series. Age Graded results and league tables will also be produced.
For all the Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League events, competitors will download and print their own maps.
Senior competitors will be charged £15 to enter the League (6 events) whilst junior competitors (M/W20-) will be free. Entry and payment for the league for senior competitors will be via RaceSignUp. Senior competitors will only appear in the individual event results and league tables from when they enter the league.
Under 16 competitors need to be accompanied for safety reasons.
Dorset 2025 Summer League
The Dorset 2025 Summer League will consist of 1 physical event held every month from April to September, giving 6 events in total.
The focus of the Dorset 2025 Summer League is to offer WSX & WIM club members the opportunity to socialize and where possible also offer a course suitable for juniors.
The physical events will utilize SI timing with full size or mini sized kites. The physical event should offer a 60-minute score course for the league and, if possible, a 60-minute junior score course. In addition, at the planner’s discretion, the physical events can offer limited line courses designed specifically for beginners and/or juniors.
League scoring will be as per the MapRun league with first place getting 50 points, second place 49 points, etc. The best 4 scores will count for the league. Planners and Organisers of league events will be awarded 49 points but only for one event in the Dorset 2025 Summer League series. Age Graded results and league tables will also be produced.
For all the Dorset 2025 Summer League events, maps will be printed for competitors.
Entry for each of the physical events will be via RaceSignUp. Senior competitors will be charged £7 for each event whilst junior competitors (M/W20-) will pay £3 for each event.
The proposed venues and dates for the 2025 Dorset Summer League events are given below.
Dorset 2025 Summer Combined League
Competitors in the Dorset 2025 Summer MapRun League and Dorset 2025 Summer League will be automatically entered in the combined league which consists of a total of 12 events from the above leagues. The best 8 scores will count for the league.
Planners and Organisers of league events will be awarded 49 points but only for one event in the combined league. Age Graded results and league tables will also be produced.
Proposed Venues & Dates for 2025 Dorset Summer MapRun League Events:
Tuesday 1st April until Wednesday 30th April – Poole Town (WSX)
Thursday 1st May until Saturday 31st May – Ringwood (WIM)
Sunday 1st June until Monday 30th June – Ferndown Forest (WIM)
Tuesday 1st July until Thursday 31st July – Corfe Mullen (WSX)
Friday 1st August until Sunday 31st August – Dorchester (WIM)
Monday 1st September until Tuesday 30th September – Bournemouth Chines (WSX)
Proposed Venues & Dates for Dorset 2025 Summer League Physical Events:
April Event: 1100 - 1400, Saturday 26th April – Wareham (WSX)
May Event: 1100 - 1400, Saturday 3rd May – Poundbury (WIM)
June Event: 1100 - 1400, Saturday 14th June – Blandford Stour Meadows (WIM)
July Event: 1830 - 2015, Thursday 10th July – Corfe Castle (WSX)
August Event – Puddletown Forest (WIM) - tbc
September Event: 1830 - 2015, Thursday 11th September – Bisterne Close (WSX)
Dorset 2024 Summer MapRun League
The Dorset 2024 Summer MapRun League and Dorset 2024 Summer League will be run & organised jointly by WSX & WIM with WSX organising 3 MapRun events and 3 physical events in April, June & August and WIM organising 3 MapRun events and 3 physical events in May, July & September. Rob Mills from WIM will act as the overall co-ordinator for the 2024 Dorset Summer MapRun League and 2024 Dorset Summer League whilst Jason Falconer from WSX will act as the overall co-ordinator and BOF liaison for the 2024 Find Your Way programme.
The Dorset 2024 MapRun Summer League will run over calendar month blocks from start of April to end of September, giving 6 events in total.
Competitors will be able to run the course at any time in the one-month window for their result to count for the league. The course format for all 6 events will be a 60-minute score.
Scoring will be as previous MapRun leagues with first place getting 50 points, second place 49 points, etc. The best 4 scores will count for the league. Planners of league events will be awarded 49 points but only for one event in the 2024 Dorset 2024 Summer MapRun League series. Age Graded results and league tables will also be produced.
Download the Summer MapRun League 2024 courses here
Dorset 2023 Summer MapRun League
MapRun courses which produce results and league tables now incur levy charges from British Orienteering and we also have to pay a small charge to the MapRun organisation for keeping our files on their servers. Initially this cost was absorbed by the club, but from Summer 2023 we feel the need to pass on some of the costs to our clientele, so entry to the series, via Racesignup, is £20 for as many of the 12 planned events as you choose to compete in. That's a bargain at around £1.80 per event. Read the competition details here.
Download the Dorset MapRun League 2023 courses here
Map files will be available for download two or three days before each new race, starting from March 29th for the April 1st event.
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MapRun Archive
During the Covid outbreak and its aftermath, WIM & WSX developed a series of MapRun courses , initially as a training facilty for individual orienteering training runs whilst we were not allowed to meet in groups, and then as a series of summer and winter league events. These older courses, which were provided at no cost to individuals have been retained for the time being as Virtual Permanent Orienteering Courses. They will not be updated, but are there as a resource.
Download the Archive MapRun courses here.
These files contain all the older maprun courses, together with the newer maps for the 2021-22 Winter MapRun League.
We have published a series of urban MapRun training courses covering areas around Dorset. The latest of these are the for the Winter/Spring MapRun League, together with shorter courses around Blandford Milldown and Blandford Stour Meadows suitable for novices and juniors, as well as another course in Blandford using controls based on bridges or play areas using an Open Orienteering Map
The WIM courses now cover Blandford, Bridport, Gillingham, Verwood, Wimborne, Shillingstone & Sturminster Newton, with others to follow. We've also added a course for Shaftesbury, using the Open Orienteering street map system: this map is at 1:10 000 in order to fit the whole map onto A4, and another OOM map of Blandford based on the various post boxes around the town.
At Bridport, there are three courses, one a conventional MapRun course ,another a 'Wayfarers' course, an easier course with a longer time limit, aimed at non regular orienteers and novices, and a OOM course going down to West Bay.
In addition to their training courses around Boscombe, Christchurch, Poole, Upton, Canford Heath, & Queens & Kings Parks, we will also add any WSX courses to our download page. Moving into S Wilts, there is a course for Tisbury.
The courses will be loaded onto the MapRun server, and pdf files of the map can be downloaded and printed from this page of the website. Initially, some of the maps will be A4 sections of our existing orienteering maps, later there will also be street maps generated using the Open Orienteering Map project, as at Shaftesbury.
We strongly recommend that you download the course onto your phone and print out the map at home before you set off to run a course. Mobile reception isn't always guaranteed out in the field. The latest version of the MapRun app (MapRun 6), is a big improvement on previous versions.
These are open training courses and no code or pin number is needed to access them.
These courses are registered with British Orienteering as Virtual permanent Orienteering Courses and so you are not covered by BOF public liability insurance: you are simply going for a private run.
You can post your results over the weeks: try the courses several times and see if you can beat your previous scores and times.
You can also compete in the MapRun League: you don't have to be a regular orienteer to do this, its open to all.
To run the courses you will need a smartphone and the latest MapRunF app which has now replaced the older version.
If you have not used MapRun before, (and to save re-inventing the wheel and your webmaster lots of time compiling more pages) please look at the advice on its use on the MapRun page of the NGOC website or visit the MapRunners website run by the software developer. Note it is MapRunners, not Maprunner, which is the Errington family's useful website.
Phone Settings - a guide from the MapRunners website And more advice from the Strava website.
When you are ready:-
- Start the app.
- Tap Select Event. You'll need to scroll down to the UK folder, and then into Dorset. Within the Dorset folder select the course you wish to run.
- Select the course you want to run. The course names are a bit convoluted, but look for the course name as described on the MapRun Dorset website.
- Wait for the course and map files to download, and then tap Go to Start
The course is now live, and will start logging your track and time when you pass through the Start. Before you pass through and record the Start, your location and track are shown on the screen so that you can see if your GPS is working. These will disappear as you start.
Also, in the footer of the screen is shown:
Remember that you need to pass through the Finish to stop the timer. Your results should be uploaded automatically to the maprun server. If they are, you will see a prompt on the screen to allow you optionally to upload to strava. If not, you should see a prompt simply to upload results.
GPS accuracy, and
A button to centre the screen on the current location
- Finally, you can compare your results with others on the same course, and view the route you took.
You'll very quickly get the hang of the technology. Here are a few tips for getting the best out of your run, and maximising your points haul....
1) Knowing how far you can run in 60 minutes and planning a route that is shorter than this!
2) Picking a good order to visit checkpoints that is efficient and avoids running back past locations you’ve already been to
3) Counting how many contours your route will cross – these mean going up or downhill and the direction of slope may not be obvious from the map.
4) Spotting the fastest (normally the shortest) route between individual checkpoints
5) Looking where the higher scoring checkpoints are, and if they are concentrated close together
6) All of these will get easier with experience, and you may find you score better the second time you run a course!
Many Thanks to Pat Macleod and NGOC for these instructions.
